Changes: Inspector Gadget (1999 film)

Revision as of 08:42, 22 May 2020

Inspector Gadget is a 1999 live-action film based on the popular animated series of the same name that aired from 1983 to 1986. It starred Matthew Broderick as the title character, along with Rupert Everett as Dr. Claw, and Michelle Trachtenberg as Penny. Two new characters were introduced, Brenda Bradford played by Joely Fisher) and the Gadgetmobile (voiced by D.L. Hughley).

This film was produced by Caravan Pictures, DIC Entertainment, and Walt Disney Pictures, and distributed by Buena Vista Distribution. It was filmed in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Los Angeles, California with the iconic ice castle-like main tower of PPG Place playing a central role. The film was a moderate financial hit. This was the last film produced by Caravan Pictures before it was closed.

Plot

John Brown (Matthew Broderick) is a security guard in Riverton who lives with his niece Penny (Michelle Trachtenberg) and her dog Brain, and dreams of being a real life police officer. One night John is securing the parking lot of the Bradford Laboratory which is owned by his love interest Dr. Brenda Bradford (Joely Fisher) and her father Artemeus (Rene Auberjonois). A scientist and businessman named Sandford Scolex (Rupert Everett) and his henchman Sykes (Mike Hagerty) send machines to break into the lab, steal the Bradford's cyborg components and kill Artemus. John chases Scolex's limosine in his car but winds up flipping his car over by a trap from Scolex and orders the villain to step out of the limosine and surrender. Scolex does but throws an explosive cigar at John's car causing it to blow up and accidentally crushes his left hand with a bowling ball during the process.

The next day Brenda Bradford saves John's life by rebuilding in John Brown's body at the hospital making him the first cyborg Police Inspector for the Riverton Police Department known as Inspector Gadget. She also gives him the Gadgetmobile (voiced by D.L. Hughley) which both help Gadget capture two escaped prisoners. Meanwhile Scolex has his second henchman Kramer (Andy Dick) build him a claw to replace his left hand and goes by the name Claw and when he learns that Gadget is getting promoted Police Inspector at a ceremony for capturing the thieves he attends and meets Brenda and asks her to come work for him to which she does, not knowing that he's the man who killed her father.

Gadget wants the case of Artemus' murder but Chief Quimby (Dabney Coleman) denies it to him because he's not a real police officer so Brown decides to take the case himself and finds a silver coin in the murder evidence which has SI on it and tries to figure out what it stands for. Meanwhile Scolex and his henchmen build a robot clone of Gadget called Robo Gadget who terrorises the city and makes everyone think that he's the real Inspector. Soon Gadget realizes that SI stands for Scolex Industries and that Sandford Scolex is the one who murdered Artemus and rushes off to the Scolex building to tell Brenda, then he sneaks in to infiltrate the lab by finding the stolen foot but he is captured by Claw and his henchmen.

Claw removes the Neuron Synapse Amplifier chip that is the main source of Gadget's function, destroys it and has Gadget dumped in the junkyard. Meanwhile Brenda learns that Claw built a robot clone of her called Robo Brenda who reveals to her that Scolex stole the cyborg components and she realizes that Claw killed her father and rushes off to find Gadget.

Claw has Robo Gadget set fire in the city and scare people but luckily Gadget comes back to life in the junkyard and is rescued by Brenda and Penny. He manages to catch up to Scolex's limosine and fights RoboGadget on the streets. During the fight Gadget pulls off his evil double's head and throws it into the water, leaving the rest of the body to wander the streets without a second thought. He then uses his Helicopter Hat to fly off and save Brenda who has been taken hostage by Claw.

The villain tries to escape with Brenda in his helicopter and kill Gadget, but the Inspector saves her and together they land into a pond nearby where they share a kiss.

Claw eventually comes down by parachute and lands in the Gadgetmobile where he is locked in a cage. The police arrive as do Penny and Sykes.

Penny tells Chief Quimby that Claw created an evil version of her uncle to destroy Riverton to which Sykes says is true and gives Quimby the robotic foot. Claw and Sykes are arrested and John is promoted a hero and in the end shares a kiss with Brenda outside his house and the Gadgetmobile chases a Beetle Bug Car. During the credits it is shown that Robo Brenda became an aerobics instructor, Sykes gets free from prison and becomes a member of a group for minions, Robo Gadget's body is still moving on the streets without his head until finally bumping into the screen, Penny receives a communicator watch along with Brain wearing a translator collar and Gadgetmobile gets married to the Beetle Car. He also addresses the audience till the end of the credits.

