LIKE MIKE
Faith and optimism overcome grumpiness.
Should You Watch It?
Like Mike is a lively family sports fantasy with a warm heart. It celebrates faith, prayer, friendship, honesty, caring for others, and the hope of finding a good family. Calvin’s optimism helps turn around a struggling basketball team and reaches a lonely player who is estranged from his father.
The movie loses some energy in its second half, but its characters carry the story to a fun finish. The main context is Calvin’s faith and the support he receives from his friends, though a few mild objectionable elements remain.
If you want an energetic, funny movie with positive moral and Christian content, Like Mike is worth the trip.
The Story
NO SPOILERS — WE KEEP THE SURPRISESThirteen-year-old orphan Calvin Cambridge discovers a pair of tennis shoes that supposedly belonged to a famous basketball player as a child. After lightning strikes the shoes, Calvin seems able to play professional-level basketball.
He joins the slumping Los Angeles Knights, where his prayers and optimism begin changing the team. But the manager of Calvin’s orphanage has plans of his own, while the team’s star player must learn to welcome an unlikely young teammate.
Is It Any Good?
Three stars means Like Mike is a good, enjoyable movie with some weaknesses. It is energetic and funny, and the characters keep the story moving even after some of the energy fades in the second half.
First-time performer Lil Bow Wow does a surprisingly good job. The other children also perform well, while the adults provide fine support for this sports fantasy. The movie ultimately reaches a fun finish, though it is not as consistently energetic as it could be.
The Worldview
Like Mike has a strong moral worldview and a positive outlook on faith and prayer. Calvin encourages Tracey to pray with him, asking God to bless their coach and Tracey himself. Calvin’s faith is presented as part of the story’s central strength, alongside the support he receives from his friends.
The movie also values caring for others, honesty, helping people improve their lives, and adoption. Calvin reaches out to Tracey, while the story makes fun of extreme cases of bad parenting. An older man reconciles with his father. Anne Meara plays a Roman Catholic nun who helps an orphanage and stresses the importance of homework.
The film’s one worldview complication is its reference to the apparent magic in the lightning-struck shoes. However, the movie connects the “magic” with Calvin appearing to say a little prayer: “Make me like Mike.” That leaves the story with a positive emphasis on faith, prayer, reconciliation, and practical responsibility.
Scripture likewise calls believers to care for those without families: “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction” (James 1:27).
The Content Guide
The specifics — spoilers included by nature — so you can judge for your own family.
Content Summary
Very strong moral worldview with some solidly positive Christian, redemptive content including a prayer with several God bless you’s, older man reconciles with his father, and a friendly Roman Catholic nun who helps out an orphanage and stresses the importance of homework to protagonist, slightly marred by a couple mentions of “magic” shoes; about four “d” obscenities, three light profanities and characters say, “dang”; some slapstick violence and physical contact on basketball court, such as player knocks 13-year-old boy across part of the court, boy gets shocked by trying to take tennis shoes off an electrical wire and chase sequence between cars and children on electric scooters; no sex but player invites girl up to his room, but nothing sexual happens; some mild locker room nudity; no alcohol use; no smoking; and, gambling and a pragmatic solution in one scene.
Talk About It
Questions for the drive home, the dinner table, or the youth group.
Calvin prays for his coach and for Tracey. What do his prayers show about caring for other people?
Philippians 4:6 · 1 Timothy 2:1Calvin helps Tracey improve his life. When has someone’s encouragement helped you make a better choice?
1 Thessalonians 5:11 · Galatians 6:2The story includes an older man who reconciles with his father. What can make reconciliation difficult, and what does God ask of us when relationships are broken?
Ephesians 4:31–32 · Colossians 3:13Calvin hopes to find a good family. How can your family show care to children and others who need support?
James 1:27 · Romans 12:13The Final Word
Like Mike is an energetic, funny sports fantasy that puts faith, prayer, honesty, friendship, and adoption at the center. It has a few mild objectionable elements and loses some energy in the second half, but its family-friendly heart makes it WORTH THE TRIP.
