Quartile rating: 4.5/10 · 1 rating
John Brown is a bumbling but well-intentioned security guard who is badly injured in an explosion planned by an evil mastermind. He is taken to a laboratory, where Brenda, a leading robotics surgeon, replaces his damaged limbs with state-of-the-art gadgets and tools. Named "Inspector Gadget" by the press, John -- along with his niece, Penny, and her trusty dog, Brain -- uses his new powers to discover who was behind the explosion.
Inspector Gadget is a middling live-action adaptation of the beloved cartoon. The plot is formulaic and thinly constructed, hitting predictable beats without much imagination. Matthew Broderick tries earnestly but the material limits the cast, and Rupert Everett's villain is campy without being memorable. Cinematography is serviceable but unremarkable blockbuster fare. Novelty is limited — while adapting an 80s cartoon had some novelty at the time, the execution is generic and the film largely squanders its premise. The ending is rushed and unsatisfying. Across the board, this is a below-to-average live-action family film that fails to capture the charm of its source material.