A dumb comedy-fantasy about a boy, North (Elijah Wood) who, tired of his selfish parents, wins a court action against them and is given a limited period to circumnavigate the world in search of a new family. The school genius (Mathew McCurley) meanwhile uses North's fame and influence to establish his won power base whose Machiavellian proportions will be ruined if North returns home. Following this unpromising beginning, all the episodes of North's search are cut to the same formula: initial enthusiasm for prospective parents in Texas, Hawaii, Alaska, China, Zaire and France, then disillusionment, plus a homily on the values of life from Bruce Willis, who turns up as everything from an Easter bunny to a nightclub comedian called Joey Fingers. The name 'Bedford' crops up once or twice as a town, but any comparison with Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life (set in Bedford Falls) is wishful thinking on the part of the director, whose film has none of the charm or subtlety of the best Hollywood moonshine.

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