This Kid is for the KID in all of us

I believe there should be another genre for movies like this one. A genre entitled “inspirational comedy”. Disney’s “The Kid” is one of few movies capable of stirring laughter and tears within the same scene and if there were ever a movie I wouldn’t mind seeing more than once, it would be Disney’s “The Kid”.

Always lovable Bruce Willis plays Russ Duritz, an “almost” 40-year-old businessman who has achieved success through his career as an image consultant to some of the most influential people in the country. He tells the rich and famous how to act, what to wear, how to do their hair. Basically, Russ Duritz is a high priced make-over artist with a warped idea of success and a pathetic “attitude” that makes him impossible to like, EVEN if he is Bruce Willis!

The scenario begins with Russ displaying his “pathetic” characteristics by yelling at his secretary, played by Lily Tomlin, insulting basically anyone within hearing distance, without bias to age, race, creed or religion and coming off as the “insensitive, reprehensible, inequitable, egotistical...” (Well... you get the idea..). Even his own father falls victim to Russ’ hideous nature. Russ doesn’t mind being disliked and he refuses, pigheadedly, to allow any morsel of feeling to penetrate the layers of stone that surround his heart. He’s confidant, arrogant, snobbish, and totally self-centered, displaying all the signs of a man without a conscious. And, a man without a friend...

Russ only begins to worry, and then, only about HIMSELF, when a chubby eight-year-old boy begins to break into his home. The problem is that, due to the circumstances surrounding these break-ins, Russ begins to believe he’s having hallucinations. Remember, he’s 40... is it a mid-life thing? Could he be having a breakdown from all the stress at work? Or, is he going through something more phenomenal than he cares to admit?

“I don’t want to sit down!” Russ tells the therapist, played by Dana Ivey, “Just give me some strong medicine to get rid of these delusions or whatever you people call them!”

From this point, Russ learns that he isn’t having hallucinations at all and that the kid who has been breaking into his apartment happens to be Rusty, played by Spencer Breslin, the eight-year-old version of Russ himself. But, what is he doing here? And, how do they send him back to the past, where he belongs?

Despite his successful career, good looks and financial status, Russ’ assistant, Amy, played by Demi Moore look-alike, Emily Mortimer, is one of the few women in Russ’ life who doesn’t loathe him and his daunting attitude. When Amy meets little Russ or Rusty, she discovers the human side to big Russ that she’d never seen before.

An especially amusing scene for me (dog lover that I am) had little Rusty, after he realizes that Russ is himself as a grownup, asking Russ questions about his current life... What do I do? Do I have a girlfriend? Etc. Etc.. Finally he asks Russ about “Chester”? “Chester... who’s Chester?” Russ wonders... “My dog...” little Rusty answers, apparently annoyed that the bigger version of himself doesn’t recall his childhood hope that he will have a dog named Chester when he’s grownup. “I don’t have a dog!” Russ tells him...

“NO DOG!” Rusty is incredulous! ”So, let me get this straight... I’m 40, I’m not married, I don’t fly jets and I don’t have a dog? I grow up to be a LOSER!”

This hilarious scene is only one of the many that will eventually lead to Russ’ final realization that his life, despite ease, wealth and recognition, is a lot less than joyful or fulfilling.

Since Russ remembers Rusty, the eight-year old version of himself, who went through what could only be spoken of as a “unhappy childhood” in respect to his weight (he was a chubby kid with a speech impairment), his lack of self-confidence and basic geek status, he decides that Rusty must have been sent to the future to learn something from him. What? He isn’t sure, but believes it might have something to do with transforming the “geek” into a “better” kid.

Eventually, though, Russ begins to grasp the truth, that it isn’t necessarily Rusty who requires the overhaul in attitude. When Russ is forced to face (get in touch with) his inner child, reevaluating his basic principles and present lifestyle, there are some major insights into the heart. Obliged to focus himself on “little Rusty”, who he can’t seem to get rid of despite his desperate attempts to do so, Russ begins to learn the truth about himself and his current life. He begins to open doors inside himself that were slammed and locked at some point. He begins to accept the possibility that little Rusty is the teacher instead of “The Kid”.

Disney’s “The Kid” is a movie about changes, transforms and re-focusing on the true “child-like” nature of the heart, the hidden nature that so many learn to secret from even themselves as they grow older and “wiser”... with a wisdom born of pain...

If you’re interested in a movie that will keep you laughing and touch your heart at its depths, I recommend Disney’s “The Kid”, a movie for the kid in all of us.


NOTE: *This is a older, updated Review and I LOVED this MOVIE!!! Therefore, I am posting it.

Thanks for reading!
©2005 faithforever