In 1982, Canadian author W.P. Kinsella wrote a novel, and his publishing company called it Shoeless Joe, even though the book wasn't really about a guy with no shoes. In 1989, cinema patrons watched the Hollywood adaptation of Kinsella's novel, and they called it 'a baseball movie', even though the movie wasn't really about baseball. Universal Studios, the company that bankrolled the movie, hit the nail on the head when they called it Field of Dreams. Some think baseball is the main topic, but in the Field of Dream movie, baseball takes a back seat to loftier aspirations--namely hope, redemption, second chances, and yes, dreams.

The movie centers around converted hippie-turned-farmer Ray Kinsella, a child of the 60s who smoked some grass, tried to like sitar music, and battled his baseball-loving father. At least until the day his father died.

One afternoon, farmer Ray hears a voice in his Iowa field, directing him to build a baseball diamond in his corn crop. The field would allow banned members of the 1919 Chicago White Sox, including his dead father's hero, the legendary Shoeless Joe Jackson, to once again play baseball. Despite the craziness of it all, Kinsella complies and builds the field. Given a second chance, Shoeless Joe and his teammates do indeed emerge from Ray's corn stalks to play ball once again.

The voice isn't finished doling out second chances, however, and it guides farmer Ray on a cross-country venture that snares a burned-out social writer and a small-town physician who made it to the majors but never got to bat. They all end up back at the ball field in Iowa, where everyone gets a second chance to fulfill their dreams. Even Ray gets a second chance to 'have a catch' with the ghost of his deceased father.

Still sounds like a baseball movie, right? Let's see what fans of the movie have to say.

Zachary Koenig of Forest Lake, MN says it's the "emotion of the experience" and the bond between sons and fathers that makes the movie great. "Raw and pure emotion at its finest."

Leon Cabos of San Jose, CA left the movie with a lump in his throat and a tear in his eye. His father recently died, and he still dreams of a second chance to tell his father how much their backyard baseball activities meant to him. "This film is about redemption and family. Be sure to watch this with your children and your father. I sure wish I could."

Nicholas Henning of Sydney, Australia says "the theme and storyline go well beyond baseball. But it's the vehicle of baseball that permits dreams to be realized, and that's very beneficial to everyone who dares to use their imagination." He further explains that Ray Kinsella thought his noble act would provide others with the opportunty to fulfill their dreams, when, in fact, Ray building the ball field culminated in his own second chance at redemption with his father. "Things may be lost in life, but they're never lost in dreams."

Nick France of Florida calls Field of Dreams "a timeless classic, a well-written story that shows dreams are worth pursuing at all costs. We get to glimpse each character's dreams, and we get to see the fulfillment of those dreams."

The Field of Dream movie may use baseball as a vehicle, but the movie's really about love, second chances, and the power of hope. Imagination, left untethered, can free the mind to dream and hope things never thought possible. Give an individual the faith to believe, and the freedom to dream, and the impossible really can come true.