Doug J

I have no idea how this movie got such high ratings. The plot is barebones and predictable. The characters have zero unique qualities to them and zero motivations other than stopping the gremlins in the second half of the movie. There was zero stakes and no tension. While the gremlins' antics were sometimes funny during the second half of the film, it wasn't nearly enough to carry the movie for an hour and forty minutes. The puppetry for the gremlins was excellent, but visual effects alone don't make a movie good. The movie has some potentially unique qualities and then does nothing with them. The father being an inventor is hammered into the audience the whole time, but him being an inventor never affects the plot at all. The main character, Billy, has absolutely zero character and zero motivations and is a total bore to watch. His girlfriend has no defining traits other than that she's poor and hates Christmas time, which doesn't affect her nonexistent character arc or the plot at all, and just serves to waste screen time. It's hard to think of any redeeming qualities of the movie that don't lie in the excellent vfx. I really wanted to like this movie, but at the end it just felt like a missed opportunity. 1/5.