Now if anybody is thinking that Disney studios got the rights to remake the famous Twentieth Century Fox classic that starred Tyrone Power, put those thoughts aside. This film is about yet another Disney Channel teenager whose inquiry into his roots for his high school heritage day leads to all kinds of problems.
Poor Ryan Merriman has the decidedly unethnic last name of Johnson and as far as he knows his family hails from Cleveland. He doesn't know that his maternal grandfather is the head of Emerald Isle potato chips and further that he's a leprechaun. Which makes mom one too and Ryan a mixed breed that can be volatile.
When his lucky coin's been stolen from him that he's had since he was a kid by bad leprechaun Timothy Omundson, it's time to get in touch with grandfather and get the coin back.
One similarity with the 1948 classic is that a leading actor played a rather stooped version of a leprechaun in both films. Cecil Kellaway got an Academy Award nomination in the older film. Here Henry Gibson plays the leprechaun potato chip tycoon where in his factory it's required to speak with a brogue.
It's a Disney Channel film so don't expect too much from it. The cast is pleasant enough and easy to take. You can be sure to see Luck Of The Irish on the Disney Channel come Paddy's Day.
