Gremlins

A Stephen Spielberg Film (1984)

If you are looking for a movie with a mind blowing plot and technically advanced visual and audio effects then this probably isn’t the movie for you! If you are looking for a simple movie that’s amusing, a little clichéd, kind of gross, yet pretty catching then you’ve found your movie!
The movie is centered on a young man called Billy Peltzer who receives a Mogwai, an adorable furry little creature with big eyes, for a Christmas present from his father. The father acquired the Mogwai while away on an inventor’s conference in Chinatown. The old man (who was depicted through every Chinese stereotype-much like Mr. Miyagi in the Karate kid) that had originally owned the Mogwai refused to sell it to the father. Nevertheless, the old man’s grandson decided to sell the dad the Mogwai behind his grandfather’s back because they needed the money. Looks like grandpa’s morals weren’t passed on through the gene pool!


This cute and cuddly little fuzz ball that was later named Gizmo by Billy came with a few warnings: Keep it out of the light, don’t ever feed it after midnight and never get it wet. Well, with obscure warnings like these the viewer has to expect that all of them will be broken at some point yielding some kind of catastrophic result! And, what do you know! They were all broken repeatedly and all hell breaks loose! When little Gizmo accidentally gets soaking wet his body spits out other Mogwai’s. However, these new replicas are no ordinary Mogwai! After have a feast past midnight (breaking a rule), they go into a cocoon and come out as Gremlins! Fuzzy and cute no more, these evil little creatures terrorize the city. It was up to young Billy Peltzer to save the day.

Yes, the plot is predictable in that good old Billy saves the city from the evil gremlins, gets the girl and little Gizmo is returned to his original owner. Yet it is just so entertaining to watch! I laughed my whole way through it--mostly at how corny is was-but I found it to be mindless fun!