The first feature film by documentary directors Jeff and Michael Zimbalist tells of the early years of the world's most famous footballer, Edson Arantes do Nascimento, from his poverty-stricken childhood to becoming the youngest ever player at a World Cup final in 1958 at age 17. It's a legend familiar to most soccer fans - a boy who grew up with no money for a ball, practised his skills barefoot using socks and mangoes, and rose to be the most well-known player of his era.However, the Zimbalist brothers opt for a tepid, sentimental, broad-stroke retelling of the legend instead of playing with or against that legend. It leaves audiences with an unremarkable film about a potentially remarkable man.Featuring a host of Brazilian actors - including musician Seu Jorge speaking heavily accented English, and badly accented cameos from Vincent D'Onofrio (as Brazil's national coach Feola), and an "oh my word he's still around" turn from Colm Meaney as cocky Swedish coach George Raynor - the film never settles down enough to give us any kind of glimpse into its subject or the world that made him.The cast don't so much act as enact familiar scenes. It's by-the-numbers, uninspired storytelling with music to pull the heartstrings and a typical gang of misfit kids to drive its early minutes.The central theme of Pelé's "ginga" style - serving as the sporting expression of Brazil's troubled relationship with its African heritage - is treated with all the subtlety of a bank advert and never really explored to any kind of satisfactory resolution.The best scene, in which the young upstart encourages his teammates to participate in a no-bounce challenge from their hotel dining room to a Swedish lighthouse, is reduced by the not-very-subtle appearance of the man himself as a guest - a play to the gallery and obvious nod to Pelé's involvement in and sanction of the film.The on-the-field magic and significance of his influence on the football world is also dealt with in a manner that deflates rather than elevates. Fans would do best to watch the documentary clips that appear over the end credits for reminders of their hero's genius.By simply taking the legend at face value and not engaging with it in any kind of critical manner, the Zimbalists' film, like our own Long Walk to Freedom, fails to make much more of a familiar and undoubtedly inspirational story.It is a dramatically limp and lifeless paint-by-numbers recreation that stays in the lines and isn't nearly as engaging as the sports-bar tales told by fans...