Sam (Shelley Long) and Lester (Jay Thomas) are dimwitted petty criminals. All of their get rich schemes fall flat. BUT, one day, at a rodeo they believe they have hit pay dirt. One of the performers is a darling miniature horse named Ragtime. This tiny equine belongs to the Blue Family. Mr. Blue (Perry King) is a hotshot lawyer with very little time for his family. This upsets his wife and three cute kids. The youngest, Barkley (Justin Cooper) is especially close to Ragtime and Rag's animal pal Taylor the dog. At the rodeo, unknown to Barkley, Mr. Blue promises to sell the little horse for a steep price. Here is where paths cross with Lester and Sam. Les gets the brilliant idea, after eavesdropping, to kidnap the horse and garner some ransom money. After bungling an initial attempt, the dumb duo succeeds and sets up horsekeeping in an empty mansion nearby. (The owners must be out of towners). However, this is one smart pony. Soon, Sam and Lester are falling down garbage chutes, sliding on soap suds, and getting shut up in closets. Ragtime, who can talk to the audience, is having a ball. What is ahead? Will the kidnappers get their dough? Will the cops find the missing horse first? Will Dad still sell the horse anyway? This is a cute family movie, still another variation of Home Alone. This one, however, has hoof power in a darling, darling mini horse. Just watching the trained creature in action, opening doors, etc, will delight children of all ages. Long and Thomas play dumb pretty well and Cooper, from Liar Liar, is a great child performer. King, Kay Lenz, and a truly competent cast compliment the stars nicely. The sets, costumes, script and direction also have their strong points. No, this will never be an award winning movie. However, this Ragtime to Riches story will please most audiences very well for an evening's romp.