Cast

Matthew Broderick as Inspector Gadget and RoboGadget
Rupert Everett as Dr. Claw
Joely Fisher as Dr. Brenda Bradford and Robo Brenda
Michelle Trachtenberg as Penny
Dabney Coleman as Chief Quimby
Cheri Oteri as Mayor Wilson
Mike Hagerty as Sykes
Andy Dick as Kramer
René Auberjonois as Dr. Artemus Bradford
Frances Bay as Thelma
J.P. Manoux as the Mayor's Assistant
Brian George as the Guru

Voices

Don Adams as Brain
D. L. Hughley as Gadgetmobile

Reception

The film received generally negative reviews from critics and viewers alike, criticizing the differences from the show itself. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has a score of 21%, based on 62 reviews, with the consensus reading: "Despite an abundance of eyecandy, the film doesn't amount to much." On Metacritic, the film holds a rating of 36 out of 100, based on 22 reviews.

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 said that fans were angered when Dr. Claw reveals himself in the movie.

Despite the negative reception from critics, the film was a moderate box office success with a worldwide gross of $134.4 million worldwide on a budget of $75 million. It made $75.9 million in its first four weeks. In the UK, it grossed just over 7 million.

Sequel

A sequel titled Inspector Gadget 2 was released on March 11, 2003, starring French Stewart as Inspector Gadget. Matthew Broderick did not reprise the role for the film.

Videos

Inspector Gadget (1999) Original Pre-Cut Trailer

Inspector Gadget (1999) Theatrical Trailer (RARE)

Inspector Gadget (1999) italian trailer

Inspector Gadget 1 - Behind the Scenes Preview

Gallery

Trivia

This is the fifth Disney Movie to be based on a non-Disney TV show, the first four being Popeye (international only), George of the Jungle, Mr. Magoo, and My Favorite Martian. The next two would be Underdog and The Lone Ranger.
- But in this case, the company who owned the Inspector Gadget IP, DIC Entertainment were at the time owned by Disney through a limited partnership.
This was the final movie to have a LaserDisc release by Walt Disney Home Video in the United Sates.
- In Japan and Europe however, these honors go to The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea and A Bug's Life respectively.
The original teaser trailer premiered before A Bug's Life and later appeared on the VHS release of Mighty Joe Young.
It is unknown when the 1:15 trailer, used for most advertising on videocassettes, premiered, but a slightly cut-down version was shown with some screenings of Star Wars I: The Phantom Menace and later used as the "now on video" version of the trailer.
The final theatrical trailer premiered before Doug's 1st Movie.

v - e - d

Media
Inspector Gadget (video) • Inspector Gadget 2 (video)

Characters
Inspector Gadget • Dr. Claw • Penny • Brain • Gadgetmobile • Brenda Bradford • Chief Quimby • RoboGadget • G2 • Sykes • Kramer • MAD Cat

