Illegal immigration has been a hot topic lately, especially here in Southern California where I live. This makes the arrival of Goal! The Dream Begins look rather timely, as it is about a young man, Santiago Munez (Kuno Becker), from an illegal immigrant family, who desires to become a great soccer -- pardon me, football -- player.

Alas, the movie doesn't explore this territory much; in fact, it goes off in an unexpected direction as Santiago, after being spotted by an ex-sports scout, flies to England to try out for a team there. So let's see: a Mexican who insists he's from Los Angeles spending the majority of the movie in Great Britain. Has potential. Unfortunately, the film gets less interesting from there, gathering cliches more and more quickly the faster it rolls downhill. At the end of its nearly two-hour runtime, you'll be buried by that big ball of cliches, wondering how the movie squandered its potential, its viewers' faith in the story, and all of its credibility.

Goal! didn't do anything outlandishly foolish, and, frankly, just a handful of corny turns might've been forgivable, but when it starts stringing them from end-to-end, I didn't believe in the movie anymore and began to wonder how much longer it would go on (the fact that the film felt like it was coming to an end several times didn't help either).

Still, this is a kindhearted movie. It believes in a world where people of good faith exist, and even admits that chasing a dream can be hard work despite having a boost from natural talent. However, plot contrivances and fallback manipulative devices seem to wreck the messages it's trying to convey and make it, like so many other similar movies, disposable. (Capsule review.)

(Released by Touchstone Pictures and rated "PG" for language, sexual situations, and some thematic material including partying.)

Review also posted at www.windowtothemovies.com.