First Kid: Una peste alla Casa Bianca

I thought I'd stumbled upon another cheesy movie. But no, this is one of the good ones. As a matter of fact, I'm surprised why it's getting such a low rating.

Sam Simms (Sinbad) is hired to be the personal Secret Service agent of the President's son Luke Davenport (Brock Pierce), after the current agent got fired. No wonder, too, because Luke is a pain in the neck who pulls all kinds of stunts and practical jokes - for fun or for attention? You'll find out.

Sinbad and Brock Pierce work wonderfully together, and the scenes with the two of them are good. The scenes with them and Dash (Blake Boyd) are even better. I must say that I particularly liked Dash's (however brief) dancing outside the school hall - seem familiar? Oh, yes.

They could have left out the kidnapping plot, but it does make for an interesting addition.

A great movie. Worth the rental.

My expectations for 'First Kid' were very low, in that regard it's actually marginally better than I thought it would be. Still, it's a film I most certainly wouldn't recommend.

Sinbad gives the most noteworthy performance of the cast, in his role as Simms. Even so, it isn't anything great or memorable from him. All of the others aren't worth mentioning, though it is cool to see Rafiki himself, Robert Guillaume, make an appearance - I didn't actually know what he looked like before watching, but in one of his early scenes he laughs and I knew instantly it was that man.

The plot is what lets this down. Just a quick glance at the cover gives off negative vibes, while the opening few scenes don't give you any more confidence either. It's extremely predictable, as well as being rather messy - you don't see the villain until the final 20-25 minutes, so are waiting for around 70mins for the obvious to come to fruition.

I've seen worse from live-action Disney, but it's still a poor attempt from the studio.

I didn't dislike First Kid nearly as much as I thought I was going to, but I also didn't think it was that funny. Most of humor depends on whether you find Sinbad to be entertaining or not. He mostly just seems to riff on the scene and improvise his lines. Sometimes it works. Most of the time it doesn't. I found the titular kid to be highly annoying for the first part of the film, too, but I guess that was kind of the point. The story also takes an oddly dark turn at the end, which I wasn't expecting in such a lighthearted movie. I don't regret watching it, but I probably won't watch it again.

In the 90s, Sinbad was doing pretty well for himself in the family comedy genre. First Kid falls into that genre. It's a safe harmless comedy for all ages. Though it has, unfortunately, aged like milk. Watching it in 2020 is a challenge. Although it still has it's funny moments, it's just can't compare to other films in the same genre that have come out since. Where as films like Home Alone, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, or The Sandlot are timeless classics, First Kid definitely had it's expiration date. Brock Pierce was an OK child actor but he definitely needed Sinbad to prop him up. He hasn't done any films since 1997, so perhaps Hollywood was well aware of his limited acting chops. It's OK, child actors in the 90s were a dime a dozen and most of them have since moved on in their lives, Pierce among them.

If you want a safe child-friendly family comedy to kill an hour and a half, there are much better films to choose from, but if you've seen them all, give this one a chance. It is indeed entertaining.

First Kid is a 1996 comedy that centers around a secret service agent who is assigned to protect the president's son.

Directed by David Mickey Evans and starring Sinbad and Brock Pierce, First Kid is a fun comedy from my childhood that I still have fond memories of watching. And although it's story is pretty simple and the jokes are kind of silly with minimal memorable moments, it still has an amusing charm about it that keeps you entertained. Sinbad gives a solid comedic performance that won't leave your stomach hurting from laughter, but that will definitely have you chuckling from time to time.

It's not the best Disney produced comedy of all time, but I still enjoy it all these years later. If you've never seen it before and like old Disney movies, I'd recommend checking it out.