North

Eleven-year-old North is bright and accomplished, but his parents are consumed by their careers and pay him little attention. Frustrated by their neglect, he takes the unusual step of suing them, and a judge gives him a limited window to either find a new family or return home. What follows is a journey across the country and around the world as North meets prospective parents in places as varied as Texas, Hawaii, Alaska, Paris and beyond, weighing whether anyone can replace the family he already has.

Rob Reiner directed and produced the film, working from a screenplay he wrote with Andrew Scheinman and Alan Zweibel. It was his eighth feature as director, arriving between A Few Good Men and The American President. Elijah Wood plays North, with Jason Alexander and Julia Louis-Dreyfus as his parents, Alan Arkin as the judge, and Bruce Willis providing narration. Jon Lovitz appears among the credited cast of 115.

Released in July 1994, the film cost about 40 million dollars and returned roughly 7 million worldwide, a poor result against its budget. Audiences rate it 4.6 on IMDb from around 16,000 votes and 5 out of 10 on TMDB from a much smaller pool, while critics were harsher still at 3.9 out of 10 across 110 reviews.