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Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990)

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102 comments in total

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39 out of 43 people found the following comment useful :-
Even more underrated of a film than the first., 6 December 1998
Author: Doug Bellak (dgbellak@hotmail.com) from Bakersfield, CA, USA

This film is often looked back on as not only the lesser of the two Gremlins flicks but not a very good movie in general. I just don't understand it -- I love this movie! It successfully continues the underlying theme of the original (unlike a lot of sequels which seem to forget their points entirely): "gremlins" are mythical creatures blamed for mechanical errors (if an appliance is broken, it must have been the work of gremlins). In this movie, the gremlins are loose in a totally automated high-rise office building, already suffering from its own malfunctions, which serves as the perfect playground for them. Charles Haas' script is absolutely hilarious, filled with more movie in-jokes than I can recall seeing in a single movie, and it even pokes fun at the more serious original. In fact, I think many people disliked this film because of its total irreverence compared to the first; it didn't try to be scary for a second and Rick Baker's creature effects turned out goofier than Chris Walas's original creature designs. Just realize...this is a comedy! Definitely worth seeing more than once to catch the barrage of jokes and references...and sit all the way through the credits!

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20 out of 20 people found the following comment useful :-
Strange, weird, bizarre, brilliant, 24 April 2005

Author: cryofry from Australia

This movie came out when I was 5 years old. I remember the movie posters in the streets and the wacky preview for it on TV. I'm now 20 years old, and this is still one of my most favourite movies of all time. It's even better than the original, I believe. The reason I love it so much is because it is so damn strange. It really, really is! It's like a live action "Looney Tunes" episode. The gremlins are wacky, Gizmo is cute and mysterious, the human actors are all brilliant in their roles and the New York building setting is well, neat.

The basic premise for this movie picks up a few years after the first "Gremlins" movie. This time however, it takes place in the busiest city on the planet, New York.

The movie opens with the death of Gizmo's frail Chinese owner. In accordance with the owners death, the place where Gizmo is kept is demolished by a bulldozer and recking ball. Terrified, Gizmo flees from the building and into an alley where he is plucked up by a scientist and brought to the "Clamp Cable Network" building. The building belongs to media mogul Daniel Clamp and contains a vast variety of shops including: coffee houses, restaurants, dental clinics and science laboratories.

Coincidentally, Billy and Kate are both working in the same building. Billy is in the art department and Kate gives guided tours of the building. It is here that they stumble upon Gizmo and the inevitable happens.

I won't give anymore of the story line away. If you haven't seen this movie yet, I urge you to. It may not be brilliant in the eyes of the "Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences", but it is in my eyes. 10 stars!

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14 out of 14 people found the following comment useful :-
Blame the gremlins for everything, 9 September 1999

Author: Dan Grant (dan.grant@bell.ca) from Toronto, Ontario

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?

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15 out of 19 people found the following comment useful :-
More Humor Makes This A More Appealing Gremlins Film, 14 April 2006

Author: ccthemovieman-1 from Lockport, NY, United States

When this came out, it was an amazing movie because these Gremlin creatures looked so lifelike. They still look pretty real. What I like best about this film is that it took the hard edge off the first one and made it more of a comedy. To me, this sequel was more entertaining than the first film and one I would watch a lot more times.

There are so many jokes and wild scenes in here it would many viewings to catch them all. For movie buffs, it's especially fun with all the references to other films in here.

However, it should be pointed out that there are still plenty of scenes where the gremlins are nasty and attack people, so the film is still horror-like in that respect. It may be played for comedic purposes, but these creatures are anything but friendly. In other words, there is still a bit of a hard edge in here for people who want that.

After three viewings of this film over the years, the only person who wore thin on me was John Glover's character, "Daniel Clamp," an obvious Donald Trump-imitation but grossly overacted by Glover. He winds up just being too silly.

Phoebe Cates and Zach Galligan reprise their roles as the cute, small-town, wholesome (despite not being married, however) couple who live together who, of course, know all about these gremlins.

It was nice to see Jackie Joseph (of the original "Little Shop Of Horrors") again as well as some other well-known characters such as Christopher Lee, Robert Prosky, Dick Miller and Keye Luke.

The film just flies by, which tells you it's entertaining.

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10 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :-
More references than a dictionary, 4 January 2002
Author: (caspian1978@hotmail.com) from Attleboro, MA

Gremlins 2 is packed with laughs, special effects, and hundreds of movie references. Look closely to a lot of the background actions and one liners that come up in the movie. There are several references to famous movies that you might not catch the first time. Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Marathon Man, 42nd Street, Batman, and many others. The entire movie is one big laugh. A great movie to watch and take nothing serious.

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6 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
Performing, 22 July 2003
Author: tedg (tedg@FilmsFolded.com) from Virginia Beach

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Spoilers herein.

