field of dreams almost defies description . 
although it's about baseball , it's not a baseball movie . 
although the film is extremely spiritual , it's not about religion . 
and although field of dreams is melodramatic , it's not a tearjerker . 
to really understand what field of dreams is all about , you have to see it . 
in the film , kevin costner plays ray kinsella , a baseball fan , '60s berkeley graduate , and iowa farmer . 
one day as he is standing in the middle of his expansive corn fields , ray hears a voice ; it tells him : " if you build it , he will come . " 
then ray has a vision and somehow concludes that if he builds a baseball field in the middle of his corn , shoeless joe jackson will arise from the dead to play ball once again . 
and even though it depletes his family's savings and his neighbors think he's crazy , ray clears away the corn and builds a baseball field , complete with bleachers and flood lights . 
 " if you build it , he will come . " 
and lo and behold , shoeless joe does come--bringing with him several of his dead teammates . 
and then ray hears the voice again ; it tells him to " ease his pain . " 
ray thinks this means that he must travel to boston to meet terence mann , an influential and radical novelist from the '60s who has since stopped writing and dropped out of society . 
with great aplomb , james earl jones plays the disillusioned author who joins forces with ray and embarks with him on a magical and spiritual journey . 
the cast in field of dreams is excellent , especially kevin costner in the lead role . 
costner gives a quiet , subtle , and moving performance as a man who before building the baseball field had done nothing crazy or spontaneous in his entire life . 
costner gives ray just the right mix of enthusiasm and idealism to make us believe in his mystic visions and swallow this wondrous fairy tale . 
amy madigan gives a fine supporting performance as ray's feisty and loving wife , who against her better judgement supports her husband's crazy ideas . 
in her most impressive scene , madigan vehemently argues against book burning at a p . t . a . 
meeting , displaying the sincere passion of a '60s berkeley radical . 
ray liotta is appropriately eerie and awe-inspiring as the ghost of shoeless joe , the legendary batter who was suspended from baseball for his involvement in the 1919 chicago " black sox " scandal . 
and finally , burt lancaster is memorable in a small , but important , role as a small town doctor whose professional baseball career was limited to only one inning . 
field of dreams is a touching fairy tale full of life , wonder , mystery , spirit , and humor . 
it , for the most part , succeeds in capturing our emotions and suspending our disbelief . 
ray kinsella's spiritual quest in pursuit of his dreams proves to be moving and miraculous . 
but while field of dreams generally avoids excessive melodrama , it unfortunately does at times go overboard , and by the end it gets down-right sappy . 
in general , however , field of dreams is an emotionally satisfying fantasy--one i can recommend to everyone but unromantic cynics .