(Spoilers below.)
This is not a horrible movie. It's also not an awful adaptation of the series. It is, however, a half-baked excuse for a plot and a waste of what should have been fun (and funny) characters.
Here's the plot: Gadget and Gadgetmobile are best buds, but they have a falling out after the chief fires Gadgetmobile for breaking down in his office; and Gadget gets a new police car, R2K. Gadgetmobile is sold to another superhero, Devon Debonair, who is actually Dr. Claw in disguise. Debonair causes Gadget to lose his job. Gadgetmobile breaks out of Claw's lair with the help of two other cars he befriended in the car lot, and he and Gadget reunite to capture the M.A.D. Agents after Claw escapes.
Most of this movie is just underwritten drama between Gadget and his car. The beginning of the movie was actually pretty promising; Gadget was competent, Gadgetmobile's personality was more low-keyed than in the live-action film, their friendship was shown nicely, and the action was pretty good! Then the main plot kicked in. And by 'kicked in' I mean 'fiddled with its keys for a good twenty minutes before slowly stumbling through the door.' The drama between these two characters was not written well enough to keep this movie rolling. It was boring, had padding, and the good scenes and witty lines were spaced far and in between.
The main conflict of the movie, Gadget and Gadgetmobile's break-up, just didn't really make sense to me. Sentient cars have jobs, but can also be sold? Why couldn't Gadget keep his car after it was fired; was Gadgetmobile never really his in the first place? (I guess not, because when R2K bailed on Gadget at the end; Gadget had to take a taxi.) Well that's just great; he's a world famous detective, but he doesn't own a car. Right.
Anyway, this quasi-slavery aspect is never really addressed. Gadgetmobile just feels sad and betrayed after he's fired from the police and sold to a car lot, believing Gadget likes R2K better. Gadget tries to get Gadgetmobile back after he realizes what happened, but finds Gadgetmobile's already been sold. The relationship between these two characters is really uncomfortable because the movie wants us to see Gadgetmobile as both a member of Gadget's family and a thing Gadget owns, and the morality of the situation is never delved into. The drama they have before and after they part ways drags on too long with few engaging scenes for a good portion of the movie.
(There is one scene that had potential: Gadget told a car that Gadgetmobile didn't actually have a heart, he was just mechanical; and the car countered that by saying, "You're mechanical, don't you have a heart?" Then the scene ends. Do more than just graze the surface, movie!) Aside from the messy breakup between Gadget and his car, you have Dr. Claw, who is neither menacing nor funny in this movie. The scenes with his agents aren't that good either. They wasted a great villain. Moving on.
Chief Quimby, what did they do to you? Gadget put him through a lot in the original series, and yet Quimby still valued him as a friend. Quimby was likable. However, he hates Gadget in this movie, even though this is probably the most competent Gadget has ever been! Quimby also thinks just because Debonair is out saving the day, that must mean Gadget is not doing his job. Quimby seriously threatens to fire Gadget just because Debonair got to the crime scene first in one case; and because the bad guy incapacitated Gadget in another case. Do you also fire your other police officers when they arrive after a crime has been committed, or if they get hurt on the job, Chief? Didn't think so. This movie portrays Quimby as a complete jerk. Having two major crimefighters in your city is not a bad thing. On that note, the scenes with the news casters bashing Gadget and praising Debonair are just tiresome and redundant.
Gadget himself was fine in this movie; he was as always goofy and lovable, but a lot more competent. It was a nice balance. Gadgetmobile was O.K., too. If these characters were given more stuff to do besides hang on to the lifeless plot, this movie would have been great. For instance, Gadget actually using his gadgets more often, maybe? More exciting and funny action scenes with witty dialogue? Maybe some involvement from Penny and Brain? Oh yes. I haven't mentioned them so far in this review, but they sure were in this movie... fifteen minutes of screen time, tops. Seriously movie, Penny and Brain are awesome characters and you barely even used them. Why? There are two other sentient cars who feature prominently in this film; they befriend Gadgetmobile and came to his rescue at the end. They aren't badly written, just kind of bland, and the fact that they upstage the Gadget family at the end does not do the movie any good. (R2K, the fourth sentient vehicle, is uninteresting also.) During the very last ten minutes, the movie realizes it needs to end sometime, so we finally get to see Penny and Brain do their shtick and have a resolution between Gadgetmobile and Gadget. This is horrible pacing, and causes the entire ending of the movie to feel rushed and flat.
In short, this movie was poorly plotted and badly paced. The characters were either underused or handled improperly. The sentient cars being sold aspect shouldn't have even been in the movie if the characters can't even realize the cars were basically slaves. (See Star Wars for how to handle something like that properly so that it makes sense and is appropriate for kid viewers.) Some things in this movie had potential, but unfortunately it was just not meant to be. Go Go Gadget Sadness.
