Cast: Mason Gamble, Walter Matthau, Joan Plowright, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Robert
Stanton
Director: Nick Castle
Producers: John Hughes and Richard Vane
Screenplay: John Hughes
Cinematography: Thomas E. Ackerman
Music: Jerry Goldsmith
U.S. Distributor: Warner Brothers Pictures
In 1951, a comic strip character named Dennis Mitchell made his debut. Inked by Hank Ketcham, Dennis the Menace quickly became a newspaper favorite. Over the next forty-two years, Dennis has been used as the basis for a weekly television series, an animated program, and now, a major motion picture.
All the familiar characters are present. Newcomer Mason Gamble plays Dennis, the blond, five- year old demon with a cowlick. Dennis' long-suffering mother, Alice, is capably portrayed by Lea Thompson, and Joan Plowright takes a turn as Mrs. Wilson. Perhaps the best bit of casting is the choice of Walter Matthau as Mr. Wilson, the grumpy neighbor who becomes the target of Dennis' frequent pranks.
Thrown into the group, with no apparent value other than to provide a Home Alone-type villain, is Christopher Lloyd's Switchblade Sam, a homeless thief who roams the neighborhood stealing purses and breaking into houses. Sam's inclusion is perhaps the movie's biggest mistake since it takes the focus away from the more interesting Dennis/Mr. Wilson interaction by introducing an uninspired plot line that ends up resembling a poor man's hack job of O. Henry's "The Ransom of Red Chief".
There are too many "Home Aloneisms" in Dennis the Menace. We don't need to see Mr. Wilson fall prey to the same sorts of "accidents" that Macaulay Culkin devised for Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern. At least in the two Home Alone movies, the victims were bad guys. Here, while Mr. Wilson may not be the most affable of neighbors, he isn't a villain, and is therefore undeserving of such cruel treatment.
Recycling old formulas is a big problem. Even setting aside the reuse of Home Alone material, the script for Dennis the Menace contains nothing original. Like Home Alone, this is a live-action cartoon. Almost all the scenes featuring Dennis and Mr. Wilson are entertaining, although the occasional attempts at pathos are out of place. Unfortunately, the inane Christopher Lloyd subplot steals time from developing this relationship.
At least Mason Gamble's Dennis is likable. His performance is more endearing than obnoxious, combining the same mixture of innocence, enthusiasm, and vulnerability that made Macaulay Culkin a star. Unfortunately the same cannot be said of Gamble's child co-stars (Amy Sakasitz as Margaret and Kelly Hathaway as Joey). These two are so annoying that I was yearning for Dennis to plunk them both with slingshot-launched marbles.
Dennis the Menace is basically innocuous -- creatively barren but offering the kind of light, undemanding entertainment that the under-ten crowd finds so appealing. Most children will get a kick out of it, although adults roped into accompanying their offspring may find themselves yearning to escape through the nearest exit.
© 1993 James Berardinelli