If it is a sports film, and if it is either “based on” or “inspired by” a true story, then according to what has hit theaters since 2000 it must be Disney holding the financial purse strings. Starting with “Remember the Titans” and running all the way through this past January’s “Glory Road,” the studio has carved a nice little niche for itself crafting solidly entertaining family-friendly sports-themed motion pictures.

Obviously, some of these are better than others. The 2002 Dennis Quaid baseball drama “The Rookie” has developed into a borderline modern day classic, while both the hockey-centric “Miracle” and the U.S. Open extravaganza “The Greatest Game Ever Played” are each immensely satisfying. (As for the aforementioned other two, they’re perfectly okay; nothing more, nothing less.) All in all, what these five represent are a string of inexpensive, critically appreciated, audience approved successes, and although they probably wouldn’t want to admit it I’ll take bets it’s a profitable track record the envy of every studio in Hollywood.

Into that fray, then, comes the football melodrama “Invincible” starring Mark Wahlberg and based on the improbable true story of 30-year-old 1976 Philadelphia Eagles rookie Vince Papale. To what I am sure is Disney’s delight, the movie represents a blissfully entertaining late summer surprise so agreeably invigorating I’m still smiling hours after the press screening. While it covers no new ground or achieves the timeless excellence of “The Rookie,” the flick is so well made, so emotionally rousing it’s virtually impossible not to come away from it enthused.

Vince Papale (Wahlberg) is a south Philadelphia school teacher and part-time bartender who, like the majority of his friends, is facing a devastating ocean of hard times. After suffering the dual humiliations of a layoff from his teaching job and his wife running out on him, Papale is urged by his rogues’ gallery of friends to attend the unprecedented public try-outs for his beloved hometown team the Philadelphia Eagles. To surprise of all including himself, Vincent doesn’t just get invited to training camp he actually makes the team, in the end helping the Eagles break out of their losing ways and rediscover a champion’s heritage reinvigorating a city in the process.

There’s nothing about “Invincible” we haven’t seen before. From the doe-eyed love interest (Elizabeth Banks) who believes in him (even though she’s a New York Giants fan), to the downtrodden father (Kevin Conway) who inadvertently gives his son motivation with words of wisdom like, “Man can only take so much failure,” the pieces in play here are all inherently familiar. And yet, I can’t help but say “So what?” Put simply, this movie works, and if your heart doesn’t beat heartily in appreciation than you better go to a doctor because you just might be dead.

Okay, in all fairness that might be pushing it. Freshman director Ericson Core (who doubles as his own cinematographer) does tend to run the sap a little thick (especially towards the end), and while Brad Gann’s script is certainly polished it also doesn’t know a cliché it doesn’t rapturously embrace. And while the film runs a relatively short 100 or so minutes, a good ten to fifteen minutes or so of this easily could have been trimmed without losing a single one of the picture’s charms.

Thankfully, the harm done by these flaws is minimal. Ericson is a master visualist behind the camera, his painterly sepia-toned brushstrokes giving “Invincible” a well-worn intimacy other features usually lack. Even better, the acting is universally solid, Wahlberg, Banks, Conway, Kirk Acevedo, Michael Rispoli (as two of Papale’s childhood friends) and Greg Kinnear (as legendary coach Div Vermeil) so smoothly self-assured they virtually disappear inside their respective roles. The latter, in particular, has had a banner summer, Kinnear following up his masterful turn in “Little Miss Sunshine” with another superlative performance here.

Maybe there is just something about football that can’t help but bring a person to their feet. Baseball may be billed as America’s pastime but I’m prone to believe the sport with the oblong pigskin just might be its heart and soul. There may be no more working class, blue collar extracurricular activity than this one, so seeing a regular Joe no different than you, me or my brother currently hammering away in a service industry job he hates make it in the NFL is extremely heartwarming. “Invincible” may not be perfect but it really doesn’t have to be, because when the yards are counted and the score is tallied thanks to its rugged hero this film’s a winner.