We attended a sneak preview last night (April 11, 2005).
The film is good, clean fun!! Cub Scouts and the pinewood derby are portrayed in a positive light.
Down and Derby is carefully crafted. It appeals to all age groups. The humor is outrageously funny and stays well within the bounds of propriety.
We laughed throughout the movie. We were entertained and felt better when we departed than when we entered the theater.
Isn't that what family films should do?!
Great!
Don't forget everyone, vote on how you feel about this movie on IMDB!
If it isn't fun, it isn't Scouting - BP
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It really irritates me when studio shills start pumping junk like this into the forums. I mean, who has a handle like "Derby-7"? Might that be the seventh "Down and Derby" studio lackey who registered here on IMDB, so they could write insipid reviews lauding this garbage, or pose as "families" who loved the movie?
Take my word for it, this movie is garbage, but then my handle doesn't have "derby" in it, so maybe I don't know as much as someone who worked on the movie. <grin>
I have two sons, three years apart, who are both in Cub Scouts. I've built five cars so far (two for two years, and one this past year when my oldest got his Arrow of Light and joined the Boy Scouts). I've been in three derbies so far, and NONE of the men act the way they do in this movie. None. I live in a nice middle-class neighborhood, so we're not rich, not poor, just folks, which this movie purports to reflect. It doesn't.
Of course, everyone wants to win, but the kids have fun building the cars, painting them, and they are very happy simply to "not be in last place" every race. The Cub Master and other dads that volunteer are usually the winners, because they spend more time with the track, have tricks handed down to them, and tweak their cars the night before on the track. However, everyone has that opportunity, the volunteer dads simply spend more time.
We never really went for speed only, because to win that way you really need either a metal shop, or must be willing to buy "axles" and stuff online that have been cleaned up. The nails in the kits have burrs and so forth, and if you've got a metal lathe, you can mill the imperfections out of the nails. When hundredths of a second make the difference, little modifications like that matter. We weren't willing to do that; instead we spent time designing and making "theme" cars. One year we made a Darth Vader car, and my son wore a Darth mask with a dangling chest box that spouted Vaderisms when you pressed the buttons. He had a BLAST putting it on and acting like Darth during each of his races. We didn't finish among the top four in speed, but he won a "Best Design" trophy, and was very proud. I've made wood stands for each of the cars, and a little modified bookcase for the cars and trophies. They both love it, and they feel proud because the cars were actually made by them (as much as safety would allow).
There are some dads that build these awesome cars that are works of art. My father did that for me. I loved having a cool car, but I missed out on building it with him, and none of the credit was mine. My dad did that for ME, not for himself. He wanted ME to be happy winning, he just lost sight of what really makes a kid feel like a winner.
Although there are dads that are very into winning, NONE have ever been unkind, or do ANY of the things that are seen in this movie. This movie COULD have been funny, if they would have had, say... one stupid dad that went off the deep end and got caught cheating or something. But ALL the dads in this movie (practically) are idiots and cheaters. It's just not funny. I'm not a whining baby that doesn't like my Pinewood Derby desecrated, I wouldn't mind if someone did that with STYLE, but that isn't the case in this movie. It simply is over-the-top trash.
If you are a dad who has a son that could be in the Cub Scouts and do the Derby, I encourage you to do so. Even if you don't have tools, there is always a night hosted by someone who has tools, and you are invited to come over (usually for as many hours that night as you need) and use his tools, get tips on building, and the kids are welcome (supervised). Kids are ok with not winning it "all". They love building the cars, and they LOVE the time with you doing it all. It is up to YOU how they deal with defeat, and the Pinewood Derby is a GREAT place for them to learn to lose with grace. If you make winning the ONLY thing, then yea, they'll be really upset. But if you take it in stride, and focus on the fun of building, of making the coolest looking car, and you use what you've learned to make a better car next year (my son loves that part now), they'll love it. We always go out after the Derby and eat lunch. At the lunch we "strategize" how we'll do better next year. My sons love the lunch more than the Derby, believe it or not. It makes them feel like we're all "men" having a strategy meeting. It’s a good time to show them how to deal with defeat, or how to be a gracious winner. The last year we made it our goal to never finish below second place, in each of the eight races. Then we searched the Internet, and checked out books on how to build a better car. This year (the Derby was yesterday) we didn't meet our goal, but we were close. The best part was MY SON was the reason we did better. He designed the car, and chose the tricks (legal tricks) we would use to be more competitive. It worked. At the lunch after, he was so proud, of himself and of me.
If you can, do the Derby. It is a GREAT way to bond with your son, and to teach him *many* lessons he'll need as a man. Don't, however, do this movie.
"...nothing is left of me, each time I see her..." - Catullus
Oh come on, calm down already. It's just for fun.
shareI am a cub pack leader and have build cars for years. My son did great this year and had a lot of fun. I liked the movie. Some parts were funny, others were slow, but worth a good laugh. No, it's not terribly realistic, but it's a movie. I showed it to my cub pack, they loved it.
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Just because someone likes a movie doesn't make them a shill for it. My son (5th grader) and I both loved the movie, too.
shareI haven't seen the movie yet, I just learned of it today from Scouting Mag. My boys are both Life Scouts so the Pinewood Derby is almost ancient history.
We had a blast building the cars. In their first year, Tigers, they designed, painted, held the sander while I sanded and did the fine sanding. When I had to do the work, they were there next to me. Every year they got to do a little more, until they did just about everything themselves. By that time they learned what to do to DO THEIR BEST when making their car.
You don't need a lot of tools to win. With the first car we made the first cut with a hand saw, then a little whittling (with my old Boy Scout jackknife) to round off and even it up, a sander smoothed it out and the fine sandpaper gave it a good finish. I used a chisel and hammmer (a 3/4 in. forster bit works well, too. pennies fit in perfectly) to cut out a spot for the weights (remember; as far back and as high as possible) then filled it in with wood putty, sanding it flush and painting it. That was it for the body.
The most important part of the car, though, are the axles and wheels. You don't need a metal lathe to remove the burrs. The first year I just put them in my drill that I secured in a vice and sanded them off with strips of heavy grit sandpaper, then moved to lighter and lighter grits. We made sure the axels were in straight and wheels were a proper distance for the body. Then came the graphite. After the glue had dried I (and I can't stress this enough; DON'T LET THE BOY TOUCH THE GRAPHITE!!! EVER!!!) put graphite into the hole and spun the wheel as fast as I could. I did it often. Make sure you do it over a garbage can in a place that won't be harmed by any spilled graphite. Also, I put graphite on the inside edges of the wheel, the part that will rub against the body. And that's it. We placed 2nd that first year.
The only thing I did differently the following years was to use a table saw for the first cut (I was finishing a room in the basement by then) using a Dremmel-like tool (mine is the one endorsed by Tim "The Toolman" Taylor. Seriously, it has Tim Allen's picture on the box. It was about $20.00 and I've used it on many other projects around the house.) for deburring and buying a "speed kit", 4 or 5 dollars, that included jewler's rouge and "wet" sandpaper for metal. That kit lasted all five years. Out of the ten cars we made we earned seven trophies, three firsts, one year 1st and 2nd.
Lest you think I was living vicariously through my boys, I earned two trophies as a Scout, one 1st. Also, the pack held a no holds barred race for adults. That lets the adults use up their competitive juices, and boy, talk about creativity and workmanship!