Songs
Inspector Gadget • I'll Be Your Everything

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 {{Infobox film
-| name           = Inspector Gadget
+|image = Inspector gadget ver2.jpg
-| image          = File:Inspector gadget ver2.jpg
+|name = Inspector Gadget
-| director       = David Kellogg
+|director = David Kellogg
-| producer       = Roger Birnbaum
+|producer = Roger Birnbaum
-| writer         = Dana Olsen<br>Kerry Ehrin
+|writer = Dana Olsen<br>Kerry Ehrin
-| music          = [[John Debney]]
+|music = [[John Debney]]
-| cinematography = Adam Greenberg
+|cinematography = Adam Greenberg
+|studio = Caravan Pictures<br>DIC Entertaiment<br>Avnet-Kerner Productions
-| distributor    = [[Walt Disney Pictures]]
+|distributor = [[Walt Disney Pictures]]
-| language       = English
+|release = [[July 23]], [[1999]]
-| budget         = $75 million|studio = Caravan Pictures<br> DIC Entertaiment<br>Avnet-Kerner Productions|release = July 23rd [[1999]]
+|language = English
-|followed = ''[[Inspector Gadget 2]]''}}'''''Inspector Gadget''''' is a [[1999]] live-action film based on the popular animated cartoon series of the same name. It starred [[Matthew Broderick]] as the title character, along with Rupert Everett as [[Dr. Claw]], and [[Michelle Trachtenberg]] as [[Penny (Inspector Gadget)|Penny]]. Two new characters were introduced, [[Brenda Bradford]]  played by [[Joely Fisher]]) and the Gadgetmobile (voiced by D.L. Hughley).
+|budget = $75 million
+|followed = ''[[Inspector Gadget 2]]''|starring = [[Matthew Broderick]]<br>
+[[Rupert Everett]]<br>
+[[Joely Fisher]]<br>
+[[Michelle Trachtenberg]]<br>
+[[Mike Hagerty]]<br>
+[[Andy Dick]]<br>
+[[Cheri Oteri]]<br>
+[[Dabney Coleman]]}}'''''Inspector Gadget''''' is a [[1999]] live-action film based on the popular animated series of the same name that aired from 1983 to 1986. It starred [[Matthew Broderick]] as the title character, along with Rupert Everett as [[Dr. Claw]], and [[Michelle Trachtenberg]] as [[Penny (Inspector Gadget)|Penny]]. Two new characters were introduced, [[Brenda Bradford]] played by [[Joely Fisher]]) and the Gadgetmobile (voiced by D.L. Hughley).
-This film was produced by Caravan Pictures, [[DIC Entertainment]], and [[Buena Vista Distribution]], and distributed by [[Walt Disney Pictures]]. It was filmed in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Los Angeles, California with the iconic ice castle-like main tower of [[Wikipedia:PPG Place|PPG Place]] playing a central role. The film was a moderate financial hit. This was the last film produced by Caravan Pictures before it was closed.
+This film was produced by [[Caravan Pictures]], [[DIC Entertainment]], and [[Walt Disney Pictures]], and distributed by [[Buena Vista Distribution]]. It was filmed in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Los Angeles, California with the iconic ice castle-like main tower of {{WikipediaLink|PPG Place}} playing a central role. The film was a moderate financial hit. This was the last film produced by Caravan Pictures before it was closed.
 ==Plot==
+John Brown ([[Matthew Broderick]]) is a security guard in Riverton who lives with his niece Penny ([[Michelle Trachtenberg]]) and her dog Brain, and dreams of being a real life police officer. One night John is securing the parking lot of the Bradford Laboratory which is owned by his love interest Dr. Brenda Bradford ([[Joely Fisher]]) and her father Artemeus ([[Rene Auberjonois]]). A scientist and businessman named Sandford Scolex ([[Rupert Everett]]) and his henchman Sykes ([[Mike Hagerty]]) send machines to break into the lab, steal the Bradford's cyborg components and kill Artemus. John chases Scolex's limosine in his car but winds up flipping his car over by a trap from Scolex and orders the villain to step out of the limosine and surrender. Scolex does but throws an explosive cigar at John's car causing it to blow up and accidentally crushes his left hand with a bowling ball during the process.
+The next day Brenda Bradford saves John's life by rebuilding in John Brown's body at the hospital making him the first cyborg Police Inspector for the Riverton Police Department known as Inspector Gadget. She also gives him the Gadgetmobile (voiced by [[D.L. Hughley]]) which both help Gadget capture two escaped prisoners. Meanwhile Scolex has his second henchman Kramer (Andy Dick) build him a claw to replace his left hand and goes by the name Claw and when he learns that Gadget is getting promoted Police Inspector at a ceremony for capturing the thieves he attends and meets Brenda and asks her to come work for him to which she does, not knowing that he's the man who killed her father.
