Michael Wilmington of the "Los Angeles Times" called the cast "the usual all-formula grab-bag", and "The Washington Post"s Richard Harrington said the human actors are all bland. Berardinelli described the characters as "a group of morons who act like they flunked kindergarten" but said Aniston "might be competent" in a better film. Weiskind instead called Aniston's character a "Beverly Hills brat" who audiences will want to die. Of Davis, Harrington wrote that he "imbues a weak character with a strong presence", saying the film is only interesting while Davis is on-screen. Harrington concludes that the film is notable only for Davis' performance. Vincent Canby of "The New York Times" called the leprechaun "no more than dangerously cranky" and reminiscent of Chucky from "Child's Play"; Hicks also described the leprechaun as similar to Chucky. Wilmington wrote that while a killer Leprechaun logically follows a trend of gimmicky antagonists, it is still a bad idea.