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The film is set at a beach in Cornwall where siblings Ros and Robbie spend a holiday with their father David, his girlfriend Alice, and her daughters Samantha and Maudie from America. The children dislike each other at first but begin to get along once they discover a mysterious magical creature, Psammead or Sand Fairy, on the beach. Psammead can grant one wish a day, but the wish ends at sunset.
Using a wish with Psammead, the children travel back 100 years. There they meet the aristocratic Tristan Trent who holds Ros at gunpoint and demands to know about the Sand Fairy. However, Samantha, Robbie, and Maudie ask Psammead for superpowers and rescue Ros.
Next, the children travel to the past to learn how to make a wish permanent, but are unsuccessful. The children return to the present, where Tristan Trent III wants to use the Sand Fairy for dastardly deeds. Tristan finds the Sand Fairy's location by putting a tracking device under Ros's shoe. The children take Psammead with them and trap Tristan on the beach.
Afterwards, the children realize they like each other. They take Psammead to their house, hiding him from their parents in the bathroom.
Four Kids and It was originally intended for a simultaneous release on the subscription service Sky Cinema and in cinemas in the United Kingdom on 10 April 2020, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was released solely on Sky Cinema on 3 April.[4][5] In the United States, the film was released on digital, Blu-ray, DVD, and on demand on 30 June 2020 by Lionsgate.[6]
Reception
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 49% based on 43 reviews, with an average rating of 5.4/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Four Kids and It has a few moments of whimsy and charm, but it's not enough to leave a lasting impression."[7] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 42 out of 100 based on reviews from seven critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[8]
Guy Lodge of Variety wrote, "'Careful what you wish for' may have been the essential moral takeaway from the sourcebooks, but that wasn't to discourage wishing for anything at all: In all respects, this serviceable but anodyne programmer could dream a bit bigger."[9] Justin Lowe of The Hollywood Reporter called it "More curio than classic, Four Kids and It may hold children's attention (and sometimes test adults' patience) over the movie's brief running time, but seems unlikely to inspire many a second viewing."[10]Anna Smith of Empire wrote: "The kids and Caine are good, but this lacks the magic of its source novels. Younger children may enjoy it, but its attempts to entertain older viewers mostly fall flat."[11]
