[1][2] Sarah reluctantly moved to Malaysia to stay with a grandfather whom she had never met before as her mother had to visit China to resolve work-related problems.

Initially, Sarah refused to adapt to her grandfather's traditional cultural practice, such as eating chicken feet for breakfast, and the local community who she thought were disgusting.

The director herself stated that The Kid from the Big Apple was about family values and wanted to convey the message of filial piety through the film.

[4] For promoting family values, The Kid from the Big Apple won the Special Jury Awards at the 28th edition of the Malaysian Film Festival.

[1] The Kid from the Big Apple is the directorial debut of Jess Teong, who had previously worked in the entertainment industry as a singer, model, actress and film producer at various stages in her career.

[1] After almost 2 years of searching for a suitable child actress to portray Sarah, she met Qin Lin, and felt that she was perfectly suited for this role.

[4] Most of the scenes in The Kid from the Big Apple were filmed at an apartment block in Taman Yulek, Cheras, Kuala Lumpur.

[1] The Kid from the Big Apple made its debut at the 7th Macau International Movie Festival in December 2015, where it won several film awards.

The South China Morning Post gave the film a score of 3 out of 5, stating that "this movie is really less interested in conflicts than it is the feel-good, and ultimately cathartic, reconciliation process" and described it as a "fish-out-of-water comedy".

[3] Jeremy Cheong, who wrote for Malaysia's The Sun newspaper, liked the film's "really good pacing and a nice mix of comedy, a little bit of action and heart-tugging moments" and also praised the cast, whose "great chemistry" he credited for helping to "make each scene feel more believable".