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INSPECTOR GADGET 2
Review by Ruth E. Ferguson
Stars:
French Stewart, Elaine Hendrix, Bruce Spence, Caitlin Wachs, and Tony
Martin
Director: Alex Zamm
Audio: THX-Certified, ENGLISH: Dolby
Digital 5.1, SPANISH: Dolby Digital Stereo, FRENCH: Dolby Digital Stereo
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen
1.66:1 Color
Studio: Walt Disney
Features:
See Review
Length: 88 Minutes
Release Date: March 11, 2003
“Save
it for the judge, perp.” - Inspector Gadget, as he leads a
grandmother away in handcuffs.
Film
** ½
In a
follow-up to the 1999 film Inspector Gadget, Disney is releasing Inspector
Gadget 2 on video and DVD. This
time out French Stewart is in the title role, not Matthew Broderick, but again
IG faces his old nemesis, Claw (Tony Martin).
Helping the Inspector out in his crime fighting caper is Penny his niece
(Caitlin Wachs), her dog Brain, and the Gadgetmobile.
But
the big surprise for IG is that Baxter (Bruce Spence), his creator, has finally
worked out the kinks in the system that causes IG to malfunction constantly.
But rather than upgrading IG’s hardware, they have created G2 (Elaine
Hendrix), a female, 100% robotic, blue leather clad crime fighter and they plan
to put ole’ IG out to pasture.
IG2
was filmed in Australia to save money, but obviously, Disney still realized this
film was not going to do well enough at the box office so they sent it straight
to video and DVD. It is humorous at
times, but generally just too overdone, even for a kid film.
As
you might expect with a Disney film, the video is good, but not especially sharp
or crisp as one of their premiere titles. The
color palate is designed for young kids so plenty of bright and goofy décor,
green kitchen, and purple car – you get the picture.
The
audio is adequate, nothing particularly special about it so I am not sure why
they went to the trouble of THX Certified.
The audio is hardly called up on to do much more than let out a few bongs
and wowsers. The music soundtrack
is appropriately perky and lively but not overly annoying.
Features
***
The
menus and opening title sequence are the best part of the feature.
The main menu actually has two versions, when the first one pops up click
on the IG2 logo and a second version of the menu appears.
Also shortly after the film begins a cartoon title sequence appears -
makes you wish this was an animated version of the film.
Probably the best stuff on the disc is the special features; after all,
it is a gadget themed flick.
Illustrated
Gadget Activity
– Baxter, the creator of IG1 & 2, and all of their gadgets describes how
selected gadgets work.
Gadget
Training Simulator
– Think you are ready to join the IG team?
Well, The Gadgetmobile guides you through three missions, which if you
successfully complete will earn you a Merit Badge.
Behind
the Scenes Featurettes
- Thirteen segments show how they film the various special effects, including
the Gadgetmobile, The Claw, fight scenes, including interviews with the actors
and cast members. For tech geeks,
this is a lot of fun, for kids it might take too much fun out of everything.
Deleted
scenes –
Twelve deleted scenes are available, again you can select the individual scene
or press play all. You may watch
this with or without the director’s commentary.
Audio
Commentary with
the director Alex Zamm - Commentaries on bad flicks are always intriguing to me
because when you see the end result, it leaves you wondering – what were they
thinking? Zamm clearly is a fan of the original TV show and was trying to bring
back the spirit of that show to this version of the film.
Also little things like making sure anything violent is presented in a
very absurd way to take the edge off of it, and never showing Claw’s face.
Also
included is a commentary track with the director and two lead performers, French
Stewart and Elaine Hendrix. There
is simply one of those how much fun, how good so and so was, blah, blah type of
tracks.
Other
special features include: Bloopers, Storyboard to Film Comparison of the final
face off, and a Music Video “Up, Up, Up” by Rose Falcon.