This is not a horrible movie. It's also not an awful adaptation of the series. It is, however, a half-baked excuse for a plot and a waste of what should have been fun (and funny) characters.
Here's the plot: Gadget and Gadgetmobile are best buds, but they have a falling out after the chief fires Gadgetmobile for breaking down in his office; and Gadget gets a new police car, R2K. Gadgetmobile is sold to another superhero, Devon Debonair, who is actually Dr. Claw in disguise. Debonair causes Gadget to lose his job. Gadgetmobile breaks out of Claw's lair with the help of two other cars he befriended in the car lot, and he and Gadget reunite to capture the M.A.D. Agents after Claw escapes.
Most of this movie is just underwritten drama between Gadget and his car. The beginning of the movie was actually pretty promising; Gadget was competent, Gadgetmobile's personality was more low-keyed than in the live-action film, their friendship was shown nicely, and the action was pretty good! Then the main plot kicked in. And by 'kicked in' I mean 'fiddled with its keys for a good twenty minutes before slowly stumbling through the door.' The drama between these two characters was not written well enough to keep this movie rolling. It was boring, had padding, and the good scenes and witty lines were spaced far and in between.
The main conflict of the movie, Gadget and Gadgetmobile's break-up, just didn't really make sense to me. Sentient cars have jobs, but can also be sold? Why couldn't Gadget keep his car after it was fired; was Gadgetmobile never really his in the first place? (I guess not, because when R2K bailed on Gadget at the end; Gadget had to take a taxi.) Well that's just great; he's a world famous detective, but he doesn't own a car. Right.
Anyway, this quasi-slavery aspect is never really addressed. Gadgetmobile just feels sad and betrayed after he's fired from the police and sold to a car lot, believing Gadget likes R2K better. Gadget tries to get Gadgetmobile back after he realizes what happened, but finds Gadgetmobile's already been sold. The relationship between these two characters is really uncomfortable because the movie wants us to see Gadgetmobile as both a member of Gadget's family and a thing Gadget owns, and the morality of the situation is never delved into. The drama they have before and after they part ways drags on too long with few engaging scenes for a good portion of the movie.
(There is one scene that had potential: Gadget told a car that Gadgetmobile didn't actually have a heart, he was just mechanical; and the car countered that by saying, "You're mechanical, don't you have a heart?" Then the scene ends. Do more than just graze the surface, movie!) Aside from the messy breakup between Gadget and his car, you have Dr. Claw, who is neither menacing nor funny in this movie. The scenes with his agents aren't that good either. They wasted a great villain. Moving on.
Chief Quimby, what did they do to you? Gadget put him through a lot in the original series, and yet Quimby still valued him as a friend. Quimby was likable. However, he hates Gadget in this movie, even though this is probably the most competent Gadget has ever been! Quimby also thinks just because Debonair is out saving the day, that must mean Gadget is not doing his job. Quimby seriously threatens to fire Gadget just because Debonair got to the crime scene first in one case; and because the bad guy incapacitated Gadget in another case. Do you also fire your other police officers when they arrive after a crime has been committed, or if they get hurt on the job, Chief? Didn't think so. This movie portrays Quimby as a complete jerk. Having two major crimefighters in your city is not a bad thing. On that note, the scenes with the news casters bashing Gadget and praising Debonair are just tiresome and redundant.
Gadget himself was fine in this movie; he was as always goofy and lovable, but a lot more competent. It was a nice balance. Gadgetmobile was O.K., too. If these characters were given more stuff to do besides hang on to the lifeless plot, this movie would have been great. For instance, Gadget actually using his gadgets more often, maybe? More exciting and funny action scenes with witty dialogue? Maybe some involvement from Penny and Brain? Oh yes. I haven't mentioned them so far in this review, but they sure were in this movie... fifteen minutes of screen time, tops. Seriously movie, Penny and Brain are awesome characters and you barely even used them. Why? There are two other sentient cars who feature prominently in this film; they befriend Gadgetmobile and came to his rescue at the end. They aren't badly written, just kind of bland, and the fact that they upstage the Gadget family at the end does not do the movie any good. (R2K, the fourth sentient vehicle, is uninteresting also.) During the very last ten minutes, the movie realizes it needs to end sometime, so we finally get to see Penny and Brain do their shtick and have a resolution between Gadgetmobile and Gadget. This is horrible pacing, and causes the entire ending of the movie to feel rushed and flat.
In short, this movie was poorly plotted and badly paced. The characters were either underused or handled improperly. The sentient cars being sold aspect shouldn't have even been in the movie if the characters can't even realize the cars were basically slaves. (See Star Wars for how to handle something like that properly so that it makes sense and is appropriate for kid viewers.) Some things in this movie had potential, but unfortunately it was just not meant to be. Go Go Gadget Sadness.
