Nasty.

Rating: 5/10 (25 July 1999)

It's disturbing that this film is supposed to be fun and amusing -- the poor befuddled snowplow driver's home being destroyed; the tavern being trashed while the girl is being terrorized, the science teacher viciously attacked, the murder of the town meanie. It would have been quite possible to make the gremlins pesky and troublesome without urging the audience to laugh at horrible misfortune.
The characters were all cookie-cutter cliches: wise old oriental, bungling inventor dad, sad-eyed tragic love interest, perky and resourceful kid, and the resurrection of Elvira Gulch, who was a much better character in the Wizard of Oz.
Sure, Gizmo was cute, and the scene where the monsters all gathered to watch Snow White had its charm, but overall Gremlins lacks anything endearing or enduring.