Steve Pulaski Richie Rich stars the charismatic, easily-lovable Macaulay Culkin in a role that basically begged for him from the first day of pre-production. Unfortunately, nothing else begged much attention in terms of how Richie Rich conducts itself as a piece of family entertainment. Is it serviceable? Absolutely. Just prepare for a rather long and tedious ninety-four minutes. Kids will appreciate it, seeing their favorite hero from Home Alone getting into more hairy little circumstances, but the true victims, the parents, will likely be contemplating better things they could be doing with their time.Make no mistake; I was enjoying Richie Rich for about forty-five minutes on a simply, passable level. Then at the hour mark, I grew restless, and by the finale, I was shaking my head at the missed opportunity the film could've capitalized on. I'll come back to this later. The story is inspired from the comic-book character who made quite the name for himself in books and strips that I never found myself reading. He is played by Macaulay Culkin, who was born to Richard and Regina Rich (Edward Herrmann and Christine Ebersole), a couple worth a dollar over $70 billion thanks to their immensely successful Rich Industries. The three live in a house that appears to be sitting two full-size golf courses, and embrace their wealthy status in the way of philanthropy, and not personal narcissism.While Richie enjoys living a lavish life, traveling in helicopters, playing basketball in doors, and carrying thousand-dollar bills in his wallet, he greatly envies the lives of regular, middle-class children, who have very little priorities and can spend their days playing baseball in an open sandlot.With this kind of setup, you'd think the film would be on the track of setting up a "lonely rich boy" sort of moral, emphasizing that all the money in the world can't buy true, wholesome companionship, right? Well, just as we're about to further dive into that, a pesky plot point involving corruption, attempted-murder, and industry takeover begins to plague the Rich family, and with rumor that his parents are dead after a nice pack of TNT was on their private plane, Richie assumes the role as the CEO of the company. But just as we're about to go further into that detail, we focus on one of Richard Rich's employees, who tried to murder the couple and their kid to take over Rich Industries for himself. Not if Richie and his loyal butler Herbert Cadbury (Jonathan Hyde) can help it, though.Right off the bat, we just passed up two solid directions this film could've taken instead of the contrived, foreseeable one it settled on. Yet if there's one thing that can't be overlooked about this film, it's the abundance of character-actors, who all do a capable job of doing what they can with what they have - especially Macaulay Culkin. Culkin's gifted, easy-going performance makes one sad that this was his last "big" film as a child actor, before landing roles in several under-performing independent films before fading into tabloid obscurity.Co-writer of Richie Rich Neil Tolkin worked on License to Drive, a potent, lively comedy about a teen and his two friends going out after hours in his grandfather's Cadillac even after failing his driver's test. After that, he settled for very little doing both Richie Rich and the atrocious Pauly Shore comedy Jury Duty a year later. When glancing through director Donald Petrie's filmography, it appears that he has made a career out of making spur-of-the-moment comedies that usually do fairly well at the box office before becoming safe-bets on cable. He has a formula and he should stick to it. It's just sort of upsetting that Richie Rich aspires to be functional, rather than successful.Starring: Macaulay Culkin, Edward Herrmann, Christine Ebersole, Jonathan Hyde, and John Larroquette. Directed by: Donald Petrie.

Jackson Booth-Millard From director Donald Petrie (Mystic Pizza, Miss Congeniality), this is a film that probably got many kids saving their pocket money, I certainly wished I was rich. Basically Richie Rich (Razzie nominated Macaulay Culkin) is the richest kid in the world with unlimited wealth and everything he could ever want. There is one thing thing he doesn't have that he longs for, a normal life with some friends, but one day he sees some kids playing baseball and wants to join them, but they don't want him around. Richie manages to get them to like him however when he invites them to enjoy themselves to his mansion and all its luxuries, including a roller-coaster and a McDonald's restaurant. Meanwhile, Lawrence Van Dough (John Larroquette), the Rich family's executive is planning to kill the family and steal their fortune, so when Richie realises, he with his new friends and trusted English butler Herbert Arthur Runcible Cadbury (Jonathan Hyde) plan to stop him. Also starring Edward Herrmann as Richard Rich, Christine Ebersole as Regina Rich, Michael McShane as Professor Keenbean, Chelcie Ross as Ferguson, Mariangela Pino as Diane Pazinski, Stephi Lineburg as Gloria Pazinski, Michael Maccarone as Tony and Claudia Schiffer as Aerobics Instructor. It has its moments of slapstick for the kids, but it is nowhere as entertaining as Home Alone, especially with Culkin reaching the age of 14 and nearly an adolescent. Okay!

bradleyadita While 1994 was a great year to be Green Day or The Offspring, this was not so for the young Macaulay Culkin and his fans. As a 14 year old playing the younger 12 year "richest kid in the world", Culkin and his management must have realized quickly that he could not stay a child actor forever. Richie Rich, therefore became Culkin's last major project until his return to film as a 23-year-old young adult in 2003's Party Monster.In "Rich", no actor is in top form. The laughs were too few and too far between, especially for a family comedy. The post-Jurassic Park CGI "robot bee" may have even been a hindrance rather than a creative flourish. None of the characters were developed beyond the simple caricatures we'd expect and further stripped of comedic potential. By the time the antagonist breaks into the vault, anyone over the age of 17 probably knew what was inside; that is if they hadn't already stopped paying attention and fallen asleep.Had the film starred another adolescent lead, we may have been forgiving, but the overall quality of this venture paled in comparison with the Culkin we knew from Uncle Buck, the Home Alone pictures, My Girl, and even his brief appearance in Michael Jackson's 9 minute "Black or White" rampage. Being that it was filmed in and around the Chicagoland area, and that this reviewer is a sucker for anything local, this reviewer feels generous giving Richie Rich 4 out of 10 IMDb stars.

lordzedd-3 The comic is older then I am, but it still stands the test of time. The richest boy in the world facing off against villainous foes that would take that wealth away is a good one. The cartoon from my childhood still ranks one of my favorites. This live action adaptation is pretty good, but far from perfect. There is still about three complaints I have. One, Mike McShane as Keenbean, Mike is a great actor and a very funny improver. But he's not right for Keenbean. He's too large. Two, Dollar is a rare species of dog, one of a kind as far as I know, the Dollarmation. As in Dalmatian with dollar shaped spots. The dog they got was too small and didn't do all those crazy things to become a hero like in the cartoon. Lastly, no Irona the robot maid. She may be just a robot maid, but she is just as important to the cast as Richie and Keenbean. Macaulay Culkin does a great job as Richie, even though I would have liked to seen his famous sweater with the R on it. But that's minor, I give it 8 STARS.