Cool Runnings

"Cool Runnings means "Be the Journey'"

With that, the story of the first Jamaican bobsled team unfolds in this Disney release. This movie can probably be divided into three main parts. The first part takes place in Jamaica as we are introduced to our characters, and they in turn are introduced to the idea of forming the bobsled team. Rather quickly we meet our four main characters, Derise, Yule, Junior and Sanka as well as their coach Irv played by the hilarious John Candy.

Our second portion of the film provides many hilarious antics as the now formed, and partially trained team arrives in Canada. We follow the group as they finally get a chance to start practising with a real sled and on the tracks they will compete upon. During this part, we also get to see our characters grow and become closer to each other over the course of things.

Our final part consists of the men as they compete in the Olympics. However it's hardly the peaceful journey as they are not viewed as equals by the other sled teams. This causes them to have a rigid relationship with the Swiss team in particular. Internal conflicts also arise as Irv's past catches up with him and threatens the teams qualifications in the Olympics.

Cool Runnings is a fun film, and is refreshing in the way that it covers a sport we haven't already seen a hundred times. All of our characters are fairly enjoyable, save for Sanka's voice in my own opinion, however to me John Candy stands out as one of the best things about this film.