Speilberg gets what he deserves in this one, and it is worth seeing just for that.

Here is a movie about movies that any real enthusiast will love. That it involves creepy muppets is just incidental.

Circumstances contrive to have a cable network taken over by puppets. (There is a tacit understanding here that everyone knows they are puppets.) These puppets take various stages and act out various movie cliches, always jokingly. Along the way is a "vampire" reporter, playing to his audience as the hidden annotators to this do.

Almost every woman here is redheaded (except the legacy of Phoebe). Wonder what that means?

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 4: Worth watching.

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7 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :-
One of my favorite films. ***** out of 5, 21 April 2005
Author: Lance from United States

This here is Joe Dante's best film. It's a delightful and absolutely charming dark comedy. I begged my mom to take me to see this back in 1990 and thankfully I can say I saw this on the big screen.

Years later when I watch it, I can catch all of the little references and nods to other great films of the past. The Warner Brothers Looney Tune cartoons have obviously made an impact on the directorial style of Joe Dante. What's great is the combination of this type of humor blended with these devious little monsters wrecking havoc in the Clamp Building. Speaking of Clamp, John Glover was excellent as Daniel Clamp (a parody of Donald Trump). He's absolutely hilarious!

There are many terrific special effects and sequences in the film. It's hard to tell you which scene is my favorite because I adore every moment of the film. I will say one of the scenes that sticks out for me is when the Bat Gremlin flies out into New York City by day. I just love those excellent shots of him flying through the sky. Of course, the Brain Gremlin and the 'New York, New York' number is fantastic as well. "Is eeeverybody heere?" And who could forget when the Gremlins got their revenge for Leonard Maltin's lambasting of the first Gremlins movie?

All this is accompanied by a fantastic Jerry Goldsmith score (which happens to be one of my favorites of his as well). The collaboration between Goldsmith and Dante isn't unlike that of Hitchcock and Herrmann or Spielberg and Williams.

The film abounds with dark jollity and watching it you can tell that the filmmakers had a fun time making the picture. To include the audience as part of the goings on, is a real treat.

Out of all the thousands of films I have seen, none have been or ever will be more entertaining than Gremlins 2.

I LOVE it.

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7 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :-
Respectable sequel, 9 April 2000

Author: jhaggardjr from Chicago, Illinois

"Gremlins 2: The New Batch" is the 1990 sequel to the 1984 box office hit "Gremlins" which is one of my all-time favorite movies. The sequel is not as good as the original, but its not bad either. Here the filmakers did something different. They tried to make this one more of a comedy than the original. The first film was funny but also scary. "Gremlins 2" plays more like a Mel Brooks-type movie with some of the jokes that are in it. But its hardly scary. Plus, it got a little tiresome to watch the gremlins do some of the exact same things that they did the first time around like drinking, smoking, etc. Nevertheless, this is for the most part an entertaining movie that I'd wish had done better at the box office. I think if they had made this three years after the original instead of six years, it would have done better. In between the two "Gremlins" flicks there were all those ripoffs ("Critters", "Ghoulies" and their sequels) and by 1990 moviegoers became tired of it all. But the two "Gremlins" movies are much better than the "Critters" and "Ghoulies" movies. A good job by director Joe Dante.

*** (out of four)

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8 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
the gremlins are back, 5 December 1999
Author: steve layne

gremlins 2 is not a horror movie like the original kind of was, but it's funnier, and more entertaining than the original in my opinion. gremlins 2 is full of movie in-jokes, and all kinds of other goofy stuff. i just believe this movie provides more entertainment than the original did. i wish they'd make a 3rd gremlins movie. all in all gremlins 2 is great fun! i give gremlins 2: the new batch *** out of ****

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7 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-
EQUAL SEQUEL, 4 August 2000

Author: Shawn Watson (gator_macready@yahoo.com) from The Underverse

Gremlins 2 has a bigger scope than the first film. It takes place in Manhattan and deals with a lot more than the original did. The main difference is that Gremlins 2 is kind of a spoof of the first. With frequent references to it (even by Leonard Maltin at one point) and only 2 characters (or 3 if you include Gizmo) it's not really continuing the Gremlins story but using it to make fun of early ‘90s big city culture.

There are a gazillion in-jokes and dozens of cameos all over the place. Including Jerry Goldsmith who's music is even better in this movie than in the first. It is such a cool and catchy little theme. I love it.

The Gremlins seem cuter and funnier in this one. My fave Gremlin is Daffy, he's insane. The other main ones are George (the frowner), Lenny (the dumb one) and Mohawk (the one with the uh…mohawk). And of course there's Gizmo. I wish so much that Mogwai were real because he's so cute and adorable.

Rent this movie or catch it on TV. If you like it wait for Warner to release the DVD. The opportunity for extras and invention is endless.

One last thing. Stay with this film until the end of the credits.

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