O Natal do Riquinho

Richie Rich'$ Christmas Wish

You would think that being bitten by a radioactive $100 bill would be the basis of an affluent comic book character.

However, the only power the world's richest kid in this family-comedy possesses is that of financial persuasion.

After his envious cousin Reggie Van Dough (Jake Richardson) sabotages Richie Rich (David Gallagher) and his butler Cadbury's (Keene Curtis) sleigh, and slanders him around town, Richie uses a wish machine - cooked up by one of his scientists - to wish he'd never been born.

Trapped in a world where Reggie is now the richest and meanest kid in the world, Richie races to obtain the dinosaur fossil that will fuel this alternate realities disengaged wishing machine.

With a story that borrows heavily from superior seasonal fare and a cast of no names replacing the noteworthy originals, Richie Rich'$ Christmas Wish is bankrupt.

As for my Christmas wish: no Christmas until December 1. (Red Light)

vidiotreviews.blogspot.ca

Richie Rich (David Gallagher) is the world's richest kid. He has his own personal "inventor", Professor Keanbean (Eugene Levy) who has just presented him with a terrific snowmobile! Also, the young man has Cadbury (Keene Curtis), a one-kid valet to help him with anything and everything. Lucky lad! On the down side, Richie has an evil, jealous cousin, Reggie Van Dough (Jake Richardson) who is as mean as Richie is nice. Keanbean now shows Richie a brand new gadget. While it looks like a washing machine, its actually a WISHING machine. On Xmas eve, Richie can make a wish! But, before that, Richie is extremely excited to drive a sleigh, filled with toys, to the local orphanage. Its the first time the boy has been allowed to be the driver. However, Reggie foils the plan for, using a universal remote, Reg makes Richie crash into buildings and, finally, lose the toys over a cliff, where they explode! Feeling awful, Richie uses his wishing machine to ask that he had never been born. It's so! His parents don't know him, nor do the town folk, but his loyal dog, Dollar does. As Reggie takes over the whole community, including Richie's parents (Martin Mull and Lesley Ann Warren), will Richie be able to take back the wish and set right the havoc that Reggie has wrought? This is a fun flick for families at Christmastime. Based on a Sixties series of comic books, Richie is an entertaining character, with a Dalmatian with dollar sign spots! All of the actors do a nice job and the production looks great, with nice sets, costumes, and art direction. The script and direction create a lively movie, with plenty of action and effects. No, this viewer didn't see the original Richie, with Macauley Culkin. But, after taking on this one, all one can wish for is MORE Richie films, someday, sometime.

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!

After being sabotaged on his yearly Christmas run to the orphans home, Richie Rich begins feeling sorry for himself and wishes he was never born. What happens is a total surprise to the boy and leads to situation much worse than the one he was so upset over. Some of the acting was extremely bad as was much of the tale; so silly it was pretty much for kids only. The one truly bright spot was the beastly little Reggie Rich, a little snot I would take pleasure in permanently maiming.

This was a cute movie. I watched it with my family a couple Christmas's ago and thought it was good. It tries to teach lessons about giving and selflessness, but they are still subtle enough to children that they will be intrigued by it.

The down side, I think, it how obviously fake some of the special effects are. But hey, it was made in 1998. You can't criticize it too much for that.

I don't think it will ever be as big as "How the Grinch Stole Christmas", but it is a nice movie to watch with family to get you into the Christmas season.