That Time Disney Reminded People, Ohio Is The Worst, And Banished A Leprechaun To Cleveland

I was feeling nostalgic the other night, so I started scrolling through the Disney Original Movies on Disney+, and a couple of my favorites popped up - "Alley Cats Strike" because I love bowling, "Johnny Tsunami" because I, too, am adjusting to living in a Winter wonderland now.

But one stuck out to me for some reason, "The Luck of the Irish." I can't explain why I clicked play on THAT particular one, but I'm glad I did because I was reminded that in the 1990s, even Disney was on board with something all Michiganders know - Ohio is NOT where you want to be.

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If you've never seen the movie, the basic storyline is, a kid named Kyle Johnson turns 13 and starts having weird things happen to him, like getting red hair, shrinking, being obsessive about gold, etc. TURNS out, his mom is a leprechaun, and he has to win a wager against an "evil leprechaun" throughout this whole process. (I know... wacky, right? Silly 1990s Disney.)

The wager is...

"If you lose, you'll be banished to the shores of the land of my father..."

Kyle accepts.

Seems legit enough for a Disney movie... except (spoiler alert) Kyle WINS the bet, and it means the Leprechaun loses and will return to the "shores of His Father's Homeland." The Leprechaun thinks he's just going back home to the shores of "Lake Eire" in Ireland.

But here's the twist...

"No. My MOTHER is from Ireland. My father's from Cleveland!"

Which means, the Leprechaun is banished to the shores of "Lake Erie" in Ohio... a fate apparently FAR WORSE than Ireland. (Agreed)

You can watch this Youtuber's breakdown of the film (and how UN-Irish it actually is) below, but I've marked it to start where the wager is made in the film.

My favorite part of the whole movie, though, is when Seamus McTiernen (the bad leprechaun) shrinks down and gets yeeted to his fate in Lake Erie, he screams, "OHIOOOOOOOO" as if he's cursing it like Captain Kirk did to Kahn.

Hilarious(ly bad) movie. Maybe have a few drinks before watching it (makes it more fun), and don't make any bets with leprechauns in Ohio. I guess... that's the lesson Disney wanted us to learn from this movie?