From Deseret News archives:
Inspector Gadget
I mean, the Brendan Fraser- starring version of "George of the Jungle" was bad enough, but the new comedy "Inspector Gadget" makes that one look like a cinematic masterpiece by comparison.
It doesn't help that the filmmakers decided to throw in some surprisingly, inappropriate-for-children crude humor (in the form of bad puns and worse sight gags) or that the movie was filmed in an annoyingly hectic fashion, which is sure to irritate parents.
Also, they've changed the premise of the source material (a long-running TV cartoon) and combined it with parts of "The Six Million Dollar Man" or "RoboCop," and in the process they've lost most of the silly elements that made the series appealing.
In fact, the one real positive thing here is that the studio mandated cuts that resulted in a shorter movie. As a result, the film has gone from an incredibly painful 100 minutes to a slightly less painful 80, though even 60 minutes (or 40, or 20, for that matter) would be too long.
Matthew Broderick stars as the title character, a bumbling security guard who is horribly injured while trying to catch some fleeing suspects. But he is "rebuilt" by Brenda Bradford (Joely Fisher), a beautiful scientist who replaces his injured limbs with mechanical gizmos.
With his new "enhancement," the cyborg detective quickly joins the local police department, hoping to discover just who is responsible for his injuries and for killing Brenda's father. Unfortunately, his new boss (Dabney Coleman) refuses to give him that case and instead puts him to work on more mundane assignments.
Eventually he gets his chance to prove himself and clear his name when industrialist Sanford Scolex (Rupert Everett) creates an evil duplicate (Broderick again) that begins destroying the city. Meanwhile, Gadget is aided by his niece, Penny (Michelle Trachtenberg) and the "Gadgetmobile," a smart-mouthed, souped-up auto.
It's obvious that first-time director David Kellogg and a trio of (credited) screenwriters don't really have a handle on the material, which changes gears from would-be slapstick comedy to painfully unfunny parodies of other films (including "Godzilla" and "Last of the Mohicans") with little success.
What's worse, Kellogg also seems to have little control over his cast, which is either wildly over-the-top (Broderick), hopelessly bland (Fisher) or seemingly uninterested and uninspired (Everett).
"Inspector Gadget" is rated PG for violence, including fistfights and explosions (much of which is done slapstick-style), some suggestive sight gags, crude humor and a couple of profanities.
