Customer Reviews

North / Movie [VHS]

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

I actually bought this movie by mistake, thinking that I had picked up Mr. North, the film adaptation of Thornton Wilder's book of the same name. The video lay around my house unviewed for some time after I bought it, and by the time I realized my error, it was too late to return it. So, I decided just to watch it and see what I had actually gotten.

Well, what I got was an enjoyable little fantasy/comedy directed by Rob Reiner. It centers around a terrific eleven year old kid named North (Elijah Wood) who feels that, despite his scholastic, athletic, and thespian achievements, his parents just ignore him. So, he does the unthinkable. He gets himself an attorney. He gets a legal separation from his parents. He then travels the world, searching for the perfect parents. In doing so, he inadvertently causes a mini-revolution that puts kids in the driver's seat, as parents scramble to remain the parents of record.

There are some very funny moments throughout this film, which boasts a stellar cast. Jason Alexander and Julia Louis-Dreyfus are well paired as North's self-absorbed parents. Jon Lovitz plays the role of North's sleazy attorney. Bruce Willis is the sage that mysteriously appears in every vignette in which North is trying out new parents for size. Probably the funniest potential new parents are those played by Reba McEntire and Dan Ackroyd. Moreover, one of the bonuses of having Reba McEntire in the film is that she sings in it and is simply terrific, as is the rest of the cast. This is definitely a funny little film that turned out to be a pleasant surprise.

This movie is not intended to be taken seriously, and to watch it, you have to remember what it was like to be a kid. Kids are a little egocentric(some more than others) and that is where the humor comes in. The stereotypes of all the places North visits are a dead giveaway that this is how these places are percieved in a child's mind. Typical things most people hear about a place, such as the french people being obsessed with Jerry Lewis. I must reiterate, you cannot take it seriously. Those people that find it offensive completly miss the point. The point was that North is a typical kid who doesn't appreciate his parents. The fact that he sees his parents as not appreciative of him is what is typical of children, and what makes him so amusing and adorable. He is not unreasonable in expecting acknowledgement of all his acheievements, and his baffled expression when he tells his coach his problem is just so believable. I think any kid can relate. "A child is born. He is given a life. And he is appreciated by everyone but the parents who gave him that life." That's pretty close if not an exact quote. He doesn't whine when he says this. Just looks confused. And when you see the opening scene of his parents rambling on about their work problems not even listening to each other while North feins a heart attack, you have to agree there is a problem. But it's obvious that they do care, because they finally acknowledge him when he falls out of his chair onto the floor yelling dramatically. The point is parents aren't perfect, although this is an exaggeration of that point. This is one of the things North realizes at the end of the movie, and he is all the wiser for his outrageous adventures.I thought this movie was charming, but not the best family film I ever saw. It could've done without the inappropriate adult humor in some scenes, although most would go over young viewers heads. Like the scene where Bruce Willis is doing stand up and tells a tacky joke about sex, which is one of the more noticable examples. Otherwise, it's worth at least a rental if you have a light-hearted silly side and can relate to kids and their troubles. The celebrity cameos are very entertaining.

When I first heard about this movie, I was expecting a "bratty-kid divorces-his-parents" kind of flick. But this movie was a joy and a delight. It has a good moral message for families and also tells a funny FUNNY story in the process. It's full of stars and Bruce Willis is perfectly cast as a Guardian Angel.

Whoever wrote this screenplay is a funny FUNNY guy and the movie is full of sight gags, too.

Above all, the movie has almost no dirty language or inappropriate scenes for young viewers.

This is a real classic and our whole family enjoyed watching it.

You have to see this movie to see macho man Bruce Willis in a bunny suit. Beyond Bruce Willis, Elijah Wood plays North, a young boy whose parents live the yuppie stereotype. It seems they never have time for him, though he's every parent's "perfect child". Because North is so unhappy, he decides to find new parents. There is a small plot twist here that I leave the viewer to find for themselves. During North's travels he meets all sorts of strange people, including one relatively normal family.

