Inspector Gadget

**Inspector Gadget** is a 1999 film produced by Walt Disney Pictures, Caravan Pictures, DIC Entertainment, Avnet/Kerner Productions, Roger Birnbaum Productions, and released by Buena Vista Pictures Distribution. The film was written by Kerry Ehrin, Zak Penn, Audrey Wells and Dana Olsen.

## Plot

John Brown lives in Riverton, Ohio, with his niece Penny and her pet beagle Brain. Dreaming of becoming a police officer, John works as a security guard for the Bradford robotics laboratory. Artemus Bradford and his daughter Brenda are designing a lifelike robotic foot as part of the Gadget Program, designed to add android officers to the Riverton Police Department. Sanford Scolex, a tycoon, steals the foot to build an army of androids from its technology, assassinating Artemus. John chases after Scolex's limousine in his hatchback but both vehicles crash. John is left for dead by getting blown up in his car by Scolex's Dynamite stick disguised as a victory cigar but a bowling ball launched by the blast from the destroyed car, lands in the limo and crushes Scolex's left hand. Scolex receives a mechanical claw from his associate Kramer, taking on the alias “Claw”.

Brenda decides to make the barely alive and heavily-injured John the first test subject of the Gadget Program, transforming him into a crimefighting cyborg with the alias of “Inspector Gadget”, powered by a control chip. He is helped by the Gadgetmobile, a robotic car with a chatty AI. At a charity ball, Scolex approaches Brenda, having known her at Harvard, inviting her to work for him in her own laboratory. Much to Gadget's dismay, Brenda accepts, unaware that Scolex plans to steal her technological ideas and designs. Unimpressed with Gadget, police chief Quimby assigns him to menial assignments rather than investigate Artemus’ murder. Upset at not being taken seriously, Gadget investigates on his own, finding a piece of scrap metal which he later connects to Scolex, with help from Penny.

Claw uses Brenda's research to build his own android, “Robo-Gadget”, sending him out on a rampage across Riverton to frame the real Gadget. Gadget himself infiltrates Claw's lab to recover the foot, but is caught and deactivated when Claw breaks his chip. Claw's minion Sykes dumps Gadget in a junkyard, then is tasked to dispose of the foot. Brenda encounters her own robotic doppelganger, Robo-Brenda, who confirms Claw stole the foot and murdered her father. Brenda, Penny, Brain and the Gadgetmobile track Gadget to a junkyard. A kiss from Brenda awakens Gadget, proving his will can control his new body, regardless of whether the chip is needed or not.

After dropping Penny and Brain off at home, Gadget and Brenda chase Claw and Robo-Gadget's limo. Gadget and Robo-Gadget fall off the roof and duel on a bridge, until Gadget removes the latter's head, tossing it into the river, though Robo-Gadget's body runs off.

Brenda crashes the Gadgetmobile into Claw's limo but is taken prisoner. Claw tries to escape in a helicopter, but Gadget appears using his helicopter hat to intercept. Claw destroys it, forcing Gadget to use an improvised weapon to damage Claw's claw and the helicopter. Brenda leaps out of the helicopter onto Gadget's back, but they fall down the side of Scolex's skyscraper, using a parasol to land safely. Claw parachutes down but lands in the Gadgetmobile and is captured. The police arrive to arrest Gadget but Penny appears with a repentant Sykes, who confesses his boss's crimes to the police. Saluted and acknowledged by Quimby as an actual member of the police force, Gadget departs with Brenda and Penny, as Claw vows revenge.

## Cast and Characters

* Matthew Broderick as John Brown/Inspector Gadget
* Rupert Everett as Sanford Scolex/Dr. Claw
* Joely Fisher as Dr. Brenda Bradford/RoboBrenda
* Michelle Trachtenberg as Penny Brown
* Dabney Coleman as Chief Frank Quimby
* D. L. Hughley as Gadgetmobile
* René Auberjonois as Dr. Artemus Bradford
* Don Adams as Brain
* Cheri Oteri as Mayor Wilson
* Andy Dick as Kramer
* Michael G. Hagerty as Sykes
* Frances Bay as Thelma
* J. P. Manoux as The Mayor's Sychophantic Assistant
* Brian George as The Sore Guru
* Richard Penn as Fantastic Doctor
* Sonya Eddy as Hospital Secretary
* Andy Heyward as Mr. D.I.C.
* Stan Lee as Himself

## Sequel

### Inspector Gadget 2

The film was released on March 11, 2003. It follows Gadget getting a replacement named G2 who is a woman-like version of Gadget. Meanwhile, Claw gets out of prison and plans to steal gold from the United States Treasury, so it's up to Gadget, Penny, Brain and G2 to stop Claw's plans.

