Silly, funny, but a little too dark at times

Rating: 6/10 (7 October 2010)

firstly, i just bought this on bluray last night and haven't seen this film in a very long time. but after seeing it after so many years in full, i must say its darker then i remembered it. the gizmo is cute in the beginning, and i half expected this movie to be not so dark because gizmo was so fluffy and cute. however once the other gremlins come it gets a bit dark. perhaps too dark. first thing that made me gasp in horror was when its implied the spike mogwi (not yet turned into a gremlin) tied up the dog outside with Christmas lights. that was just so wrong. i didn't find it funny, but i don't think it was supposed to be. I'm sure it was meant to show how bad and sadistic the gremlins can be, and it sure did, but as an owner of 4 lovable dogs and a big animal lover myself i found this part to be in bad taste. thankfully the dog wasn't hurt in the film or anything, but still, it looked painful and i felt very bad after seeing this, and i had to go hug my own dogs, lol. later in the film you see gremlins with GUNS trying to shoot people, injecting a needle into a teacher, scratching up a moms face while in a Christmas tree before trying to strangle her, nearly bulldozing a man to his death (thankfully later was confirmed that he survived that somehow). from memory, the gremlins of film 2 were not nearly as sadistic or murderous. sometimes scary or creepy but not like the first film where they were killers. anyone who says this is a "family" movie should be warned. its a strange movie to be sure, its got moments where the kids would definitely enjoy it (as i did when i was a child) and parts where adults are going to think "wow this is pretty twisted". phoebe Cate's character's speech about why she doesn't like Christmas was pretty bizarre as many have stated and just doesn't fit anywhere in the movie. maybe this was why they added it on there, the ridiculous randomness of it, but still, it would have been fine without it.
another thing that people don't seem to give credit for is jerry goldsmiths very memorable film score which really suits the movie and is both scary at times, and funny/silly at others, especially with his very funny, memorable "gremlins theme" tune. you can almost hear the gremlins singing along with it! overall, however, the creature gremlin effects are fantastic and very well done. it reminds us that CGI can never replace the pure magic and creepy realism of puppetry and animatronics that were so wonderful back in the day. this film also reminded me why so many of my favorite films are from the 80's. movies then seemed to have a childlike fun quality to them that seems lost in todays cinema. they were fun, over the top and magical, from the kid movies to the macho action flicks, 80's movies had that magic of cinema that todays films are sorely missing. the film's got plenty of scares and silliness, as well as some good suspense, to entertain just about anyone who likes movies. my only major criticism is that there are some moments that i think are just too dark for a movie like this. i actually prefer the sequel, where i think they got a good balance of silliness and creep out scenes, without being too serious or too dark. on the whole, the 2 gremlins films are very good scary fun movies but do be warned, the first film does get dark at times and may not be great for younger viewers. i wouldn't really call this a "family" film, more like a horror comedy.