Perhaps the strangest and funniest of North's potential parents are Dan Ackroyd and Reba McEntire as over-the-top Texans. Everything on their ranch is big, and everything they do has a sense of exaggeration about it. It's campy and funny and corny. North also gets to go to Hawaii and Alaska among a couple of other places. There was one place where I felt a bit uncomfortable during his stopover in Alaska, though, as Grandpa (Abe Vigoda) was getting set to sail off into the sunset. While there may be some truth in the custom, I felt the portrayal was a bit disturbing.

Some reviewers have faulted this movie as being terrible or awful. While this movie was unlikely to win any awards, Elijah's performance was good. Further, I felt that this movie was suitable for children. The reaction I've seen from children thus far has been positive.

Many adults will likely not appreciate this movie as there are too many clichés. Furthermore, some aspects of the movie have been previously done. Lastly, the corny way in which some vignettes are done can be distracting. However, you need to remember the source of the vignettes, and realize that the camp and corn are appropriate to the source. Enough said.

I thought the movie was interesting and watchable. Admittedly portions are weak, but I found a number of funny points. The first time I watched I wasn't paying as close attention, and lost how North transitioned from being in the mall to looking for new parents, and thus I lost part of the point. The second time I watched, the movie made much more sense and I understood why everything was so corny. Give this one a shot if you like children's movies.

This movie centers on an 11 year-old boy named North (Elijah Wood), who think that his parent don't appreciate him enough, and his journey around the world to find new Parents. Followed wherever he goes by his guardian angel, (Bruce Willis) he encouters a wonderful cast of people,including Jason Alexander, Dan Akroyd, and many more! It's funny, (watch out for a little cussing)and I liked it alot!

"North" may not be Academy Award material, but it is definitely a movie you would want to see to have a few laughs. It's sweet and funny, and Elijah Wood is just plain adorable. I have to admit that it was interesting to see Bruce Willis in a rabbit costume. If you need a good family movie with a great lesson, see "north"

"North" was a movie that came out in Summer 1994 and was the target of getting lost in the shuffle of big budget hits and was subject to extremely bad reviews. "North" is a fantasy which is fun for numerous repeated viewings (I went back several times to the theatre to see it again). Although it gets very unrealistic and quite silly at some points, there is a reason for it. Everything gets explained in the suprise ending. Elijah Wood is perfect, and fits in perfectly with Bruce Willis playing his co-star. If you're in the mood for something a little silly, try this delight. You should expect a fantasy to be somewhat ridiculous at times. The few silly parts will be explained in the suprise of an ending.

People who are bashing this film REALLY need to lighten up. The film's message is meant to be taken seriously, but its supposed "racist stereotypes" are not. The film is meant to be seen through the eyes of a child, for God's sake, and a child sees only what he THINKS he knows about other cultures. A child isn't going to have complete knowledge of the various cultures represented in this film.

I found it to be a weird mixture of cold-hearted, warm and fuzzy, and just plain weird --- MUCH LIKE CHILDHOOD ITSELF.

And that's why I liked it. To me, it was a giant metaphor for the confusion of childhood.

As for the people complaining it's "too mean" to be a kid's film, it's no meaner than your average Grimm's fairy tale.

If only it were available on DVD.

I have seen this movie multiple times and LOVE it! It is so cute and deserves to be on DVD. I know that the critics gave it poor reviews, but everyone that I know that has watched it loves it. I definitely recommend it to families. It is a classic 90's movie.

I first saw this film when it came out in 1994, but was fighting health issues which made it impossible to get out and buy a VHS copy of the film. Nice to see it available on Amazon.

It's hard not to love Elijah Wood in any role he plays. I knew when I first saw this film, this kid was destined to do something great in Hollywood: So guess who wasn't surprised when he got casted to play Frotto in the series of films entitled; "Lord of the Rings". The books were great to read when I was in my teens, but I always had wondered who would play Frotto one day, when the books were made into films. Well, though Elijah had not been born yet back in those days of my youth, he makes a perfect Frotto in my view with the Trilogy of films.

