CINELATION | Movie Reviews by Christopher Beaubien
Subscribe
Siren
HAL 9000

GREMLINS: First They Take Manhattan,
Then They Take Britain!

Written by Christopher Beaubien • May 01, 2008 • 2 Comments

Gremlins are back!

gremlins_berlin

Overseas in the UK those nasty critters, including Stripe, are having a blast destroying an office department to their exhilarating tune by composer Jerry Goldsmith. The TV spot uses ingenious computer animation to digitally transfer the original puppet-controlled monsters seamlessly from the Joe Dante 1984 original into a new modern setting. It is a marvel to behold. For instance, the gremlin going head first in the waste basket is the exact same one going into the bowl of frosting attached to the blender in the first movie’s notorious kitchen sequence. There are even some new actions performed by the gremlins that look convincing on part of the effects animators here. That tap dance sequence doesn’t exist, not even in the deleted scenes on the DVD.

Watching the TV spot only confirms the marketing department for BT, a Britain-based internet connection support company, are wicked masterminds. They even got Timothy Spall (Tim Burton’s Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street) to do the voice-over.

I hope Hollywood and Joe Dante are paying attention. Here’s the pitch: Move Gizmo and the gang to Japan and call it: Gremlins: Lost in Transmogrification. And do it while Dick Miller is still around to play Mr. Futterman.

UPDATE (May 2nd, 2008) :

I was just informed by an insider involved with the Gremlins BT TV Spot that no gremlins from the original 1984 film were lifted (or harmed) for the advertisement. All of the effects work was created using new Gremlin puppets. The attention to detail and the superb homages to the original are simply astonishing.

© 2008 – 2024, CINELATION | Movie Reviews by Chris Beaubien. All rights reserved.

  • Gaskett

    Hey There.

    Just thought you would be interested to know that the BT commercial actually uses all new footage of re-built gremlins, nothing is used from the original.

    I know this because I worked on it. Check out Youtube for the making of.

    They still rock !

    G

  • Spectacle

    Good job it looks cool.