To this day my friend and I still refer to the gremiln like he is real. When something goes wrong with my computer, it is the gremlin, when my keys are misplaced and then show up in a spot that you swear you checked before, it was the gremlin, when something, anything goes wrong, it has to be the gremlin. I am actually convinced that Spike has taken on a life of his own (kinda the way Freddy did in Wes Craven’s New Nightmare) and lives to make my life difficult. Joe Dante’s Gremlin’s has had that much of an impact on my life. Gremlins was a wonderful film and it was a little more creepy than it was funny. But make no mistake about this one, it is one of the funnier movies that I’ve seen. It abandons all that was scary and atmospheric in the first and just adds comedy a-plenty. And I would seriously put this humour up against some of the funnier comdies of the 90’s.
This time the adventures of Magwai and Spike reach a skyskraper like building owned by a guy that has to be a distant cousin of Donald Trump. And if you think back to Gremlins, remember how much trouble the little guys could get into using simple household products (microwave, chimney etc ) well that is nothing compared to what they can do at an office filled with the latest technology.
There are also many many inside jokes about Hollywood and such that you have to watch it several times to pick up on all of them. What is also great about the film is the two versions ( one for the theater and one for the VCR ) I remember when I saw this in the theater I really thought something was wrong with the projector when it first went all strange. And I like the fact that the makers of this had the guts and the gaul to try something new like that. It kind of reminds me of Something About Mary when at the end the entire cast is singing that song. The movie never stops trying to entertain, and that is what I got from this film too. It will do anything to make you laugh, even throw in a little Hulkamania when he was cool.
Gremlins 2 is one of the funniest films that you will see. And I’m just a little surprised that Joe Dante isn’t still active so much in the business anymore. He made some great films and I would gladly see anything that he puts his name on.
If you haven’t seen this film for quite some time, then I highly suggest that you do see it soon. I was browsing through Rick Baker’s filmography on the IMDb and I came across Gremlins 2. I rented it the same night and I was very glad I did. Not only did it make me laugh, it brought me back to a time when films like this and The Goonies and even E.T. were made. Movies aren’t the same anymore and that is not neccessarily a criticism, it is just a comment pointing out that in the early 90’s and the 80’s movies were just different sometimes. This is one of the funnier ones, and one of the more entertaining. Do you remember a film by Amblin that wasn’t?
