Starring Ted Danson "Knights of the South Bronx" is another one of those inspirational school movies which are built around a true story. In the case of "Knights of the South Bronx" it is actually a made for TV movie rather than a cinematic release and is heavily fictionalised in it's telling of David MacEnulty's story. Like most inspirational school movies this one again follows the same old route of an adult ending up teaching kids a few life lessons through their passion and to be honest it never strays from the path which all these other inspirational movies tend to follow. But where as in similar movies the object used to create inspiration has often been sports such as basketball or American football, even ballroom dancing in "Take the Lead", in "Knights of the South Bronx" the vehicle is Chess, an unlikely source for making an interesting movie, but one which works surprisingly well due to the nature of the game.

When Richard Mason (Ted Danson - Saving Private Ryan) is made unemployed from his well paid job, he decides to offer his services to a school in the South Bronx where the children he teaches have little hope of escaping from a life on the street. But Richard struggles to connect with the children until one day one of them discovers him playing a series of exhibition chess games in the local park where he beats 14 players at once. Soon Richard is teaching the children chess and as a result their academic grades start to increase as they become good enough to enter the National chess competition.

If you strip away the chess element from "Knights of the South Bronx" it is hard to ignore that it follows the same route as other school teacher movies. We have the highs and lows, the inspiration point where the teacher delivers a life changing message, the realisation that no matter who you are you can win and yes a predictable ending. But what makes this movie feel different is the fact that it is made for TV and lacks that big production feel of a cinema release. That doesn't mean it feels cheap, just not so refined.

What it also means is that where other similar inspirational movies highlight the grittiness of the situation, the lack of hope that these children have away from the classroom, "Knights of the South Bronx" never really delves into it, often acknowledging the issues but never exploring them or really showing the rough side, giving this movie a much more family friendly feel. I can see why some would criticise it for being unrealistic and seeing that it was directed by Allen Hughes who broke onto the scene with "Menace II Society" it does feel that way but then I actually enjoyed this aspect as it made it easier to watch.

Despite the criticism of the actual storyline, which had been heavily fictionalised, the lower end production gives it a more natural feel. Those inspirational moments don't feel so over the top or pumped up with adrenalin, although an attempt to sex up chess towards the end is a little laughable, and the movie has a more natural feel to it as it flows quite smoothly. It's by no means perfect and some scenes appear to jar with others and back stories are never really given but then in some ways being a TV movie it doesn't really need it as the enjoyment is in the fact that it is inspirational and easy to watch.

What really does spoil "Knights of the South Bronx" is some terrible dialogue and even being a made for TV movie doesn't excuse it. There are just far too many cliché speeches making a lot of what should be heart warming sentiment feel cheesy and slightly laughable. Even a fine actor would struggle when it comes to delivering such hollow words of wisdom that although have meaning feel as poorly scripted as they are.

Thankfully Ted Danson as Richard Mason manages to lift his performance so that although he has some terrible dialogue he manages to give the movie some feeling. You do get a sense that he is a man split between supporting his family and teaching these poor children, although thanks to that lack of back-story sometimes it feels like we never really know him. As for the remaining cast in particular the children, well their characters appear to be older than they should be seeing that they are meant to be fourth graders, but each of these relatively unknown stars does a fine performance with the poor script.

What this all boils down to is that "Knights of the South Bronx" compared to a cinema release feels inadequate thanks to the poor dialogue and the more low level production values. But then it is a made for TV movie and in being so is surprisingly entertaining. It has a more natural innocence about it that although it glosses over the obvious grittiness of the situation is a very easy on the eye movie. Plus although it may not sound such a great idea for an inspirational movie, the use of chess as the vehicle for providing away out of the Bronx and instilling hope works well and makes a nice change to the use of more physical sports as the inspirational vehicle.