Review of Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990) by Alistair L — 01 Apr 2009

"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.