A ton of scaly mischief making creatures run wild in a giant corporate building in downtonw Manhattan.
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Growing up in the 1980's was a weird time. After the runaway success of Star Wars, literally every film became a cartoon and/or was marketed to children in the form of coloring books, action figures, fruit snacks, etc. So what if the film was rated PG-13 (or in some cases R)? Though I didn't end up seeing this film until I was probably fifteen, six-year-old Craig was very familiar with this film thanks to the book section at the local Pic 'N' Save. I particularly remember the spider-Gremlin. And boy was the marketing effective. Oh how I desperately wanted to see this film, but alas my parents didn't want to waste a Friday night with such "childish" fare.
Having watched this film again recently, I guess my parents were partially right in labeling this film "childish" as it is the cinematic equivalent of Mad Magazine. Yet the satire going on inside is aimed squarely at adults. Released in 1990, this film is a poison pen letter to the excess and corporatism of the Reagan-80's. So vicious is some of the satire, that I don't even think it would be out of line to see this film on a double-bill with Fight Club.
And so in the interest of sequelism and capitalism, this wild little film was marketed to children all over the world. God bless Joe Dante for taking a blank check from Warner Brothers and choosing to use it as a means of corrupting young minds and inspiring cinematic irreverence for generations to come!
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