Richie Rich (film)

Plot

Richard "Richie" Rich Jr. (Macaulay Culkin) is the world's wealthiest kid, the son of billionaire businessman and philanthropist Richard Rich, Sr. (Edward Herrmann). Richie has only his loyal butler Herbert Cadbury (Jonathan Hyde) as a companion, and lacks any friends his own age. At a dedication to the reopening of United Tool, a factory Richard recently acquired (intending to modernize the factory and give it away to the workers as a token of goodwill) Richie encounters a group of sandlot kids playing baseball. Unfortunately, before he is able to talk to them, the overly-strict head of security, Ferguson (Chelcie Ross), stops Richie and sharply pulls him away. Cadbury, ever the "third parent", reprimands Ferguson.

Richard tries to keep in touch with Richie and spend time with his son whenever he can. Professor Keenbean (Mike McShane) has invented a machine called the "Dadlink" that pinpoints Richard's location in seconds, so Richie can talk to his dad whenever he's away on business. Meanwhile, the greedy CFO of Rich Industries named Lawrence Van Dough (John Larroquette) is planning to steal the Rich financial fortune, believed to be stored in the Rich family vault. Van Dough, with the help of Ferguson, plots to blow up the plane carrying the Rich family to England.

Cadbury makes a suggestion to Richie's mother Regina (Christine Ebersole) and arranges for Richie to stay home in Chicago with the sandlot kids for a weekend of fun. That weekend allows Richie to earn the friendship of the sandlot kids, most importantly, Gloria Pazinski (Stephi Lineberg). Cadbury also begins to fall for Gloria's mother, Dianne (Mariangela Pino).

During the plane trip to England, the bomb is detected. Richard is able to toss it out his window, but it detonates, destroying part of the tail, sending Billion Dollar One into the Atlantic Ocean. Richie Sr. and Regina survive the crash and float on a life raft. Believing that Richie's parents are dead, Van Dough assumes leadership of the Rich corporation, and proceeds to cut the many charitable contributions the Rich family were known for. This includes closing the recently reopened United Tool factory, which the parents of the sandlot kids relied upon for their income. This angers Richie, who proceeds to the company headquarters and, as a living Rich family member, assumes the leadership position.

Van Dough, however, sees this as a minor setback: as Richie is still underage, his ability to run the business is limited by the powers given to him by someone who was able to give it to him – namely, Cadbury. Cadbury is framed for the Rich family's apparent murder, and the Rich family's other loyal servants are all fired en masse by Van Dough's edict. Van Dough plots to have Cadbury murdered in jail and make it look like a suicide. With Professor Keenbean eavesdropping on their conversation, he manages to sneak Richie out and enact a successful plan to help Cadbury escape from prison. Cadbury and Richie then make their way to Gloria's house, where Dianne tends to Cadbury, and Richie uses Gloria's computer to hack into the Dadlink's mainframe at Richie's mansion.

During this time, Van Dough finds out about Cadbury's escape and, with Ferguson's help, confronts Keenbean. They tie the professor up and threaten him with his own invention, the molecular reorganizer. Keenbean states that the lock to the Rich family vault is voice-activated and only Richard and Regina can open it. Van Dough, meanwhile, is still unaware of their continued survival.

Richard's Dadlink transceiver was damaged in the crash, and when Richard manages to send out a distress code, the signal is intercepted by Ferguson, who disconnects Richie's modem from the phone line and then informs Van Dough that Richard and Regina are still alive.

After rescuing Keenbean from captivity, the kids and Diane manage to sneak both Richie and Cadbury back into Rich Manor, only to discover that the Dadlink shows that Richie's parents are inside Rich Manor. He is shocked to discover that Van Dough had anticipated his own arrival, and had arranged for his parents' rescue. Held at gunpoint, Van Dough forces the Rich family elders to reveal the location of the Rich vault, while Ferguson and his partner take Richie and his friends to the molecular reorganizer. Once in the lab, Keenbean manages to subdue both Ferguson and his partner with some very sticky substance, but ends up stuck as well; thinking cleverly, he uses a remote to power a robotic bee he created to sting Ferguson, causing him to crash into the machine's emergency off button, and thus saving Richie and the others.

Van Dough is eventually led to Mount Richmore, where the vault is located. There, he is furious upon discovering that the vault only holds the Rich family's most precious memories and keepsake treasures – nothing that is valuable monetarily; he then learns that the Rich family keeps their money in banks, the stock market, and real estate. Desperate to get the money, he attempts to shoot Richard and Regina, only for Richie to appear in the nick of time and interfere. Van Dough attempts to shoot Richie instead, but manages to barely faze him (because of a special spray of Professor Keenbean's which makes any fabric bulletproof). The Rich family manages to get away and the chase leads them down the side of the mountain, where they are under further attack by Ferguson and a rock-blasting laser that had originally been used to sculpt the mountain/vault. Cadbury finally succeeds in disarming Ferguson, while Van Dough ends up hanging upside down for dear life, after Cadbury blasts away the rock-face near him with the laser. Although Richard has never fired any of his employees ever, he allows Richie to fire Van Dough, who is then subsequently punched by Regina.

Later, Richie plays baseball with his new friends for the United Tool team on the Rich Manor's yard (with Cadbury as team coach and Keenbean as umpire) and hits a home run which is picked up by Van Dough, who's doing gardening with Ferguson as part of their work release, and subsequently tosses it into the fountain. Richard and Regina state that Richie now really is the richest boy in the world, as he has found the one thing that money can't buy: friends.

Cast

Production

Though set in Chicago, the house and grounds at which most of Richie Rich is filmed are those of the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina. Some scenes, however, are filmed in Chicago, including a fencing scene filmed at DePaul University's Cortelyou Commons. The roller coaster in the backyard is the former stand-up roller coaster Iron Wolf at Six Flags Great America. In contrast to the famous publication and animated series, a few characters are eliminated to accommodate the movie: among them are Irona the robot maid.

Data East was one of few regular pinball companies that manufactured custom pinball games e.g. for the movie Richie Rich. This pinball machine was based on The Who's Tommy Pinball Wizard machine.

Reception

The movie received a 24% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 21 reviews, with the sites critical consensus reads: "With Macaulay Culkin barely registering any emotion, Richie Rich feels disjointed and free of a sense of fun and wonderment". Roger Ebert gave the film 3 out of 4 stars saying he was surprised how much he enjoyed it and though it was not the greatest movie, he liked that it had style and did not go for cheap payoffs. Richie Rich earned a Razzie Award nomination for Macaulay Culkin as Worst Actor for his performance in the movie (also for Getting Even with Dad and The Pagemaster) but lost the award to Kevin Costner for Wyatt Earp.

The film earned $38 million at the North America box office on a $40 million budget. It was however a home video success, with $125 million in VHS rentals.

Sequel

Richie Rich's Christmas Wish is a 1998 direct-to-video sequel starring David Gallagher in the titular role.