User Reviews

So.... did anyone who made the movie read the book? And I agree with maniac, what's with the beans? I read the book, it was great! The movie.. not so much. The beans aren't anywhere in the book, the word beans I doubt is even in there. And what's with cobble's knot? It was an okay idea, and let's get this clear, maniac isn't sonic. And he didn't pretend fight Finsterwald. Worst of all, they left out Grayson! I know I spoiled the book a bit, but don't watch the movie. Repeat! Do not watch the movie! Read the book!

A lot of people complain that the movie is a dishonest interpretation of the book. I'll have to take their word for it, because this was based on a kids' book written by Jerry Spinelli in 1991, long after my childhood was over. Nevertheless, I'm here to comment on the movie itself.

Jeffrey Lionel Magee is a little leaguer who hoped his parents would meet him at an upcoming game, until they died in a car accident. At their funeral, he finds that he's on the verge of winding up in the foster care system, and bolts at a miraculous speed, giving him the reputation and nickname "Maniac Magee." And when he enters a town in Pennsylvania(apparently) that's still segregated even two decades after the 24th Amendment to the US Constitution, he turns the whole community and everything it stands for upside down. Magee isn't just a maniac because he's a super-fast runner and a great baseball player, but because he sees the world for what it really is instead of the way people want him to see it, or the way they want to make it, and that rubs people the wrong way. He knows that knowledge is important, that the racism that his newly adopted home has kept mandatory is pointless, and that the old house that all the kids are scared of isn't really haunted.

As he runs between the white and black sections of the town, J.L. Magee meets his eventual love interest Amanda Beale, played by none other than Disney-cutie Kyla Pratt. When she takes him into her family's house, her younger siblings adore him and her parents object at first, but grow to accept him quickly. He even builds a private library for her. Unfortunately, his neighbors don't and brand the Beale family as race-traitors. Another boy who calls himself "Mars Bar" (Orlando Brown), the school bully with a candy bar in one hand and an obvious crush on Amanda, hates Magee simply because he's white. One peculiar aspect of this segregated town is that both white and black bigots have their own ethnic slurs, probably because the writers wanted to discourage the use of ethnic slurs from the real world. What's also peculiar is the excuse given by George McNab(Rip Torn), the descendant of town's founder for segregation. It's not the usual b.s. about Afro-Americans being more prone to a life of crime and drug addiction, or the fear that our daughters will fall for them instead of white boys, but that they're out to steal the white man's beans!

You read right -- BEANS!

Naturally, Magee realizes that he's not the REAL maniac, and he must put a stop to the town's madness. Couple this with a semi-predictable and heartwarming ending, you've got a worthy made-for-television movie for all ages.

The maniac Magee book is one of the greatest books ever created and I was exited for the movie. So this movie is garbage and it's so bad that THEY DELETED AN ENTIRE PART OF THE BOOK!!! They deleted the parts with Grayson, there where no butterscotch krimpets, maniac never stayed with Aunt Dot and Uncle Dan, Amanda would appear after the frog ball even though in the book she appeared before the frog ball, maniacs dad does the stop ball even though Grayson did it in the book, Mars Bar meets Maniac before he did in the book, and worst of all, what they did with the McNab's dad. He went from a good way to represent the ignorance of both East and West Enders into an idiot that thinks the East Enders will "steal his beans."

I read the book and it was pretty good. When the movie came out, I watched it. It was pretty decent, but nothing to what I expected, I mean, the chapters in the book that lasted like 15 pages, were done in 5 minutes. They also skip many events and chapters like him being in the chorus, living with his unhappy aunt and uncle, meeting Grayson(He was the one who originally taught Maniac the Stopball technique), etc. The parts of the movie that did go by the chapter didn't exactly go by the chapter, like when he was untying Cobble's Knot, they left out the part when he had to rest on a desk for about 10-20 minutes (I don't remember, don't get on my case) and they replaced it with...him getting inside the humongous knot. Even though a movie based on a book won't exactly reenact the book itself, this movie was missing a lot. Overall though, it was pretty good...for a TV Movie. I give it a 7/10.

The Maniac Magee book was actually pretty good, but they ruined it with the movie. It is really just cheesy Nickelodeon trash. Also, the special effects are pretty bad. For example, while Maniac is running, all you see is a slur.In the book, he is just a fast funnier, but in the movie they basically turned him into a superhero. They never even mention Grayson, who was in about 1/3 of the book. The director didn't even mention about Maniac being allergic to pizza. The actors didn't really do a good job either. The book would of actually made a good movie but the cast just altered way to much and left out to many important details. In conclusion, this movie was a waste of a perfectly good waste of a plot and I wish I could have spent that time I spent watching the movie doing something else.

This was a good movie. I remember watching it 4 years ago. I don't understand why people hate the movie, I mean come on people, it may not live up to the book but it's still a good movie and there's nothing wrong with it. I tried to read the book but it was too confusing to understand so I think that's why the movie is so different a bit. You can't hate the movie because it don't live up to the book it's adapting from. It's based, meaning that some things will stay the same and some parts will be different. I still can't understand why people hate that. Anyways, you should see this movie. It hasn't been on TV for 4 years now, but you should get it on tape or DVD. The acting is really good, and the plot is amazing, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with it. I have to give it to our main actors and actresses, they can really set this movie to the next level. The ending is the best part throughout the whole movie. You shouldn't really need to read the book to enjoy this movie. But overall, it's still a good movie and you need to see it whether you read the book or not, it's still a good movie.

We read the book in class. We're going to see the movie soon, but I cheated and I saw it on You tube. Although, I'm sure that everyone else did. It took out a lot of stuff! I understand that you gotta make stories fit in a certain time frame. Every book based movie does that, but still, I mean, they made the Mcnabbs' father crazy. He wasn't crazy, he was just like everyone else, convinced that black people are enemies. Well, I guess this terrible/awesome movie would have been better had Grayson I don't know, been IN THE MOVIE! Another thing, why did they have to cut out most of Aunt Dot and Uncle Dan's scenes except for a small scene at the beginning.

SPOILER This movie was the stupidest I've ever seen. It wasn't AT ALL like the book! What happened to Grayson? to, "My house is 728"? And the whole Cobble's Corner Knot? That was the stupidest rendition of this movie that I ever could have imagined! He was supposed to stand up on a picnic table and examine the knot, then lay down and take a nap. Don't even get me started on the McNabs and the party and the WHOLE END OF THE MOVIE!!! Sorry, Nickelodeon, but it just wasn't good.