Richie Rich's Christmas Wish is a 1998 direct-to-video sequel to 1994's Richie Rich. It was directed by John Murlowski and written by Jason Feffer, Mark Furey, & Rob Kerchner. It stars David Gallagher as the title character.
Richie Rich (played by David Gallagher) is the world's richest kid. On Christmas Eve, after playing with his friends, Richie visits his home scientist Professor Keanbean (played by Eugene Levy), who shows him his new Wishing Machine that only works on Christmas Eve. He tries it out, but it's not working right, so he goes to get ready to see his cousin who is visiting. He sees his very mean cousin Reggie (played by Jake Richardson) and heads off to a sleigh with his butler Cadbury (played by Keene Curtis) that they are going to drive to an orphanage and give gifts to all of the children there. However, Reggie sabotages the sleigh and it crashes, leaving everyone talking about how Richie Rich ruined Christmas. Richie runs home and wishes that he was never born and the Wishing Machine grants his wish! No one remembers who he is, but there is another problem. Reggie now lives in his mansion and has taken control of the town, leaving many homeless and threatening to cancel Christmas! Richie must do his best to find Professor Keanbean and his Wishing Machine before Christmas Eve is over or things will be stuck like this forever!
I actually had a lot of fun watching this movie. It's target audience was mostly children, so some of it is pretty predictable and childish. The acting isn't perfect, but it really isn't as bad as people say it is. David Gallagher was a great choice to replace Macauley Culkin, who played Richie in the previous film. I also thought that Keene Curtis did a really good job as Cadbury. Jake Richardson did a great job of making me absolutely hate his character! There really weren't any actors or actresses that I can say did a terrible job. Some of the special effects weren't too good, but I can't really criticize them for that as those were pretty much the best they could do at the time on a smaller budget.
All in all, I thought it was a really fun family movie, but I'm sure children would enjoy it the most. If you watch it, don't go in expecting a masterpiece, and I'm sure you'll have a good time!
