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By
ETHAN CUHULINN
An improvement over the 1999 original with Matthew Broderick. French Stewart takes over as the
inept Robocop, and he's a better physical comedian, and more effortlessly goofy than his predecessor. The go-go gadgets
have also been upgraded, the production values are high and the special effects solid.
Inspector Gadget has once again fallen out of favor with Riverton's police chief and mayor, G2 -- a new and improved
all-robot female crime-fighter -- is introduced, and Claw escapes. The rest of the plot is typical of the genre: a super
crime, an ambitious super villain with klutzy sidekicks, etc. Also, Inspector G falls for G2 (Elaine Hendrix) and her
circuits respond favorably.
The film was shot in a vivid, candy-colored palette and is directed with a lot of pep by Alex Zamm. There are also
plenty of special features, from commentary tracks, to music videos, to deleted scenes, to outtakes, to a THX Optimizer
and more. Really, pretty impressive, especially since this is a direct-to-video release. And get a load of this: It is
in widescreen! (Unless they're classics, children's films released by BVHE are almost always full screen; in an attempt
to mollify imbeciles who don't get letterboxing, the box refers to the presentation as "Family-Friendly Widescreen,"
since the aspect ratio is the less-than-severe 1.66:1.)
Kids will be easily entertained and parents will have no reason to complain. |
