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Absolutely brilliant

The first must-see film of the year.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

Pele's rise from the slums of São Paulo to Brazil's first World Championship conquest at the age of seventeen is portrayed in this biographical drama.The story of Pelé goes much beyond his 17 years and the formidable conquest of Brazil's first World Cup. While the film serves to get a sense of how the slum's kid became an instant legend, it's only a small portion of his great story. One decision that I consider terrifyingly unfortunate is that although the actors are mostly Brazilian, the language used is English, which removes part of the realism and authenticity of the film and almost seems to have been 'dubbed' in a really bad way: it becomes very distracting and certainly downgrades the acting! The dialogues are very bad especially in the first half of the film and surely the writers used some 'historical freedom' for cinematic effect. A very positive point is the cinematography full of vivid colors. On the other hand would have preferred a less Hollywoodian style and a more traditional one, but taking into account the target audience I understand that decision. Good as entertainment and even an inspirational film, but I do not know to what extent it is a totally reliable biography, even with Pelé himself among the producers - always keep in mind the cinema industry' shenanigans regarding 'historical accounts'.I know it's not a documentary and it's just a movie serving well its purpose for entertainment, but it's also far from being the ultimate videobiography, at least for me. So, while I consider this movie to have many problems and truly feel like rating it 4/10, as a fan of 'the most beautiful game in the world' and due to its inspirational tone I'll give it a pass and score it 5/10. - pun intended ;)

I really started watching this movie to know something about the story of this football legend... But... Is this the real story? Honestly, a lot of fantasy. If this story is true I can say Disney stories exist in the real world. So, its not a biography movie, its a very good inspirational/fantasy movie maybe with some seasoning of a real life story. And why, why in the name of god they made a Brazilian movie in English? WHY??? 2 less points for that... Movie message: We are proud to be what we are, Brazilians. You must be proud of what you are no matter what... But we made the movie IN English??? No dude... Why???So... 10 - 2 (not in Portuguese) -2 (lot of fantasy) = 6 points. A movie to see and enjoy and say at the end "Did this story really happened like this"?

This is a family film more than a football film. In case you were unaware, family films are not just movies that can by watched by anyone of any age, but specific genre film that can be watched by everyone at the same time, as in a family, often at home.As such, don't expect much depth or drama. There is a death, but it's early on so that it doesn't "hurt" too much. The Lion King and Bambi had early deaths too. This is just like that. The story has a lot of clichés, poor-vs-rich, black-vs-white, South America vs Europe, players too poor for shoes, children committing minor theft, parents against the game (but then changing their minds), Pele's style criticized (but then it turns out to be the best style), the bad (evil, not quality) players turning good, child Pele promising to win the World Cup for his crying dad, practicing with fruits, etc. I'm not going to list them all, but if there is a cliché in this film, they most likely have used it.Although they are clichés, it's not a bad thing that they mentioned them. The rich-poor divide is real, so as the racial divide in Brazil, but this film doesn't shy away from these issues. It comes out as a Brazilian nationalist film "We're all Brazilian, rich or poor, black or white, born here or elsewhere" but it's more heartwarming than chest-thumping. Europe still thought of South America as a colony and Italy, for example, was notorious for poaching South American players with Italian heritage to play for the Italian national team. The even poached previous world cup winners from Argentina, which is illegal now.This film is more like one of the many films of orphans or street kids doing cute things, but with a football flavor.I don't blame this film for this family-oriented direction. Brazil also made a dark football film, Heleno, but it did not receive a lot of success. The family-oriented market is a lucrative one. Watch Heleno if you want a real biopic about a footballer, even though there's even less football there.If you like a feel-good family movie about the adventures of street kids, watch Bekas (2012).If you want a football movie from the same era (also set in South America in the same time period) then watch Montevideo: Taste of a Dream (2010).These are my wine-pairing recommendations.As for Pele: Birth of a Legend, it is what it is, a cute, family football film about poor kids that speak English. The fact that they speak English tells you about the target audience more than anything my review ever could.

The direction cinematography and music is just amazing. It is emotional and motivational.Didn't know about Pele so much before .Too good I am going to watch this movie whenever i fell down ..Thanks a lot.the movie was so emotional at times made me cry.The whole movie moves in a flow and you feel how much pain he has to take to get there.The movie also shows the situation of Brazil during 1950's.Music by A.R.Rahman was magical it blended so well with the theme.My respect for Pele has grown too much.The world cup scenes are accurate comparing with the score board of 1958 world cup.Hope to see more such movies .The movie is little bit similar to "Bhaag Milkha Bhaag" if anybody of you have seen it.I recommend you to watch the trailer first and then the movie "Pele"