One day, Ryan and his pals find an ancient Native American burial ground, where they discover a magical wishing glass.

"Variety" panned the film calling it "Charmless and exceptionally tasteless pre-teen time-filler" and "the sort of movie that seems conceived more out of tax-credit incentives than from any real desire to engage children’s imaginations."

The work of writer Michael Lach and director Dale G. Bradley was pointed out as a "slack setup, in which recycle decades-old cliches about why kids don’t get along with their parents.

"[2] They found Christopher Lloyd’s presence as a mentally disabled man with the mind of a child inexplicable, in that it was a "thankless role, which requires little of him, except to sit on a porch, playing a didgeridoo (another good hint that we’re not really in Oregon) until, in a few moments of convenient lucidity, he helps to save the day.

[sic]"[4] The also felt the music score was both fast-paced and upbeat, and praised the entire cast, noting that Christopher Lloyd’s character was credible.