Cheesy but classic family horror film

Rating: 9/10 (7 October 2014)

I saw this back when I was eight, on Christmas Eve, and I loved it immediately, and just recently watched it a second time. I'm not one to buy into all that "jolly Christmas cheer" crud but this movie surprised me with its comedy, originality, soundtrack and acting.
Billy Peltzer is a student (not sure whether college or high school), who works at a bank and likes his colleague, Kate. They work at a strict bank and Billy is always being harassed by a dumpy old crone, Mrs. Deagle, although she makes it look like Billy's dog is to blame. During the holidays, Deagle is twice as nasty, from refusing to give money to a mom with two hungry kids to telling Billy that she'll put his dog in a spin dryer on high heat.
A few days before Christmas, Billy is given a strange otherworldly pet from his inventor father, something he got in Chinatown called a mogwai. Billy names the mogwai Gizmo (no idea why), and things are looking up for him. He even asks Kate out on a date and she accepts. However, Gizmo gets water on him, and somehow it makes him reproduce instantly with a gang of evil mogwais. After they are fed after midnight, they soon become gremlins, monsters that wreak havoc on the entire town.
Just pointing out because I'm tired of hearing about how cute and adorable Gizmo is, I hated Gizmo, thought it looked like a messed up anthropomorphic Furby puppet. It was more the story I really enjoyed, and the dangerous but comedic little pranks the gremlins come up with. I also really loved the soundtrack, it was pretty catchy but not too dorky. The acting was great, although I mistook Billy Peltzer as being acted by the actor of Mario from The Little Girl who Lives Down the Lane instead of the real actor, Zach Galligan.
I think it's an appropriate film for kids, no worse than anything on TV today. But IF YOU'RE A PARENT I SUGGEST WATCHING IT YOURSELF FIRST TO DECIDE WHETHER OR NOT IT'S APPROPRIATE FOR YOUR KID. I think it was originally intended to be a film for adults. Kate's story about how she lost her father on Christmas was also very disturbing, not scary, just incredibly disturbing.
My only complaint was that the "mischievously cute" portrayal of the gremlins, especially in the bar scene, was a little too much, and very cheesy to the point where it wasn't even funny anymore, just annoying. Aside from that, Gremlins is a great movie, hilarious, adventurous, strange and creepy. If you want to celebrate Christmas with a movie but you hate the trash like Prancer or All Dogs Christmas Carol, check this one out!