North

PG

Released Jul 22, 1994

1 hr. 28 min.

Kids & Family

Comedy

Drama

List

14%

35 Reviews

Tomatometer

27%

10,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

North (Elijah Wood) is a talented and bright kid, but his mom (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and dad (Jason Alexander) are utterly preoccupied with other things in their lives, leaving him largely ignored. Advised by a mysterious man (Bruce Willis) who pops up on occasion, North decides to legally separate himself from his parents and goes on a search across the globe for the ideal mother and father. Unfortunately for the young boy, most of the people that he meets have very little potential.

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Critics Consensus

Laden with schmaltz and largely bereft of evident narrative purpose, North represents an early major disappointment from previously sure-handed director Rob Reiner.

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Red B

Kids deserve better....The acting, editing, cinematography is all horrifcally bad. The jokes are terribly unfunny. There worse than Dad Jokes. It's clear this is mean for families/kids but holy cow I mean so is The Lion King & Home Alone....how in the world this got the green light even with the director behind it is beyond me. When North goes on his journey I am not kidding when I say it truly feels like stuff just happens and there really isn't any meaningful story. He just visits families for gags. It also makes no sense why he finds the perfect family and "Something isn't right" it's such lazy writing. The villian is so stupid and unfunny as well. Bruce Willis feels like he is just here for the paycheck and isn't trying and at the same time is miscast. His narration feels completely unneeded. The African Joke is so cringe as well. This just leads constantly to random stupid stuff scene to scene with no set up or flow. It's all just random humor with a light hearted kid touch to it. The music is the best thing and even that is just average. Stay away from this at all cost. You can't just make unfunny terribly written garbage and hide it under the guise of a "It's for Kids". This is the Poster Child for that.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

10/03/23

Full Review

Ola G

Skilled in academics, sports, and drama, and praised for his good work and obedience, North (Elijah Wood) feels unvalued by his own parents. One day, while finding solace in a living room display at a mall, he complains to the Easter Bunny—a man in a pink bunny suit—who recommends that North simply explain his feelings to them, but North says their neglect makes them undeserving. Aided and encouraged by his best friend Winchell, who works on the school paper, North plots to "divorce" his parents, hiring ambulance-chasing lawyer Arthur Belt to file the papers. The announcement greatly shocks his parents, leaving them unresponsive when Judge Buckle grants his petition, giving him one summer to find new parents or go to an orphanage... North has been called one of the worst films ever made. Rotten Tomatoes consensus reads, "Laden with schmaltz and largely bereft of evident narrative purpose, North represents an early major disappointment from previously sure-handed director Rob Reiner." Kenneth Turan stated in his review "The problem overall is not so much that the humor, especially in the parent-tryout situations, is forced, but that it simply is not there at all. So little is going on in this mildest of fantasies that it is hard to even guess what kinds of emotional effects were aimed at in the first place." Turan also asked "How could director Rob Reiner, whose touch for what pleases a mass audience is usually unfailing, have strayed this far?" Leonard Klady of Variety described the film as a "noble misfire" and "that unique breed of misconceived entertainment that only a filmmaker of talent is capable of making." Joe Brown of The Washington Post called the film "a gentle, harmless and rather pedestrian fantasy." Janet Maslin of The New York Times was somewhat more positive, writing that the film "doesn't always work, but much of it is clever in amusingly unpredictable ways." Roger Ebert's review of North was this: "I hated this movie. Hated hated hated hated hated this movie. Hated it. Hated every simpering stupid vacant audience-insulting moment of it. Hated the sensibility that thought anyone would like it. Hated the implied insult to the audience by its belief that anyone would be entertained by it." (Via Wikipedia) "North" is based on the 1984 novel "North: The Tale of a 9-Year-Old Boy Who Becomes a Free Agent and Travels the World in Search of the Perfect Parents" by Alan Zweibel, who wrote the screenplay and has a minor role in the film. Along the lines of Roger Ebert, I say that "North" is awful, awful, awful and just awful. What a piece of jibberish that makes you queasy within. The plot itself is just beoynd silly with an Elijah Wood looking like a dear in headlights while the stupidity just continues througout the running time. Awful, awful, awful... Trivia: North was heavily panned by critics, and has been referred to as one of the worst films of all time.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

08/10/23

Full Review

Mekhi W

An interesting concept on paper. However, it is butchered with not a single funny joke to be found, shockingly bad stereotypes, terrible writing, and an ending cliche that acts as a straw on the camel's back. Avoid this one at all costs.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

05/24/23

Full Review

TWMax65

This is basically a cheap remake of the Wizard of Oz (a young character wishing for a better life somewhere else, dream sequence reveal cliche of it all not being real, and even repeating the line "There's no place like home" toward the end). This was meant for kids I guess? However they would've had a hard time understanding a lot of the material. If this was meant for adults, they would've cringed so many times! Now, only a few times I laughed, a few of the casting choices were good, the overall message may have been a moral one, and Elijah Wood has always had a natural talent for acting. Other than that this movie has nothing that really worked or made it less ridiculous! The only reason I checked this out was to see why Roger Ebert "HATED HATED HATED this movie!!" so much! Now I kind of see why.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

10/27/22

Full Review

antonis k

North means well for sure but the film feels like a coherent mess so much when it comes to it's ludicrous plot? as everything else in between and around it and not even the big talented names can save it. (3/10)

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Half bad, half good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

01/28/23

Full Review

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Rob Reiner

Director

Elijah Wood

North

Bruce Willis

Narrator

Jon Lovitz

Arthur Belt

Matthew McCurley

Winchell

Alan Arkin

Judge Buckle

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Gene Siskel

Chicago Tribune

Have you ever seen a rich Texan before? How about a Hawaiian who lives near a beautiful beach?

Rated: 0/4

Aug 16, 2017

Full Review

Michael Sragow

New Yorker

The amalgams of TV stereotypes that satirize foreign and regional cultures are embarrassing.

Jul 9, 2013

Full Review

Michael Wilmington

Chicago Tribune

It's a prime example of what can happen when hip, slightly cynical establishment filmmakers try to make a deeply sentimental movie.

Rated: 2/4

Jun 5, 2013

Full Review

Quentin Curtis

Independent on Sunday

It is a childish world seen through the ponderous eyes of adulthood. All the children in it, including Elijah Wood as North, seem over-directed, reacting with programmed cuteness. Their lines have a hack's glibness rather than a child's innocence.

Dec 12, 2017

Full Review

Film4 Staff

Film4

There's schmaltz a-plenty and the odd, rare laugh but even the normally dependable Wood lacks enthusiasm.

Jun 5, 2013

Full Review

David Sterritt

Christian Science Monitor

The screenplay by Alan Zweibel and Andrew Scheinman packs more on-target social satire than any film in recent memory, and zesty performances keep it clicking along at a rapid pace.

Jun 5, 2013

Full Review

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Synopsis

North (Elijah Wood) is a talented and bright kid, but his mom (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and dad (Jason Alexander) are utterly preoccupied with other things in their lives, leaving him largely ignored. Advised by a mysterious man (Bruce Willis) who pops up on occasion, North decides to legally separate himself from his parents and goes on a search across the globe for the ideal mother and father. Unfortunately for the young boy, most of the people that he meets have very little potential.

Director: Rob Reiner
Production Co: Castle Rock Entertainment, New Line Cinema
Rating: PG
Genre: Kids & Family, Comedy, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jul 22, 1994, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 1, 2013
Box Office (Gross USA): $6.6M
Sound Mix: Surround, Stereo

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