-John Brown (Matthew Broderick) is a security guard in Riverton who lives with his niece Penny (Michelle Trachtenberg) and her dog Brain, and dreams of being a real life police officer. One night John is securing the parking lot of the Bradford Laboratory which is owned by his love interest Dr. Brenda Bradford (Joely Fisher) and her father Artemeus (Rene Auberjonois). A scientist and businessman named Sandford Scolex (Rupert Everett) and his henchman Sykes (Michael G. Hagerty) send machines to break into the lab, steal the Bradford's cyborg components and kill Artemus. John chases Scolex's limosine in his car but winds up flipping his car over by a trap from Scolex and orders the villain to step out of the limosine and surrender. Scolex does but throws an explosive cigar at John's car causing it to blow up and accidently crushes his left hand with a bowling ball during the process.
+Gadget wants the case of Artemus' murder but Chief Quimby ([[Dabney Coleman]]) denies it to him because he's not a real police officer so Brown decides to take the case himself and finds a silver coin in the murder evidence which has SI on it and tries to figure out what it stands for. Meanwhile Scolex and his henchmen build a robot clone of Gadget called Robo Gadget who terrorises the city and makes everyone think that he's the real Inspector. Soon Gadget realizes that SI stands for Scolex Industries and that Sandford Scolex is the one who murdered Artemus and rushes off to the Scolex building to tell Brenda, then he sneaks in to infiltrate the lab by finding the stolen foot but he is captured by Claw and his henchmen.
-The next day Brenda Bradford saves John's life by rebuilding in John Brown's body at the hospital making him the first cyborg Police Inspector for the Riverton Police Department known as Inspector Gadget. She also gives him the Gadgetmobile (voiced by D.L. Hughley) which both help Gadget capture two escaped prisoners. Meanwhile Scolex has his second henchman Kramer Andy Dick) build him a claw to replace his left hand and goes by the name Claw and when he learns that Gadget is getting promoted Police Inspector at a ceremony for capturing the thieves he attends and meets Brenda and asks her to come work for him to which she does, not knowing that he's the man who killed her father.
-Gadget wants the case of Artemus' murder but Chief Quimby (Dabney Coleman) denies it to him because he's not a real police officer so Brown decides to take the case himself and finds a silver coin in the murder evidence which has SI on it and tries to figure out what it stands for. Meanwhile Scolex and his henchmen build a robot clone of Gadget called Robo Gadget who terrorises the city and makes everyone think that  he's the real Inspector. Soon Gadget realizes that SI stands for Scolex Industries and that Sandford Scolex is the one who murdered Artemus and rushes off to tell Brenda but is captured by Claw and his henchmen.
 Claw removes the Neuron Synapse Amplifier chip that is the main source of Gadget's function, destroys it and has Gadget dumped in the junkyard. Meanwhile Brenda learns that Claw built a robot clone of her called Robo Brenda who reveals to her that Scolex stole the cyborg components and she realizes that Claw killed her father and rushes off to find Gadget.
@@ Line 30: / Line 38: @@
 Claw eventually comes down by parachute and lands in the Gadgetmobile where he is locked in a cage. The police arrive as do Penny and Sykes.
-Penny tells Chief Quimby that Claw created an evil version of her uncle to destroy Riverton to which Sykes says is true and gives Quimby the robotic foot. Claw and Sykes are arrested and John is promoted a hero and in the end shares a kiss with Brenda outside his house and the Gadgetmobile chases a Beetle Bug Car. During the credits it is shownd that Robo Brenda became an aerobics instructer, Sykes gets free from prison and becomes a member of a group for minions, Robo Gadget's body is still moving about the streets until finally bumping into the screen and Gadgetmobile gets married to the Beetle Car.
