The Midas Touch

You want films like this to have some entertainment value. Sadly, not even Disney did family movies well in the 90s. So, these knock off production companies didn't have much competition to knock off. You expect schlock like this from Asylum when ripping off blockbusters. Yet, this Full Moon Feature went below substandard. This whole film wreaks of bad, from poor production value, poor actors, poor script, poor sets, poor musical composition and incongruity throughout. Here's the biggest stinker. I am seriously tired of movies showing gold being carried around like it has the weight of aluminum or even iron. Water weighs 8.354 lbs per gallon (specific gravity) . Lead weighs <11 times more than water by volume, and everyone knows how much a car battery weighs, which is partially filled with lead. Gold weighs 19.3 times more than water by volume. So, try picking up a milk jug that weighs over 160 lbs, and even most kids are educated enough to know this, kids this movie was geared for. Without revealing spoilers, and most people know the original story of King Midas, a whole human statue made of solid gold would not be carried around by another human or even a standard automobile. Also, using Romanian actors with bad English accents and Romanian backgrounds makes for a bad small town U.S.A. Most children also know this. Bad all around.

Interesting group of people involved here, Peter Manoogian a Full Moon Features regular having directed some of Full Moon's better output such as Seedpeople and Demonic Toys and many others casts Trever O'Brien (brother of Prehysteria's Austin) as Billy, a boy with an ill grandmother whom he loves dearly and victim of school bullies. When a stranger offers him one wish he asks for The Midas Touch and thus everything he touches turns to gold. He hangs out with Leon (another Hollywood brother, Joey Simmrin) and Hannah (Ashley Cafagna-Tesoro, also the star of Werewolf Reborn!). The production is fairly grand considering the budget with some amazing properties used and a really effective use of the Romanian countryside. The cast are not exceptional actors but still manage to be fairly appealing. Ashley Cafagna-Tesoro, here a slightly gormless tweenie, adds the necessary gamine appeal to the boyishness otherwise on show (incidently an older, quite stunning Ashley would land a recurring role in Saved By The Bell and then launch a country music career and with her husband, a religious foundation). Shannon Welles makes a fiery Witch and the owners of a small pawn store are also suitable 'baddies' after the secret to the gold source. Elements of the script truly rock, such as when Hannah slaps an irritating Leon who looks at her studiously, saying "I am opposed to all forms of violence". The film begins with young Billy receiving a massage from a young lady and continues this offbeat humour throughout. Billy's butler asks if he wants him to book the band 'Jam Pearl' and judging by the film generally I reckon such a band might be pretty good. Remember that The Midas Touch can be a curse as well as a blessing. Forget? Then watch this film!

Billy's parents are deceased and he lives with his loving but poor grandmother. Grandma has a bad heart, too, and needs a transplant to ensure a longer life and more active life. To add insult to injury, Billy is bullied at school, where some mean boys take his lunch money and rough him up almost every day. One day, a bully demands that Billy go into a house everyone suspects is haunted. Once there, Billy is to bring back the hourglass seen in the mansion's window. Billy has no choice. He enters the house and is frightened to meet an old lady who may, indeed, have witch-like powers. Because Billy is polite and kind, the crone gives him one wish. Billy, who longs for a new bike and the medical treatment for his gran, decrees that he wants to be like King Midas of mythology. That is, everything the young boy touches will turn to gold. The witch grants his request but warns him that things may not always go as planned. Sure enough, as Billy and his friend Hannah find out, the young boy's new powers can take a turn for the worse, from Billy's gerbil changing into gold, with a slight touch of the finger, to the pawn shop owners wanting to steal all of the objects that Billy has transformed into the precious metal. Is there a way out of this wish/curse? This is a worthy family film with plenty of action and humor. Just watching the heavy set pawnshop owners try to climb a ladder will set anyone to giggling. The cast has no big names but is very fine, as is the snappy and fun-filled script. Sets, costumes and direction are more than adequate, too. In addition, children will be curious about the real king Midas and will want to head to the library or the Internet to find out more. All in all, if you want to bring a non-objectionable, family-friendly film to your youngsters, it would not hurt to seek out this movie. Far from being fool's gold, this film is the genuine article: a motion picture with fun and fine messages for children and their loved ones.