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Bugs and Daffy in Chuck Jones' overture set the stage, fun with corporates and logos. Gizmo the Mogwai is a piece of Chinatown rubble in the wake of Manhattan gentrification, his new home is the genetics lab run by Christopher Lee, "a problem tenant" in the Clamp Center skyscraper. A water fountain triggers the multiplication of the id-pranksters, their multimedia rampage sprawls from lobby to penthouse, from cable TV to stock exchange. "Clamp Center is experiencing system difficulties. Please try not to notice." Joe Dante leaves no satirical stone unturned in this inexhaustible masterpiece of gags, where the very concept of a Gremlins sequel is roasted. A new gargoyle for the cathedral (it leaves a Batman-shaped hole as it bursts through the wall), other helter-skelter modalities include Edward G. Robinson, Mortimer Snerd and Miss Piggy. The top homunculus pontificates in Tony Randall's cultivated tones after gulping brain hormones, he warbles a mean "New York, New York" and yearns for civilization's niceties, "you know, the Geneva Convention, chamber music, Susan Sontag." The original's returning juveniles (Zach Galligan and Phoebe Cates) are no match for the fatuous magnate (John Glover) and the staccato careerist (Haviland Morris), elsewhere the aging horror-flick host (Robert Prosky) rises gallantly to the challenge of live broadcasting. Potter's Hellzapoppin' is the noble forerunner, a screening of Casablanca is announced "now in full color, with a happier ending." After enduring slapstick torture, the little ball of cuteness narrows its peepers in imitation of the Rambo pose. Hulk Hogan negotiates the Persona rupture, the upshot is a lavish foyer swamped with green splatter. "Fun, but in no sense civilized." After this, Dante was certainly ready for Looney Tunes: Back in Action. With Robert Picardo, Dick Miller, Jackie Joseph, Gedde Watanabe, Keye Luke, Kathleen Freeman, Paul Bartel, and Leonard Maltin.
--- Fernando F. Croce |