+Penny tells Chief Quimby that Claw created an evil version of her uncle to destroy Riverton to which Sykes says is true and gives Quimby the robotic foot. Claw and Sykes are arrested and John is promoted a hero and in the end shares a kiss with Brenda outside his house and the Gadgetmobile chases a Beetle Bug Car. During the credits it is shown that Robo Brenda became an aerobics instructor, Sykes gets free from prison and becomes a member of a group for minions, Robo Gadget's body is still moving on the streets without his head until finally bumping into the screen, Penny receives a communicator watch along with Brain wearing a translator collar and Gadgetmobile gets married to the Beetle Car. He also addresses the audience till the end of the credits.
 ==Cast==
-*[[Matthew Broderick]] as [[Inspector Gadget (character)|Lt. Gadget]]
+*[[Matthew Broderick]] as [[Inspector Gadget (character)|Inspector Gadget]] and [[RoboGadget]]
 *[[Rupert Everett]] as [[Dr. Claw]]
-*[[Joely Fisher]] as [[Brenda Bradford|Dr. Brenda Bradford]]
+*[[Joely Fisher]] as [[Brenda Bradford|Dr. Brenda Bradford]] and Robo Brenda
 *[[Michelle Trachtenberg]] as [[Penny (Inspector Gadget)|Penny]]
 *[[Dabney Coleman]] as [[Chief Quimby]]
-*Cheri Oteri as Mayor Wilson
+*[[Cheri Oteri]] as Mayor Wilson
-*[[Mike Hagerty|Michael G. Hagerty]] as [[Sykes (Inspector Gadget)|Sykes]]
+*[[Mike Hagerty]] as [[Sykes (Inspector Gadget)|Sykes]]
 *[[Andy Dick]] as [[Kramer]]
 *[[René Auberjonois]] as Dr. Artemus Bradford
@@ Line 45: / Line 53: @@
 *[[J.P. Manoux]] as the Mayor's Assistant
 *[[Brian George]] as the Guru
 ===Voices===
 *[[Don Adams]] as [[Brain (dog)|Brain]]
@@ Line 57: / Line 66: @@
 ==Sequel==
-A sequel titled ''[[Inspector Gadget 2]]'' was released in March 11, 2003, starring [[French Stewart]] as [[Inspector Gadget (Character)|Inspector Gadget]]. [[Matthew Broderick]] did not resprise the role for the film.
+A sequel titled ''[[Inspector Gadget 2]]'' was released on March 11, 2003, starring [[French Stewart]] as [[Inspector Gadget (character)|Inspector Gadget]]. [[Matthew Broderick]] did not reprise the role for the film.
+== Videos ==
+<gallery position="center" captionalign="center" spacing="small" widths="150">
+Inspector Gadget (1999) Original Pre-Cut Trailer|Teaser Trailer
+Inspector Gadget (1999) Theatrical Trailer (RARE)|Theatrical Trailer
+Inspector Gadget (1999) italian trailer|International Trailer (Italian)
+Inspector Gadget (1999) Trailer|Final Trailer
+Inspector Gadget 1 - Behind the Scenes Preview|Behind the scenes video
+</gallery>
 ==Gallery==
+<gallery position="center" captionalign="center" spacing="small" widths="150">
-<gallery>
+VECK3YDL.jpg
+vlcsnap-2015-07-24-17h22m01s680.png
+vlcsnap-2015-07-24-17h23m01s913.png
+Walt Disney Pictures - Inspector Gadget Logo.png|The opening Logo for the film
 Tumblr nhjjh9ZxrJ1qhcrb0o1 1280.jpg
+Tumblr nk3lrlAEBS1qhcrb0o1 1280.jpg
-Tumblr_nk3lrlAEBS1qhcrb0o1_1280.jpg
 Ig1.jpg
 Ig2.jpg
@@ Line 78: / Line 101: @@
 inspector-gadget-images-2.jpg
 .05.png
+MV5BMTQzMzU3MDE0NF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTYwODkwODc2  V1 SX640 SY720 .jpg
-VECK3YDL.jpg
+banner 824.jpg
-MV5BMTQzMzU3MDE0NF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTYwODkwODc2__V1_SX640_SY720_.jpg
-banner_824.jpg
 inspector-gadget-1999-DI-02.jpg
-vlcsnap-2015-07-24-17h22m01s680.png
-vlcsnap-2015-07-24-17h23m01s913.png
 vlcsnap-2015-07-24-17h33m51s633.png
+Inspector Gadget 1999 Penny Hugging Gadget.jpg
+large.jpg
+vlcsnap-2015-08-21-23h35m16s670.png
+vlcsnap-2015-08-21-23h36m11s671.png
+mtig79.jpg
 </gallery>
+==Trivia==
+*This is the fifth Disney Movie to be based on a non-Disney TV show, the first four being ''[[Popeye]]'' (international only), ''[[George of the Jungle]]'', ''[[Mr. Magoo]]'', and ''[[My Favorite Martian]]''. The next two would be ''[[Underdog]]'' and ''[[The Lone Ranger]]''.
+**But in this case, the company who owned the Inspector Gadget IP, DIC Entertainment were at the time owned by Disney through a limited partnership.
+*This was the final movie to have a LaserDisc release by Walt Disney Home Video in the United Sates.
+**In Japan and Europe however, these honors go to [[The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea|''The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea'']] and [[A Bug's Life|''A Bug's Life'']] respectively.
+*The original teaser trailer premiered before ''[[A Bug's Life]]'' and later appeared on the VHS release of ''[[Mighty Joe Young]]''.
+*It is unknown when the 1:15 trailer, used for most advertising on videocassettes, premiered, but [https://www.ebay.com/itm/Inspector-Gadget-Scope-35mm-Film-Trailer-2/153932951416 a slightly cut-down version] was shown with some screenings of ''Star Wars I: The Phantom Menace'' and later used as the "now on video" version of the trailer.
+*The final theatrical trailer premiered before ''[[Doug's 1st Movie]]''.
 {{Inspector Gadget}}