Product Description

International superstar Bruce Willis (UNBREAKABLE, THE SIXTH SENSE), along with Lily Tomlin (9 TO 5, TEA WITH MUSSOLINI), Emily Mortimer (SCREAM 3, NOTTING HILL), and newcomer Spencer Breslin star in the hilarious and heartwarming comedy DISNEY'S THE KID. Successful, high-powered Russ Duritz (Willis) has spent all of his incredibly empty life forgetting the child he used to be -- until one day, he meets him face-to-face! Thinking this kid is a hallucination, Russ does everything he can to make him go away. But 8-year-old Rusty (Breslin), who's anything but happy that he grows up to be a loser without real meaning in his life, can't leave -- at least not yet. At once funny and charming, DISNEY'S THE KID is a magical comedy that's filled with adult-sized laughs.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6534 in DVD
• Brand: Disney
• Released on: 2001-01-23
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: Spanish
• Dubbed in: Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 104 minutes

Amazon.com essential video
Russ Duritz (Bruce Willis) is an ultracynical, 40-year-old L.A. image consultant who fashions bogus façades for scumbag clients. Oblivious to his own need for a makeover, he's a tyrant in the office (to the chagrin of his sarcastic assistant, played to perfection by Lily Tomlin), and he's emotionally unavailable to the morally centered woman (Emily Mortimer) who senses goodness beneath Russ's hardened veneer. Not a moment too soon, a pudgy kid (Spencer Breslin) mysteriously appears in Russ's life, revealing himself to be Rusty Duritz--that is, Russ's 8-year-old self, arriving by some magic to put the adult Russ's life into beneficial perspective. This variation on A Christmas Carol has Rusty guiding Russ on a tour of his past to reveal how he became a loveless, hard-shelled loser. It takes a bit of smarmy chicken-soup psychology to explain it all, but The Kid is an otherwise charming and involving fantasy, suggesting that perhaps we'd all benefit from a bit of counseling by our younger selves. Written with admirable restraint by Audrey Wells (who brought a similar appeal to The Truth About Cats and Dogs) and directed by Jon Turteltaub (Cool Runnings), the movie doesn't force its supernatural elements or attempt to explain Rusty's existence. It's just a fable for our modern age and a reminder to embrace the better angels of our nature. Delivered with an easy blend of humor and sentiment, that message makes The Kid an unexpected pleasure. (Look closely for Matthew Perry as Willis's shaggy-haired client.) --Jeff Shannon

DVD features
Spencer Breslin may not steal every scene he's in as the title role of The Kid, but he does steal every bit of the hilarious commentary on the DVD. The extras focus on young Breslin, first with a 20-minute featurette with behind-the scenes footage of Spencer from his casting to the film's wrap. The witty and playful director Jon Turteltaub reverses an old axiom stating he loves working with kids, especially Spencer. He illustrates this--and Spencer's unabashed enthusiasm--by sharing the commentary duties with him, and the result is a 108-minute record that's funnier than the film. Spencer asks questions out of the blue ("Jon, does my DVD player come with a remote?"), repeats Turteltaub's technical information with perfect irony, embarrasses the director on continuity errors, and munches on an occasional pickle. For anyone who falls for Spencer's charms in the film (it's hard not to), the DVD commentary is a must, and a new standard in laughs per commentary. --Doug Thomas

Customer Reviews

A Great Kids Movie that Adults Will Love, Too!
THE KID tells a story about a workaholic man, Russ Duritz, (Bruce Willis) who thinks his life is humming along just great, yet who claims the questionable distinction of being called a jerk several times by many different people in the same day. Full of his own sense of self-importance, Russ would prefer to spend time with his wealthy clients with questionable ethics than with his own parents. Things change overnight when Russ finds himself face-to-face with his chubby, long-forgotten childhood self, Rusty (Spencer Breslin).

This movie is laugh-out-loud funny in several places, including one hysterical scene in which Russ (Bruce Willis) asks his secretary, played by Lily Tomlin, to help make young Rusty vanish. As Russ begins to accept that Rusty will be with him for some time, he begins to take a closer look at his life. Little by little, Russ starts to find value in a past that he had long forgotten and repressed, and his love life even benefits from this introspection.

While the supernatural/mysterious nature of what is happening is never fully explained, the significance of it becomes clearer by the end of the film -- yet this film never for a minute bogs down in sappy sentimentality or false emotions. In fact, this movie is one of those rare screen gems you'll find yourself wanting to see again and again -- a perfect selection to get on DVD!

A TERRIFIC FILM FOR ALL!
I really don't watch too many Disney movies anymore, now being all grown up, but I saw the previews for "Disney's The Kid", and it looked pretty good. It wasn't pretty good, it was terrific!

Bruce Willis stars as Russ, an image consultant who's grumpier than Scrooge. He simply has no respect for anyone else, and hates a whiner. (Favorite line: Somebody call the whaaambulance!) He has also done his best to foget his childhood.

That all changes when he is visited by an eight year old boy. A boy who seems very familar. As it turns out, the kid is Russ at age eight, visiting him from the past. Russ starts to think that he is losing it and has no idea what to do with the kid.

They start to get along, and Russ starts to remember a few things from childhood. Later on, he figures out that the kid is there to help him remember something, something that has been long forgotten.

"Disney's The Kid" is a wonderful film, and didn't get the attention it should have since it was a "Disney" flick. Don't let the "Disney" logo fool you. This is a funny and touching film for audlts and children. This is another easy five out of five.

What are you gonna do with your life??!!
Well, this movie has Bruce Willis starring in it, so from the very start, you know that it's definitely not going to be bad. This was the first Disney movie I've seen in a long time. It was strange to hear words like "jerk" and phrases such as "holy smokes" instead of the more commonly-used swearing we always hear in movies!

I liked the premise of the story, since I've often wished I could meet mini-me, so I went along to check it out.

I thought it was going just okay, until I started crying just that little bit! It really makes you think about your own life, and how being an adult can eliminate your dreams... if you let it. Sometimes you have to think about, and allow yourself to remember the negative events that occurred in your past, in order to get over it, forgive yourself and move on.

The kid wasn't annoying, so that was a bonus too! Brucey Baby, of course, was in amazing form. A great movie for the whole family, as they say!