Inspector Gadget
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Inspector Gadget is a 1999 American action-comedy film loosely based on the 1983 animated cartoon series of the same name. It starred Matthew Broderick as the title character, along with Rupert Everett as Dr. Claw, Michelle Trachtenberg as Penny, and Dabney Coleman as Chief Quimby. Three new characters were introduced, Dr. Brenda Bradford (played by Joely Fisher), Mayor Wilson (played by Cheri Oteri) and the Gadgetmobile (voiced by D. L. Hughley). The film tells the story of how Inspector Gadget and Dr. Claw came to be in the cartoon.
The film was produced by Caravan Pictures and DIC Entertainment (which was owned by The Walt Disney Company at the time of production) and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. It was filmed in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Los Angeles, California, with the ice castle-like main tower of Pittsburgh's PPG Place playing a central role. This was the last film produced by Caravan Pictures before it was absorbed into Spyglass Entertainment. This film was dedicated to the memory of production designer Michael White who died on January 19, 1999 in Los Angeles during production of the film at the age of 36. The film was followed by the 2003 direct-to-video stand-alone sequel Inspector Gadget 2.
Summary
Security guard John Brown's dreams come true when he is selected to be transformed into a cybernetic police officer.
Bad Qualities
- Terrible editing. For example, in one scene there's a crook trying to escape, only for him to run and get captured in less than a second.
- Very poor grasp of the original source material. For instance:
- The main antagonist, Dr. Claw, shows his face, but in the cartoons it was never revealed. Plus, his frighteningly deep voice from the cartoons has been replaced with a snooty, British accent.
- Also, Dr. Claw has a robot claw on his hand in this movie, after he gets it, he renames himself "Claw". Wait, shouldn't "Claw" already be his last name, because according to the cartoon, his real name is George Claw? Well, in this movie, his real name is Sanford Scolex, why not just rename himself Dr. Claw?
- The Gadgetmobile is changed from a silent car, which morphs into a sports fastback and van in the cartoon, into an annoying comic relief character in the movie.
- Penny isn't blonde and barely helps Gadget.
- Terrible acting, even from actors such as Matthew Broderick and Rupert Everett, who does a poor Dr. Claw impression.
- Shameless product placements throughout the film, including Yahoo!, Kodak, Energizer, Crayola, Pez, Magic 8-Ball, Coca-Cola, Surge, Sprite, McDonald's, Skittles, M&M's, Toyota, and even The SimpsonsBTSW.
- There are cartoon sound effects used during every single second of the movie (despite the film being based on a cartoon).
- Sometimes, the film can get WAY too scary for children. For example: Gadget accidentally grabs a guru by the crotch so hard that the tightness of the squeezing makes his eyes pop-out to a really big size as he yells in a very shrill, extremely high-pitched Judge DoomGMW-like shrieking voice.
- Unfunny jokes during the film, especially with Gadget saying "Go Go Gadget!" everytime while falling in the climax.
- Some scenes make no sense. For example, in one scene, Gadget says "Go Go Gadget Oil Slick!", but, for some reason, he shoots toothpaste instead.
- Both Gadget and Dr. Claw behave nothing like their cartoon counterparts.
- The movie ends on a sort of sequel bait ending with Claw yelling "I'll get you, Gadget!"
- The way how Gadget captures Dr. Claw makes no sense, he disables his helicopter then Claw jumps out and opens a parachute, but then the Gadgetmobile captures Dr. Claw.
- Very poor directing from David Kellogg, the same director behind Cool as Ice.
Good Qualities
- The songs are decent, including "I’ll Be Your Everything" and a superb rendition of the Inspector Gadget theme.
- Some of the special effects aren't really that bad, despite some ill-execution.
- Richard Kiel and Mr. T make cameo appearances during the minion-recovery group scene in the credits.
- The mid-credits scene features Don Adams (the voice of Gadget in the cartoon) as the voice of Brain.
Trivia
- The role of Gadget was originally written for Kevin Kline.
- Steven Spielberg, who was considered for executive producer, wanted either Chevy Chase or Steve Martin to play Gadget.
- Brendan Fraser was also considered for the role of Gadget, but turned it down to work on George of the Jungle.
- Tim Curry was considered for the role of Claw.
- Lindsay Lohan turned down the role of Penny due to working on the remake of The Parent Trap.
- Cameron Diaz declined the role of Brenda in favor of Any Given Sunday.
- This was the final film to be distributed by Caravan Pictures (mentioned earlier).
- At one point, Tom Shadyac was going to direct the film, with the Farrelly Brothers as writers, and Jim Carrey as Gadget and Willem Dafoe as Claw.
- Before Caravan Pictures went out of business, the company distributed other films like Tall Tale, Angels in the Outfield and Gone Fishin'.
External links
- 1990s films
- Action films
- Based on cartoons
- Based on television
- Live-action films
- Comedy films
- Crime films
- Disney films
- Buena Vista films
- Science fiction films
- Mystery films
- Moderate success films
- Abusing the Show
- Movies That Killed Their Studios
- Average films
- Bad Movies from Good Franchises
- Live Action Cartoon films
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