I loved this film for a few odd reasons: Having grown up in a disfunctional, abusive family, like many in my generation experienced out of the 1960's; I had often wished I could have done what Hugh North (played by Elijah Wood) did in this film and that's divorce his parents. Hugh North is a bright wiz kid; great at scholastics, sports and anything he puts his hand to, whose parents don't seem to even have a clue what a great kid they got from heaven as a son. Except in my case, I would have not gone back to my original parents if I had divorced them. I think I might have settled for the family Hugh finds that had John Ritter as the father. That would have been more my speed.

The film is certainly a light comedy with a profound message: "As bad as anyone's parents might be, apparently, God in His wisdom picked the ones best suited for us". However, this does not mean the best laid plans of God don't go eschew when it comes to free will. So it has been my long experience with life and living anyway; a message this film tries to also drive home it seems.

This film sort of has a happy ending, as Hugh's adventure, we find in the end, culiminates with him almost being murdered to save the cause to free all kids from their overbearing, controlling parents. But instead of being shot, he wakes up and finds his entire adventure has been nothing more than a dream and that his parents really do love him. Otherwise, Hugh's adventures to find a different family are funny and fun to watch. Elijah is adorable in this. This kid has one of the most pretty young male faces I've ever seen in kid actors. What ashame no one thought to do a series of Astro Boy movies back in this time period. Hollywood was staring at the perfect kid to play Astro Boy back then in my opinion. He looks just like the old 1963 anime character, both as Tobio and as Astro.

Bruce Willis, as I recall, first appeared on the Hollywood scene in the TV series "Moonlighting", long ago, when I was much younger. He plays Hugh's angel or conscience in all of this, while constantly appearing as different characters thoughout the story. Willis's characters play a Godly type presence, the part of unconditional love watching over Hugh North, never judging Hugh, but helping him to see what he has in the end ain't so bad.

John Lovitz plays Hugh's attorney. Lovitz obviously had fun with the role; an easy role to play I might add.

Hugh's parents; played by Jason Alexander and Julia Louise Dreyfus are histerical as Hugh's parents, who, for the most part, stay in a comatose state throughout the majority of the film after they learn their son wants to divorce them. In fact, the opening scene where Hugh North (Elijah Wood) is found sitting at the dining room table with his parents, listening to his parents not listen to each other, finds Hugh about to have a total anxiety attack he thinks is a heart attack, which only made me laugh histerically: The poor kid!

I could not help but think back to my own parents when they would talk and not listen to each other before they divorced each other when I was age 10, while fighting for each others attention and how I was constantly in the middle feeling I was being suffocated by their fighting to be heard. I could equate in other words with Hugh North, except my scenario was not funny. In fact, my generation came from allot of families like this, which is why my generation had such a high divorce rate as I grew up.

While I realize this film did not do well at the box office, it did well on TV simply for those of us who could equate to this type of scenario as kids. One of the reason's why it did not do well at the box office might be because those from my own generation were only all too well reminded of the disfunctional home they grew up in and didn't want to be reminded. Those who grew up in loving homes, I would think, would have trouble with this film, simply becaues it would look unreal to them. For me, the reverse is true, looking at families that get along looks unreal to my own childhood, simlpy because I did not grow up in a family that got along all that well. So I suppose it depends on what side of the fence you are coming from in your experiences growing up, that make this film appealing or not appealing.

I was allot like Hugh North in this movie when I was growing up; extremely bright, a good kid, a prodigy, wanting to do right, but getting crucified by the family I grew up in. Wish I might have had the option to make North's choice as a boy, which is why I like this film so much. It's a good fantasy for anyone who can equate to a family they wish they had not been born into.

For those of you who have children and order this film, you shouldn't think this film will give them any ideas if you are a family that respects and loves each other, however if you are not, it might give your kids ideas with the way our legal system is these days. These days kids can divorce their parents if they want to. Just know this stroy is fiction and actually allot of fun to watch. Lots of top named stars were in this film and oddly enough the whole chemistry of the thing works for me.

The VHS tape came in surprisingly great shape. No defects on the video tape or the box. Delivery was on time. No real complaints. I'm so glad this was at least on VHS. I've so wanted this in my library for years. Thanks Amazon for making it available and now in my home library.