Gremlins 2: The New Batch #186 (C-)

Hi buddy.  Is it okay for me to put "The New Batch" as part of the title of this movie/post?  :)  Please do confirm for me...because I love referring to this as Gremlins 2: The New Batch, not just plain Gremlins 2.  How else would you know what movie I'm referring to?  Are you in or out with this?

I was anticipating that this would be fairly good.  Or even perhaps borderline superb - in an 80s sort of way (yet released in 1990).  But as you can see from the rating, I didn't love this movie.  I would have liked to give it something in-between C- and D+ if that existed, but in the end stuck with the C- because I did laugh some throughout.  Why did I pick this movie to watch?  Well, I received a tip from a web-site that mentioned the director basically had carte blanche to do what he wanted.  Apparently this was the director's demand to agree to do the movie.  So per the unnamed web-site, this was in turn, supposed to make this movie in the 'bizarre and awesome' genre.  I can agree there were some zany occurrences throughout - but nothing that makes G2: The New Batch, something that someone needs to run out and watch.

I just don't understand Gizmo.  Man.  Take the Gremlins....aka the bad guys.  They were done very well for 1990.  All of their mannerisms and maneuvers were pretty smooth and easy to watch.  Actually fun to watch because of their odd behaviors.  They did add on a bunch of unnecessary roles for each Gremlin to fill, but hell.  Then you have this Gizmo creature.....just bad.  I feel like Gizmo was controlled by sticks or something.  And the only way to make him move was to put on an odd glove which had the sticks imbedded, making all movements awkward and ridiculous.  His one arm seemed half stuck, as if it couldn't move in full motion, yet the other one could move around.  Then you throw in that his mouth looks like a parrot beak and that he's a plain wuss (which we all know but still....).  I wasn't sure how to act when he was on the screen??

It's funny, as I write this post my son is watching Flushed Away and I hear someone who sounds like Christopher Lee's voice coming out of the TV, and it reminded me that Christopher Lee was in Gremlins 2: The New Batch.  Quite an odd role to be honest.  Dr. Catheter I believe, that his name was.  He was the director of the strange laboratory mixed within the high-rise business building.  Why they needed an experimental laboratory within a business building is beyond me.

A special shout out to Howie Mandel for being the voice of Gizmo.