Inspector Gadget- 1999

Inspector Gadget- 1999

a.k.a The Real Inspector Gadget (USA) (working title)

Children and adults alike are decidedly ill served by "Inspector Gadget," a frenetic but genuinely mirthless live action take on the popular Saturday morning cartoon series that mires poor Matthew Broderick in the role of a nerdish do-gooder who gets the chance to live out his heroic fantasies when he is converted into a one-man, self-contained crime fighting cybernetic arsenal.

Thanks to current state-of-the-art special effects, the filmmakers manage to effectively translate the cartoonish aspects of the original to the live action format. Despite a few glaringly bad shots utilizing rear screen projection, the visuals that help to realize the infinite gadgets at the inspector's disposal are genuinely jaw-dropping.



What the movie makers couldn't (or, at least, wouldn't) come up with is a decent script - without which all the greatest special effects in the world cannot a quality film make. Gadget is surrounded by a gallery of dull, poorly written caricatures ranging from a giddy, self-absorbed mayor, to a gruff, shortsighted chief of police, and an effete mad scientist bent on creating an army of indestructible gadget warriors, with which, of course, he (ho hum) plans to rule the world. Even the newly "hipified" gadget mobile comes across as a charmless, grating irritant as he provides a constant stream of witless one-liners as running commentary to the action.

Of the actors, Broderick and Rupert Everett cannot be faulted since both provide a degree of enthusiasm wholly unwarranted by the inferior screenplay with which they are saddled. For a perfect marriage of sophisticated writing and unsurpassable special effects, check out "Toy Story 2." And see what "Inspector Gadget" might indeed have been.

Trivia for Inspector Gadget
(1999)

• CAMEO Don Adams, the voice of Inspector Gadget on TV, provides the voice of Brain (the dog) in the closing credits
  
  
• Cameo: [Andy Heyward] one of the creators of the original animated series appears in the film as "Mr. D.I.C." DIC was the name of the studio that produced the animated series.
  
  
• When Gadget talks to Chief Quimby (Dabney Coleman), the Dragnet theme is played. Coleman starred in Dragnet (1987), another film remake of a TV series.
  
  

• When Penny is in the hospital visiting her injured uncle, "Dr. Howard, Dr. Fine, Dr, Howard" is heard on the PA system. This is a reference to the Three Stooges and their classic gag.
  
  
• Even though there were more than 60 gizmos and gadgets grafted to John Brown's body and appeared, the Inspector Gadget in the cartoon series said to have an estimate of 14,000 gadgets.
  
  
• Kramer, Claw's head scientist, played by Andy Dick, was named after the Seinfeld series character Kramer with the same notorious hairstyle.
  
  
• The movie had more than 150,000 Skittles spilled in the Gadgetmobile after he crashed on Scolex's limo.
  
  
• At the Bradford Institute parking lot scene, Brenda Bradford hums to the original Inspector Gadget theme song.
  
  
• In the hospital when Inspector Gadget is getting his gadgets put in, there is a page on the PA for "Doctor Howard" and "Doctor Fine" - a reference to two of the Three Stooges.

Additional Information and Facts:
Film: Gadget's real name is John Brown.

Cartoon: His name really is Gadget. --- Film: Claw's real name is Sanford Scolex.

Cartoon: His name really is Claw. --- Film: Metro City is in the USA.

Cartoon: Metro City is in Canada. --- Film: Gadget works for the local police department.

Cartoon: Gadget works for Interpol. --- Film: Gadget used to be a security guard and was injured in an explosion.

Cartoon: Gadget used to be a policeman and was injured when he slipped on a banana peel. --- Film: Claw's face is shown (and it looks nothing like the action figure).

Cartoon: Claw's face is never shown. --- Film: Claw has a mechanical claw inplace of one of his hands.

Cartoon: Claw has normal hands. --- Film: Quimby hates Gadget for no reason.

Cartoon: Quimby thinks Gadget is one of Interpol's best inspectors. --- Film: The Gadget Mobile can talk and has many gadgets.

Cartoon: The Gadget Mobile can't talk, can change from a police car to a van (and vice versa) and has only a few gadgets. --- Film: Gadget was put back together by a team of surgeons.

Cartoon: Gadget was put back together by one man; Professor Baxter. --- Film: Claw is the head of Scolex Industries.

Cartoon: Claw is the head of a criminal organization called MAD. --- Film: Claw has two minions.

Cartoon: Claw has hundreds of minions. --- Film: Gadget has 60 gadgets.

Cartoon: Gadget has 14,000 gadgets.