Fans of Joe Dante’s “Gremlins” (1984) wanting to know how mysterious shop owner Mr. Wing (Keye Luke) first met Gizmo (Howie Mandel) and the rest of the mogwai creatures finally get an answer in the new animated prequel “Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai” (now streaming on Max). In this new origin story from showrunner Tze Chun (“I’m a Virgo”) and executive producer Brendan Hay (“Robot Chicken”), 10-year-old Sam Wing (Izaac Wang) and young Gizmo (Aj LoCascio) attempt to transport the mogwai from 1920 Shanghai to their ancestral home in the Valley of Jade.
The pair are accompanied by teenage street thief Ellie (Gabrielle Nevaeh) and pursued by sorcerer/industrialist Riley Greene (Matthew Rhys), who knows how destructive the mogwai can be if exposed to water or fed after midnight and wants them for his own army of assassins.
“I think that what Joe did with those original ‘Gremlins’ movies is so iconic,...
The pair are accompanied by teenage street thief Ellie (Gabrielle Nevaeh) and pursued by sorcerer/industrialist Riley Greene (Matthew Rhys), who knows how destructive the mogwai can be if exposed to water or fed after midnight and wants them for his own army of assassins.
“I think that what Joe did with those original ‘Gremlins’ movies is so iconic,...
- 5/30/2023
- by Bill Desowitz
- Indiewire
In 1984 a promising director named Joe Dante unleashed Gremlins. It was a horror-comedy that played like a polished-up version of something he might have worked on for his mentor, B-movie king Roger Corman, who shepherded Dante’s first solo feature, Piranha, in 1978. Dante already had The Howling to his name, but this was bigger. Goopy and bloody, scary and funny and endearing, Gremlins was a massive hit that spawned an even bloodier sequel. Corman-esque in spirit, with a dollop of Eighties niceness courtesy of young screenwriter Chris Columbus, its success...
- 5/24/2023
- by Chris Vognar
- Rollingstone.com
In this animated, kid-friendly prequel to the horror-comedy franchise Gremlins, the rules for caring for a mogwai are clearly laid out and swiftly broken. After all, what’s a Gremlins project without all that monstrous, zany havoc fluttering about? Rest assured, Secrets of the Mogwai (of which the first two episodes are streaming on the renamed Max) delivers on all fronts.
When we meet Gizmo, he’s chilling out in his mogwai community somewhere in China in 1920, as a giant bird attacks the creatures’ compound. He steps up to the plate, throwing rocks at their invader to try and help save his people,...
When we meet Gizmo, he’s chilling out in his mogwai community somewhere in China in 1920, as a giant bird attacks the creatures’ compound. He steps up to the plate, throwing rocks at their invader to try and help save his people,...
- 5/23/2023
- by Nick Caruso
- TVLine.com
Joe Dante’s Gremlins came out on the eve of my seventh birthday, and I was instantly smitten. I saw the movie multiple times, read various adaptations and wore out the grooves on the series of tie-in records that were distributed through Hardee’s.
Gizmo, the seemingly innocent mogwai who, through modern humanity’s inability to follow three very basic rules, helped unleash a chaotic surge of nefarious gremlins, has been a constant companion over four decades, serving as my frequent social media avatar.
If the allure of Gremlins to Young Daniel was something primal — the lizard-brain appeal of Gizmo’s cuteness and the gremlins’ Chuck Jones-inspired mayhem — the subsequent appeal in countless rewatches has been different. As directed by Dante, like the cinematic spawn of Frank Capra and Roger Corman, Gremlins is simultaneously elemental and malleable. Mogwai are manifestations of repressed ego, gremlins the embodiment of untethered id.
Gizmo, the seemingly innocent mogwai who, through modern humanity’s inability to follow three very basic rules, helped unleash a chaotic surge of nefarious gremlins, has been a constant companion over four decades, serving as my frequent social media avatar.
If the allure of Gremlins to Young Daniel was something primal — the lizard-brain appeal of Gizmo’s cuteness and the gremlins’ Chuck Jones-inspired mayhem — the subsequent appeal in countless rewatches has been different. As directed by Dante, like the cinematic spawn of Frank Capra and Roger Corman, Gremlins is simultaneously elemental and malleable. Mogwai are manifestations of repressed ego, gremlins the embodiment of untethered id.
- 5/23/2023
- by Daniel Fienberg
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Plot: Takes viewers back to 1920s Shanghai where the Wing family first meets the young Mogwai called Gizmo. Sam Wing (future shop owner Mr. Wing in the 1984 Gremlins film) accepts the dangerous task to take Gizmo home and embarks on a journey through the Chinese countryside. Sam and Gizmo are joined by a teenage street thief named Elle, and together, they encounter—and sometimes battle—colorful monsters and spirits from Chinese folklore. Along their quest, they are pursued by a power-hungry industrialist named Riley Greene and his growing army of evil Gremlins.
Review: Gremlins remains one of the greatest franchises that never was. While the 1984 original was a box office smash, the 1990 sequel was only a moderate success. In the decades since we have seen the title characters appear in various forms but never in a feature film sequel. While a third film has been in development hell as both...
Review: Gremlins remains one of the greatest franchises that never was. While the 1984 original was a box office smash, the 1990 sequel was only a moderate success. In the decades since we have seen the title characters appear in various forms but never in a feature film sequel. While a third film has been in development hell as both...
- 5/17/2023
- by Alex Maidy
- JoBlo.com
Almost forty years ago, Joe Dante introduced the eternally adorable Gizmo, a strange furry mogwai, in Gremlins. The Mogwai comes with strict rules that, when broken, invite terror in the form of monstrous green offspring, unleashing gateway Amblin horror with a dark edge. Its animated prequel series, Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai, could’ve easily coasted on an origin story for Gizmo that used the 1984 film as a blueprint. Instead, showrunner Tze Chun takes viewers on an epic journey that entrenches the Mogwai within a larger world rich with culturally specific gods, myths, and monsters, all while capturing the same horror-comedy tone of Dante’s original film.
Secrets of the Mogwai opens with a disarming vision of a peaceful mogwai village in the 1920s, nestled deep within an emerald forest. An unpredictable force of nature manages to wrestle Gizmo (Aj LoCascio) away from his family and home, taking him all the way to Shanghai.
Secrets of the Mogwai opens with a disarming vision of a peaceful mogwai village in the 1920s, nestled deep within an emerald forest. An unpredictable force of nature manages to wrestle Gizmo (Aj LoCascio) away from his family and home, taking him all the way to Shanghai.
- 5/17/2023
- by Meagan Navarro
- bloody-disgusting.com
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