L'apprenti millionnaire

Little Preston Waters (Brian Bonsall) is down on his luck. He needs money. Badly. He attends a little brat's birthday party and after seeing all his big-spending friends and the birthday boy, decides it's time for a change. Now we know his own special day is approaching. His thrifty father provides him with an $11 check, and as he goes down to his local bank to cash it, a recently-released thief named Carl Quigley(played convincingly by Miguel Ferrer) runs over his little bicycle. Eager to avoid the police, Quigley gives the kid a blank check and takes off. The check has fallen into the wrong hands, as Preston fills it in for a cool $1m and what do you know, has no trouble cashing it! Things get worse for the boy after a spending spree, as the money will eventually disappear, and a certain someone will be longing for that fortune.

I enjoyed Brian Bonsall's and Karen Duffy's little friendship, along with friendly limousine driver Rick Ducommun, but the plot is way too basic, and my opinion remains the same now, as it did in 1994, when I first saw the film.

This is an obvious attempt to rip off 'Home Alone' and 'Richie Rich', which, coincidentally, both star Macaulay Culkin. If Culkin were young enough to play this part, I have no doubt he'd pull it off, if he did play it. In the case of the Home Alone-rip-off, instead of robbers you have money launderers. Preston's family is similar to that of Home Alone's: His brothers hate him (or at least act like they do). You've got all the elements here for a movie about a kid living in an adult world, except for one thing: a child his own age. That is one crucial thing that's never explored or mentioned here. Just think of the comic possibilities of the movie if he were trying to impress someone his own age, or at least slightly older. But those are just suggestions in an otherwise hilarious family comedy! *** out of ****

Preston Waters is a young boy with no money. His older brothers are taking over his room for their business. His grandma's birthday check isn't enough to open a bank account. Escaped robber Carl Quigley (Miguel Ferrer) threatens bank president Edward Biderman (Michael Lerner) and orders him to launder his stolen money. Carl is sending Juice (Tone Loc) the next day to cash a check. Outside the bank, Carl almost runs over Preston with his car and destroys his bike. Carl gives Preston a check but fails to write down an amount as he rushes away before the cops arrive. Preston fills in $1 million. Biderman mistakes Preston for the expected Juice and hands over the money. Preston creates a fake identity Macintosh to buy a mansion, hire chauffeur Henry, woo bank teller Shay Stanley (Karen Duffy) who turns out to be an undercover cop, and throw a big birthday party.

Money obsession is not necessary a great subject for a kids movie. This could still be fun if Preston has friends. It could be loads of childhood fun. Instead, he's alone and it's terribly sad. The young actor isn't charismatic enough and it's probably expecting too much from him. His fling with Karen Duffy is borderline creepy. The villains are not bumbling enough and Miguel Ferrer is actually quite scary. There is simply a lack of fun in this kids movie.

Blank Check (1994)

** (out of 4)

Preston Waters (Brian Bonsall) stumbles across a check for one million dollars so obviously he cashes it and begins to live the high life. What he didn't realize is that the check was meant for gangsters and soon they're coming after him.

BLANK CHECK is a decent kids movie that has an obvious set-up and then turns into yet another clone of HOME ALONE. If you're a kid then you can easily connect to the lead in this film and I'm sure young minds will have fun with the idea of getting a blank check and getting to have fun with it buying whatever you want.

The story is a pretty easy set-up and for the most part the film has enough laughs and adventure to where I'm sure kids will enjoy it. As far as the adults watching, there's nothing awful about the picture but there's no question that it lacks any real imagination and the HOME ALONE clone just doesn't have many laughs going for it.

BLANK CHECK is a decent kids film that younger people should enjoy but the adults might be looking at their watches a few times.

Brian Bonsall, Karen Duffy, Miguel Ferrer, James Rebhorn, Jayne Atkinson, Michael Lerner, and Tone Loc star in this great movie about how when a child gets a million dollars nothing is impossible. Preston Waters (Brian Bonsall) has just got his bike totally ruined and received a blank check from the guy who ran over it. When he discovers it's blank he writes in One Million Dollars and gets everything he could ever dream of. When he runs into trouble with everybody he realizes being rich isn't all he expected. The whole family will enjoy this movie.