The story is based on the 1984 novel North: The Tale of a 9-Year-Old Boy Who Becomes a Free Agent and Travels the World in Search of the Perfect Parents by Alan Zweibel, who wrote the screenplay and has a minor role in the film.

The cast includes Elijah Wood in the title role, with Jon Lovitz, Jason Alexander, Alan Arkin, Dan Aykroyd, Kathy Bates, Faith Ford, Graham Greene, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Reba McEntire, John Ritter, and Abe Vigoda.

Skilled in academics, sports, and drama, and praised for his good work and obedience, North feels unvalued by his own parents.

On the beach, a tourist with a metal detector (also the man in the bunny suit) explains to North that parents should not use children for personal gain.

In an Inuit village in Alaska, North's prospective parents calmly send their elderly grandfather out to sea on an ice floe to die with dignity, disturbing him.

His quest has inspired children worldwide to leave their parents and hire Arthur and Winchell, both now rich and powerful.

In despair, North escapes to New York City, where Winchell and Arthur, fearing their lucrative business will fail, plot to assassinate him.

At the airport, a mob of kids who have followed his example confront him, angry about his returning to his parents, forcing him to ship himself home in a FedEx box.

The man denies meeting North, but as a FedEx representative, he resembles a guardian of important items.

North is delivered to his house prior to the deadline, but as he runs toward his parents, Winchell's assassin Al takes aim.

The movie was shot in New York with additional shooting in Los Angeles, Hawaii, and Alaska (Prince William Sound and several glaciers[6]).

The site's critics' consensus reads, "Laden with schmaltz and largely bereft of evident narrative purpose, North represents an early major disappointment from previously sure-handed director Rob Reiner.

"[8] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "B−" on scale of A to F.[9] Kenneth Turan stated in his review "The problem overall is not so much that the humor, especially in the parent-tryout situations, is forced, but that it simply is not there at all.

"[10] Turan also asked "How could director Rob Reiner, whose touch for what pleases a mass audience is usually unfailing, have strayed this far?

"[10] Leonard Klady of Variety described the film as a "noble misfire" and "that unique breed of misconceived entertainment that only a filmmaker of talent is capable of making.

"[11] Joe Brown of The Washington Post called the film "a gentle, harmless and rather pedestrian fantasy.

"[12] Janet Maslin of The New York Times was somewhat more positive, writing that the film "doesn't always work, but much of it is clever in amusingly unpredictable ways.

I made this little fable, and people got mad at me, because, you know, I had done When Harry Met Sally..., and Misery, and A Few Good Men, and everybody said 'Oh, it should be a more important kind of movie.'

Ebert stressed that he "hated this movie" and also suggested the film was so poorly written that even the best child actor would look bad in it, and viewed it as "some sort of lapse" on Reiner's part.

I hated it because of the premise, which seems shockingly cold-hearted, and because this premise is being suggested to kids as children's entertainment, and because everybody in the movie was vulgar and stupid, and because the jokes weren't funny, and because most of the characters were obnoxious, and because of the phony attempt to add a little pseudo-hip philosophy with the Bruce Willis character.