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Billy (Galligan) and Kate (Cates) are still together, but even as the "heroes" of the story, their characters still endure some ribbing. Kate delivers a tale of being flashed by an adult while she was a child that is meant as a parody of her "why I hate Christmas" monologue in Gremlins, but this time around no one pays attention. Billy is viewed as a rube from a small town and people are slow to believe he knows anything about what to do with the gremlins. Galligan is an appealing non-entity in both films, testament to which is the fact that his name is actually misspelled on the back of the Gremlins Special Edition DVD (check it out). Cates' quiet humor in the throwaway girlfriend role serves as a reminder that Kevin Kline's gain was the movie world's loss.

Targets and topics as varied as genetic testing, colorization of black and white films, musicals, merchandising and the impact of violence in the media on television viewers, all pop up on the radar in Gremlins 2. The latter in particular relates to Gizmo as multiple viewings of Rambo: First Blood Part II apparently turn him from a pacifist into a deliverer of flaming-arrow justice. And the Gremlins themselves? Well, thanks to the aforementioned genetic testing, we are treated to a flying bat Gremlin, a spider gremlin, a female gremlin (whose pursuit of a male Clamp Tower employee inspired thoughts in me of Pepe Le Pew chasing aggressively after that cat he was always wooing) and a brainy gremlin that speaks in the stentorian tones of Tony Randall. As he pontificates on what exactly the gremlins want in the world, and Billy et al. work fervently to keep the creatures from making it out of the tower and onto the streets of NYC, it is only natural that the gremlins would break into song ("New York, New York", duh!) and show that everyone has a song-and-dance number in their heart. One is almost sad to see them perish this time around, done in by call waiting as it were. If the Muppets were able to make it on Broadway with their college show, imagine what their less cuddly counterparts could have accomplished!

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