## Production

### Development

Universal Pictures at one point had an option on the film rights to the animated television series in 1993. Ivan Reitman signed on to produce with a script by Jeph Loeb and Matthew Weisman. Inspector Gadget moved to Disney when the film studio bought out DIC Entertainment. At one point, Peter Farrelly and Bobby Farrelly were considered to write and direct. Martin Scorsese was also considered to direct. Disney eventually hired David Kellogg to direct, best known for "The Adventures of Seinfeld & Superman" TV commercials and the Vanilla Ice film, Cool as Ice (1991). At one point, Steven Spielberg, a fan of the 1980s cartoon, considered being the film's executive producer, but he was too busy with other films such as Saving Private Ryan.

### Casting

Cameron Diaz declined the role of Dr. Brenda Bradford in favour of Any Given Sunday. Brendan Fraser was considered for the role of Inspector Gadget but turned it down on account of working on George of the Jungle, another live-action Disney film based on an animated cartoon. Kevin Kline, Steve Carell, Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Kevin Costner, John Travolta, Mel Gibson, Bill Paxton, Michael Keaton, Adam Sandler and Robin Williams were also considered for the role. When Steven Spielberg considered being the film's executive producer, his two choices for the role of Inspector Gadget were Chevy Chase and Steve Martin, while the Farrelly brothers choice was Jim Carrey. Lindsay Lohan turned down the role of Penny, due to her working on her first film, The Parent Trap. Eddie Murphy was considered for the role of the Gadgetmobile. David Alan Grier and Chris Tucker were also considered for the role. Tim Curry, James Earl Jones, Willem Dafoe, Jack Nicholson, John Lithgow, Tommy Lee Jones and Dennis Hopper were considered for the role of Doctor Claw. Louis C.K. auditioned for a role as a police officer.

### Filming

Principal photography began on July 20, 1998, and wrapped on October 3, 1998.

### Post-Production

After a test screening, the film was cut to 78 minutes from the original 110-minute version.

### The Gadgetmobile

The Gadgetmobile, designed by Brenda Bradford, is a white & chrome 1964 Lincoln Continental convertible instead of a Matra Murena/Toyota Celica hybrid from the cartoon and can't transform from a minivan to a police vehicle and often drives by itself. It has an artificial intelligence with a male persona. Like most anthropomorphic cars, "his" front bumper is his mouth and he has eyes in his headlights. However, unlike those cars, who have two eyes, he has four. He also has a face on a computer screen on the dashboard and a license plate that reads "GADGET". Among other things, he can camouflage himself, has a radar system to track Gadget's location (and other people's as well), can extend his tires upwards, has retractable jail bars in his back seat (for transporting criminals), a vending machine (options on this include Skittles, M&M's, Surge, Sprite, Coca-Cola and McDonald's), police lights hidden in the hood that mechanically move onto the windshield and a jet engine he keeps in his trunk. His artificial intelligence has a laid-back personality. The Gadgetmobile openly breaks the law constantly (he is a particular fan of backturns), but claims it is okay: "Speed limits are for cars, not the Gadgetmobile." Comedian D. L. Hughley provides his voice.

### Music

The soundtrack of the film, composed by John Debney, contains the singles "All Star" by Smash Mouth and "I'll Be Your Everything" by the boy band Youngstown.

## Release

### Home Media

Inspector Gadget was released on VHS and DVD on December 7, 1999 and re-released on DVD May 27, 2003 by Buena Vista Home Entertainment.

## Reception

### Box Office

Despite negative reviews from critics and fans of the 1980s cartoon series themselves, the film was a moderate box office success with a worldwide gross of $134.4 million worldwide, against a budget of $90 million. It lost the studio approximately $30 million. In its opening weekend, the film grossed $21.9 million, finishing in second at the box office behind The Haunting ($33.4 million). In the United Kingdom, it grossed just over £7 million.

### Critical Response

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 21% based on 63 reviews, with an average rating of 3.97 out of 10. The site's critics consensus states: "Despite an abundance of eyecandy, the film doesn't amount to much." Metacritic reports a weighted average score of 36 out of 100, based on 22 critics, indicating "generally unfavourable reviews." Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.

Lawrence Van Gelder of The New York Times stated that it "wastes a lot of good talent". In his review for the Chicago Sun-Times, Roger Ebert gave the film one-and-a-half stars out of four and mentioned that fans were angered when Dr. Claw reveals himself in the movie. Ian Freer of Empire Magazine gave the film a two out of five stars, saying, "Something more engaging would not have gone amiss."

At the 1999 Stinkers Bad Movie Awards, the film received five nominations: Worst Picture, Worst Director (Kellogg), Most Painfully Unfunny Comedy, Worst Resurrection of a TV Show, and Least "Special" Special Effects.