Rent-a-Kid - Familie auf Probe

Russ and Valerie are having discussions about starting a family. The couple live in a posh apartment and run an auction business that deals with valuable collectibles. At the same time, a dedicated adoption agency owner takes a mini vacation and leaves the orphanage in the charge of his father (Leslie Nielsen). Father Harry is in the rental business and he gets the brilliant idea to "rent" some of the children of the orphanage to couples like Russ and Valerie. Harry, who becomes aware of the couple'e dilemma, offers a family of siblings for a 10 day rental period! Brandon, Kyle, and Molly move into the apartment with their temporary parents, with amusing consequences, as the new caretakers are inexperienced with kids. But, where is the possibility of a happy ending? This is a darling family film. The actors, including Nielsen as the wheeler-dealer and Christopher Lloyd as the kind apartment doorman, are all wonderful. The script is snappy and fun and the overall production values quite high. Yes, if only life could be this way! Orphaned children everywhere deserve a chance to prove that they are lovable and can give so much joy to the parents who are considering adoption. If you want to show a film to your family that is rooted in good values but is also highly entertaining, find this movie. It is guaranteed to have everyone laughing, even as their hearts are melting.

This wasn't a particularly good movie, but it wasn't awful either. Incredibly and sometimes charmingly predictable--like a Leave It to Beaver episode--Rent-a-Kid is neither very interesting nor particularly memorable, but it's pretty harmless. It's typical made-for-TV fare, really, devoid of well-developed characters or relationships, and in the end everybody is a good guy. But it doesn't insult one's intelligence and the kids are fairly cute--unlike the typical obnoxious, irritatingly precocious brats that usually plague this sort of movie. Rent-a-Kid makes for entertainment only if you're really bored, but at least you won't feel worse about the world after having watched it.

The movie is an interesting fictional story with both happy and sad situations. It's a story of three sibling orphans that get a chance for adoption. One of the kids has a tendency to not always tell the full truth, and the renter parents start out reluctant to believe anything the child says. The renter parents never had kids of their own, and do not have the parental skills to work with a child with this habit. Part way through the movie, the rental parents begin to value a material item over the children. How sad that this analogy often occurs in real life. I remember watching this movie as a youngster, and I would love to watch it again if it ever was shown on TV. I would not recommend purchasing the DVD, as the video quality is unwatchable. It's as if the DVD was a poor transfer from a blurry VHS tape.

I ran across this movie at the local video store during their yearly sidewalk sale. While scanning thousands of videos, hoping to find a few cartoon movies for sale, I came across this movie. I read the back of the movie and knew it was God's hand at work for me to purchase this movie. You see, I have a sibling group of three foster (and soon to be adopted) children living with my family. Immediately my foster children made a connection with the three children starring in the movie. The movie helped them better understand their own circumstances. For the first time, also, the oldest of the sibling group (7 year old/female) decided to open up to me a little bit about her past and the trauma she had experienced. She has been fighting the entire trust issue. This is also the first time I had seen her cry. After watching the film, I asked her what it meant for a child to be adopted. She replied, "It means to be happy." A must see for families who are fostering children and are considering adoption. It certainly opened the lines of communication with us.

The cast was good, and I thought it was a good performance from Christopher Lloyd, whom I like from previous movies. The movie was a great family movie, nothing that would make you worry to show it to younger kids, a good story line, lots of laughs, lighthearted and enjoyable. If you want to entertain children without being bored to tears this fits the bill. Kid pleasing, and not difficult for a parent to watch, either.