Ri¢hie Ri¢h

"Five buddies, one butler, and a dog on an adventure so big... even the world's richest kid can't afford to miss it."

1994 1h 34m EN

😐

6.0

MID

🥫

27%

ROTTEN

😬

METACRITIC

⭐

5.5

IMDB

★6.0TMDB · 2,492🥫27%Rotten Tomatoes●49Metacritic★5.5IMDB · 78,708

ComedyFamily

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Billionaire heir Richie Rich has it all, including Reggie Jackson as a batting coach and Claudia Schiffer as a personal trainer -- but no playmates. What's more, scoundrel Laurence Van Dough is scheming to take over the family empire. Uh-oh! Enter faithful butler Cadbury to save the day.

“Five buddies, one butler, and a dog on an adventure so big... even the world's richest kid can't afford to miss it.”

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Cast

Macaulay Culkin
Richie Rich
John Larroquette
Van Dough
Edward Herrmann
Mr. Rich
Christine Ebersole
Mrs. Rich
Jonathan Hyde
Cadbury
Michael McShane
Professor Keenbean
Chelcie Ross
Ferguson
Mariangela Pino
Diane

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Donald Petrie
Writers: Tom S. Parker, Jim Jennewein, Neil Tolkin
Languages: English, Latin
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Earned back only 95% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

32 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Latin.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "Richie Rich Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Donald Petrie, shot by Don Burgess. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Alan Silvestri. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Malcolm Campbell shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Macaulay Culkin and John Larroquette and Edward Herrmann carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Donald Petrie directs. Don Burgess behind the camera. Alan Silvestri scores. Malcolm Campbell cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. A commercial under-performer on release. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English, Latin.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Earned back only 95% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.
232 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
3Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Latin.
4Part of the "Richie Rich Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
5Directed by Donald Petrie, shot by Don Burgess. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by Alan Silvestri. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Malcolm Campbell shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Macaulay Culkin and John Larroquette and Edward Herrmann carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "Five buddies, one butler, and a dog on an adventure so big... even the world's richest kid can't afford to miss it.".
10IMDB entry: tt0110989 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

The technical file

Cinematography: Don Burgess
Original score: Alan Silvestri
Editing: Malcolm Campbell
Production design: James H. Spencer
Costume design: Lisa Jensen
Makeup / hair: Linda Melazzo
VFX supervisor: Peter Donen
Sound: John T. Reitz
Stunt coordinator: Jack Gill
Runtime: 94 min · 1h 34m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $40,000,000
Box office: $38,087,756
Return: 95% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG
IMDB: Ri¢hie Ri¢h (1994)
Rotten Tomatoes: 27% 🥫 Rotten
Metacritic: 49/100
IMDB rating: 5.5/10 · 78,708 votes
MPAA: PG

Awards

3 nominations total

Part of

Richie Rich Collection

Also by

Donald Petrie

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

TheFilmCritics.org2026-08-18
★ 5/10
Being the richest kid in the world sounds fantastic until you realize your best friend might be a robot and your family portrait requires an entire mountain. That’s the wonderfully ridiculous world of Richie Rich (1994), a movie where unlimited money can buy roller coasters, helicopters, gadgets, and apparently the zoning permits necessary to carve your own faces into a cliff. Macaulay Culkin plays Richie, the absurdly wealthy but surprisingly normal son of billionaire parents Richard and Regina Rich. He lives in a mansion large enough that getting grounded probably requires GPS coordinates. He has servants, expensive toys, his own personal trainer, and even a McDonald’s inside the house—which may be the most aggressively 1994 definition of wealth imaginable. There is, however, one luxury Richie doesn’t have: friends. Yes, underneath the dollar signs, private amusement park rides, and a family fortune that could probably pay off several national debts, Richie Rich is basically about a lonely kid who wants someone to play baseball with. And honestly? That part works. Culkin makes Richie likable because he never plays him as a spoiled brat. Richie has everything but doesn’t act like he deserves everything, which prevents the character from becoming completely insufferable. He genuinely wants friends, and when he finally meets some regular kids, the movie gets a little heart to go with its enormous checking account. Of course, nobody bought a ticket to Richie Rich for a thoughtful examination of childhood loneliness. We came for the mansion. Richie’s home is essentially what would happen if you gave a 10-year-old unlimited money and told him to design the coolest house imaginable. There are gadgets everywhere, a roller coaster, ridiculous vehicles, endless rooms, and Mount Richmore—a gigantic mountainside sculpture of the Rich family. Mount. Richmore. It is such an impressively stupid display of wealth that you almost have to respect it. Eventually, John Larroquette’s wonderfully named Laurence Van Dough decides he wants the Rich fortune for himself. Van Dough is exactly the kind of villain this movie deserves: greedy, theatrical, not particularly bright, and apparently unaware that being named “Van Dough” might make people suspicious of his financial motivations. His evil plan pushes the movie into familiar kids-versus-adults territory, with Richie and his new friends using gadgets, tricks, and the natural incompetence of grown men in 1990s family movies to save the day. This is also where Richie Rich starts feeling like Home Alone wandered onto the set of DuckTales. Unfortunately, it isn’t nearly as funny as that description sounds. The biggest problem is that the movie has a fantastic playground but doesn’t always know what to do with it. Richie has virtually unlimited resources, an enormous mansion, bizarre inventions, incompetent bad guys, and Macaulay Culkin. That combination should produce absolute chaos. Instead, the movie frequently settles for a fairly ordinary family adventure. There are fun moments, but rarely hilarious ones. The villains are amusing without becoming memorable. The action is energetic without becoming exciting. Even the gadgets sometimes feel like they’re waiting for a better movie to come along and use them. And Culkin inevitably suffers from the Kevin McCallister problem. It’s almost impossible to watch him running around a gigantic mansion, dealing with criminals and using elaborate contraptions without expecting someone to get hit in the face with a paint can. Nobody gets hit with a paint can. Disappointing. Still, Richie Rich has aged into a charming little piece of ’90s family-movie excess. Everything is colorful, enormous, slightly cheesy, and completely sincere. There’s no attempt to make Richie’s world realistic because realism would only get in the way of installing another roller coaster. There’s also something oddly wholesome about its message. After spending an entire movie showing us all the incredible things money can buy, Richie Rich ultimately concludes that friendship and family matter more. Which is a lovely sentiment. Although I notice Richie doesn’t actually give up the mansion. Smart kid. At 5/10, Richie Rich is perfectly average entertainment wrapped in extremely expensive packaging. It’s not especially funny, exciting, or memorable, but Culkin is charming enough to keep it moving and the ridiculous displays of wealth provide plenty of nostalgic fun. You probably won’t finish the movie wishing you could watch it again immediately. But you absolutely might finish it wondering why your parents never installed a roller coaster in the backyard. Some childhood disappointments never heal.

Production companies