Review of Police Academy 5: Assignment Miami Beach (1988) by Corey B — 27 May 2011

As a kid I always disliked this one because Mahoney wasn't in it. But in rewatching the series, and realizing just how useless a character Mahoney really was, it's actually the best in the series since the first.

The biggest plus is that there are only two new characters, Lassard's "Guttenberg-lite" nephew and Janet Jones. This means that everyone actually gets a moment to shine and nobody feels like they've been forgotten. It only took five movies, but Hooks actually gets to take down a villain.

It's not particularly funny since every joke is recycled from previous movies, but unlike the other movies in the series, the plot doesn't feel like an afterthought. In most Police Academy movies (two being the exception) the first hour involves training scenes, and the last half hour involves an entirely unexpected crime of some sort that just pops out of nowhere. Here, the villains aren't an afterthought, and that actually helps keep the story moving. The final half hour is pretty exciting in a bland, made for television action scene kind of way.

So, yeah, getting rid of the Gutt, and changing the setting is actually a plus. Maybe I'm just delirious after watching four movies in rapid succession, but this felt like an uptick in quality.