I actually feel really bad for saying this. I love family movies, and the cast especially Tim Curry really intrigued me. Although the concept has been done to death, part of me thought it would be at least amusing and charming. However, apart from one or two half-decent things, as much as I wanted to like it, Bailey's Billion$ just didn't work for me.
As I've said there are some things I liked. The best asset about it was the soundtrack, with classics such as the Carmen suite, a lovely instrumental of La Boheme's Quando M'en Vo and Nessun Dorma from Turandot as well as some upbeat contemporary songs, it was a joy to listen to. I loved the locations too, the editing could've been more fluid and tight, however the mansion and scenery were breathtaking. And the dogs were adorable, and Jon Lovitz while deserving of more to do does appeal as Bailey.
However, I didn't like everything else. I wasn't impressed by the acting that much. Dean Cain and Laurie Holden are charming but their material is underwritten and their story uninteresting so they can't do much with them. The children also try hard, but their problems are similar, nothing in the writing is done to make them stand out more.
I'm sorry to say that I also didn't think much of Jennifer Tilly and Tim Curry, and that saddens me because I like Tilly and have been a big fan of Curry for years now. True, they do have great chemistry together. The problem is while Cain and Holden are underused, Tilly and Curry are used too much. What's worse is they don't have much to work with. Both perform with gusto, but with mixed results.
Curry's asides weren't sarcastic enough for my tastes, but he does make an effort with the delivery, that said I did find he did look embarrassed at some points in the film. Tilly though is much more problematic, now I accept that Dolores is a evilly over-the-top and shrill sort of character who likes to make out she's intelligent but she's not really, but nothing in the story or writing are done to go beyond that and Tilly, bless her heart, ends up over-doing it badly.
I don't blame the cast really though for Bailey's Billion$ not working out. Three things especially don't work. One is the script, which I'd say is the main culprit. Overall, it was very dull and weak, with Casper and Dolores' many scenes together coming across as cheesy and overdone in particular. The courtroom scene had its moments and the beginning maintained interest, but that's it. The story just didn't engage me either, I found Bailey's Billion$ dully paced with too many predictable scenes that don't flow well from one scene to the next, the whole sequence with the attempt to kidnap Bailey was a prime example and it also didn't add anything new or fresh to the table.
I didn't care for any of the characters either. Now it is not always a bad thing when the characters are clichéd, but it is when little or nothing is done to make the characters interesting, which sadly is the case with Bailey's Billion$. The direction also for my liking felt rather stodgy. Overall, I am so sorry but despite the soundtrack, locations, dogs and my love for Tim Curry, I didn't like Bailey's Billion$ at all. 3/10 Bethany Cox
