It's the early 1960s and fifth-grader Scotty Smalls (Tom Guiry) has just moved into town with his folks (Karen Allen and Denis Leary). Kids call him a dork - he can't even throw a baseball! But that changes when the leader of the neighborhood gang recruits him to play on the nearby sandlot field. It's the beginning of a magical summer of baseball, wild adventures, first kisses, and fearsome confrontations with the dreaded Beast and it's owner (James Earl Jones) who live behind the left field fence. Soon nine boys have become best friends, Scotty is part of a team, and their leader has become a local legend in this hilarious and warmhearted comedy.

Many family films have received short shrift when brought out on DVD, so it's nice to see that Columbia TriStar has treated The Indian in the Cupboard so respectfully. Not only do they provide a spotless digital transfer of the thoughtful movie but they've even thrown in a couple of extras that will interest older fans of the children's film. A clean widescreen anamorphic transfer is on one side of the disc and it really shows off Russell Carpenter's warm camera work. The pan and scan version of the film is on the other side of the DVD but there really isn't any compelling reason to watch it other than to see how much of the image is actually cut off of the screen. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround sound audio track is bright and well balanced and it also sounds fine if played through a television set instead of a stereo system. The DVD comes with a few extras but the real winner is director Frank Oz's audio commentary. This was a challenging film to make and Oz guides you through the entire production. It really is to Oz's credit that he had the team work so hard to make seamless special effects that don't distract from what is really a rather intimate story. Oz handles the moral of the picture delicately and it contains a message that many adults could still learn from.