History Film / RichieRich

* FreudianExcuse: It's possible that Ferguson became Van Dough's {{Dragon}} because he felt unappreciated by the Riches for whatever reason, as implied by his "employee of the month" comment to Cadbury.

** This isn't the first time Edward Herrmann played a [[Film/Overboard1987 wealthy man]].

* LonelyAtTheTop: The movie is quick to point out that money doesn't buy happiness and the only thing that Richie doesn't have are real friends; even the classmates he's close to make excuses to not hang out. Though it's hinted they mean nothing malicious, and are mainly adhering to their grooming for eventually running their families' businesses. It's also funny that the kids he ''does'' become friends with had to be bribed by Cadbury to hang out with him in the first place. They do quickly become genuine friends with him though, after spending a day with him at his house and realizing that he's actually a sweet kid, instead of a SpoiledBrat as they had first assumed.

** On Creator/ABCFamily, Regina's line "I look like Music/MichaelJackson!" is cut.

* ProductPlacement: "You have your own [=McDonald's=]?!" Apparently, the Rich family does. Professor Keenbean even tries to do an analysis on the secret sauce to find out what's in it.

'''Richie:''' First rule of defense, Reginald: always watch your rear.\\

** Reginald gets one when he promotes financial fraud as a solution to an impending dismissal while being fitted with a suit, demonstrating he is a pompous little snob.

''Richie Rich'' (stylized as ''Ri¢hie Ri¢h'') was the 1994 film version of [[ComicBook/RichieRich the classic Harvey Comics character of the same name]], starring Creator/MacaulayCulkin in his last official role as a "child actor".

* BadassBaritone: Cadbury is very formidable when the situation calls for it, and as played by Creator/JonathanHyde he has a deep, melodious voice.

* SlummingIt: Mentioned by Diane when he sees Cadbury dressed in street clothes, but otherwise averted.

* NeverFoundTheBody: Discussed when Richie showed Cadbury the newspaper about this parents' plane being found. It says they found no bodies or life rafts, which proves Richie right that they're alive.

Richie's only hope of getting his butler, his parents, his family business and his life back ends up being his live-in research scientist, Professor Keenbean (Creator/MikeMcShane), who devises a way to spring Cadbury from prison and attempt to locate the Riches' liferaft. Richie and his friends must then infiltrate the now highly-secured Rich manor, but meanwhile, Van Dough and Ferguson learn that the Rich Parents are actually still alive and are attempting to retrieve Richard and Regina in order to coerce them to bypass the voiceprint lock to their legendary family vault...

* AdaptationalWimp: Cadbury in the comics can usually hold his own against criminals, but here he certainly has trouble fighting out a criminal that tries to harm him in prison. In spite of him manging to get the upperhand on the assailant, he has trouble doing the same to [[spoiler:Ferguson in the final battle.]]

** At Richie's school, there is a very snooty student named Reginald. This is nod to Richie's bratty cousin, Reggie Van Dough.

Richie's only hope of getting his butler, his parents, his family business and his life back ends up being his live-in research scientist, Professor Keenbean (Mike [=McShane=]), who devises a way to spring Cadbury from prison and attempt to locate the Riches' liferaft. Richie and his friends must then infiltrate the now highly-secured Rich manor, but meanwhile, Van Dough and Ferguson learn that the Rich Parents are actually still alive and are attempting to retrieve Richard and Regina in order to coerce them to bypass the voiceprint lock to their legendary family vault...

* ImpliedLoveInterest: In the comics, Richie and Gloria were boyfriend and girlfriend. In the film, they're likely being built up to that, though the vagueness could lend itself to JustFriends. See AdaptationRelationshipOverhaul.

* ImpliedLoveInterest: In the comics, Richie and Gloria were boyfriend and girlfriend. In the film, they're likely being built up to that, though the vagueness could lend itself to JustFriends. See AdaptationRelationshipOverhaul.

* AdaptationRelationshipOverhaul: In the comics, Richie and Gloria were boyfriend and girlfriend. In the film, they're JustFriends...or maybe [[ImpliedLoveInterest Implied Love Interests]].

* IronicEcho:

* VillainousBreakdown: When Van Dough learns for himself that the Riches don't even keep the money he is after in the vault, he decides to go out for their blood instead.

* AllForNothing: [[spoiler: Van Dough schemed to get his hands on the Rich treasure vault, only to find it contains no actual monetary wealth, just mementoes of the Rich family's happy times together. This causes his VillianousBreakdown.]]

* RelatedInTheAdaptation: Inverted. In the comics, the Van Doughs are related to the Riches. In the movie, there is no indication of them having any kind of familial relationship.

* HonestAdvisor: Apparently, Richard keeps Van Dough around because he sees him as a serious man devoted to the bottom line.

* ObviouslyEvil: Van Dough is greedy, fires his co-worker over a petty mistake, Richie and Regina dislike him, and gushes about downsizing. It is any surprise he's the BigBad? Even Regina comments on how rotten he is.

* BrokenAesop: Played with. The film tries to make a "Money can't buy friendship" aesop early on, which quickly backfires when Cadbury pays off some local kids to visit Richie at Rich Manor and essentially doing just that. Though Gloria doesn't care about the money anymore anyway, and later on, the kids all come to see Richie as their friend regardless of his money, so the aesop kind of holds true. It also helps that shortly after Richie finds out Cadbury did this, they find out Richie's parents are missing and it is never mentioned again.
** It should be noted, however, that the kids never actually got paid because one of them outed the scam by asking for it while Richie was around to hear it. Gloria promptly told the kid to forget about the money, and after the scene causes its obligatory rift between Cadbury and Richie, the money is never brought up again.

* ObviousJudas: Lampshaded by Regina, who knew Van Dough would be the only one nefarous enough to hurt the Rich family long before Rich Sr. ever picked up on it.
* ObliviouslyEvil: Van Dough is greedy, fires his co-worker over a petty mistake, and gushes about downsizing. It is any surprise he's the BigBad. Even Regina comments on how rotten he is.

* UpperClassTwit: Though the Riches are decent people, they are a bit naïve about how the other half lives. When Gloria and her friends ask for a ten dollar bet, he thinks they mean ''10,000'' dollars.