July 22, 1994
Elijah Wood stars as North, an 11-year-old boy who, feeling unappreciated by his career-obsessed mother and father (Jason Alexander and Julia Louis-Dreyfus), finds a lawyer (Jon Lovitz), woos a wise yet wacky judge (Alan Arkin), and, declaring himself a "free agent, " begins a worldwide search for the perfect parents. To avoid life in an orphanage, North must choose one of the numerous couples who are eager to adopt him or else return to his real parents. Crossing continents and time zones, North seizes the attention of the world. Parents everywhere bend to the desires of their kids, as curfews and chores become obsolete and allowances triple, and children hail North as their new hero and leader. Ultimately, however, North discovers that the search for the ideal parents begins and ends with the heart.