21 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Third-Grade Teacher Thinks Movie is Great for Kids!, October 24, 2004
I'm a third-grade teacher, and I regularly watch different movies with my third-grade kids. I watched this movie at home on TV and thought it was great. I found myself glued to the screen!
This movie is NOT just about a kid who has no friends and spends a million dollars. It is really about learning to appreciate REAL friends, and that people who like you for your money aren't real friends at all. In addition, the movie is a kids' wish-fullfillment fantasy, as a kid manages to spend a million dollars in six days. He learns some important lessons about life, while managing to escape the consequences of his actions through lucky happenstance.
I thought it was a fun movie, and I loved it myself! The movie was great for eight-year-olds, and I know my eleven-year-old daughter would have loved it, too, if she had had the chance to watch it with me.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
This is a Cute Movie That The Whole Family Can Watch Together!., October 16, 2005
A Kid's Review
This is a movie that I didn't think I was going to like because I thought it was going to be really boring and cheesy but I surprised myself by actually liking it and I personally feel that Blank Check is a great movie for the enire family to watch together and I highly recommend it! A very cute movie!
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
And the Moral of the Story Is..., February 13, 2006
There are several ways to watch this movie. The easiest way is to watch the movie as a comedy about a wimpy kid that seems to have self-esteem issues. However, if you look deeper, there are some interesting lessons regarding being yourself and loving your family, even when it seems like they do not love you. Somewhere in all this there is another moral about a fool and his money parting in six days.
Preston Waters (Brian Bonsall - the cute little kid in "Family Ties" who has now disappeared from acting) is the invisible kid in his family. Preston seems to have difficulty catching a break. He has to ride the awful rides at a theme park. His brothers move their junk into his room because they are enterprising and are starting a business. Preston is unable to start a checking account because he has less than the $200 minimum balance. However, Preston meets beautiful Shay Stanley (Karen Duffy) while at the bank, little realizing that Shay had an itty bitty secret.
Preston's life reaches a low point when a fellow named Quigley (Miguel Ferrer) runs over his bicycle and destroys it. Quigley is writing a check when a police car shows up. Since Quigley is on the run from the police, Quigley hands Preston a signed blank check to pay for the damaged bicycle and leaves as quickly as possible.
Preston gets a very clever idea. Preston wonders whether he might be able to write a check for a thousand...no, wait...a MILLION dollars. I could tell that Preston did not actually think he would be able to get away with writing a check for a million dollars. To Preston, and my, surprise, a shady bank executive named Biderman (Michael Lerner) honors the million dollar check, thinking that Quigley had sent Preston to pick the money up.
Preston departs with his new fortune as Juice (Tone Loc) shows up, sent by Quigley to pick the money up. Soon Quigley, Juice and Biderman are all searching for Preston.
Preston quickly becomes accustomed to having a million dollars and spends the money quickly. Preston acquires a house, lots of high tech toys, a chauffeur, and nice clothes. Preston culminates his short career as a boy of wealth by throwing a birthday party for himself that quickly turns bittersweet, with emphasis on the bitter.
Once you ignore the potential consequences, the movie suddenly becomes interesting and enjoyable. I admit to occasionally wondering how Preston would get himself out of the hole that he insisted on digging for himself as he created the persona of Macintosh, who was busily breaking a number of laws. Disney decides to keep the ending light and happy, and neglects the details as the bad guys get theirs and Preston learns a lesson about love and family and life in general.
As the credits roll, focus on the fun aspects of this movie. We know that it would be impossible to do what Preston did without going to jail, or serving some sort of sentence. Quigley made the unfortunate mistake of being a criminal in a Disney movie, and criminals have never fared well in Disney movies. In this movie, the criminal gets his just desserts as the essentially good kid walks back to his family and avoids responsibility as the funny bad guy Quigley walks back to prison, accepting all the responsibility. Perhaps Preston might have learned more had he accepted responsibility for his mistakes, but we have always enjoyed lovable rogues, and Brian Bonsall was a cute underdog who we wanted to walk away from his mistakes without repercussions. The clever and tidy ending allows Preston a happy ending, and lets you know that you have watched another nicely packaged Disney movie. Enjoy!
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