''Inspector Gadget 2'' (sometimes called ''Inspector 2 Gadget'' and ''IG2'') is a 2003 American superhero

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

released

direct-to-video Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, TV series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strategy wa ...

on VHS and

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

on March 11, 2003. The film is based on the 1983 cartoon series created by

DIC Entertainment DIC Entertainment Corporation (; also known as DIC Audiovisuel, DIC Enterprises, DIC Animation City, DIC Entertainment, L.P., and DIC Productions), branded as The Incredible World of DIC, was an international film and television production com ...

and is a sequel to the 1999 film, ''

Inspector Gadget ''Inspector Gadget'' is a media franchise that began in 1983 with the DIC Entertainment animated television series '' Inspector Gadget''. Since the original series, there have been many spin-offs based on the show, including additional animated ...

''. This was made three years after Disney lost the rights to DIC Entertainment, as Disney currently owns the live-action film rights to ''Inspector Gadget''. Unlike the first film (which has a serious and darker tone and received a PG rating), ''Inspector Gadget 2'' received a G rating and is considered a more faithful adaptation of the original animated series; the characters' personalities were altered to be more in line with their cartoon counterparts and

Doctor Claw ''Inspector Gadget'' is an animated science fiction comedy series from the mid–1980s co-created by Andy Heyward, Jean Chalopin and Bruno Bianchi, and was originally syndicated by DIC Audiovisuel and Lexington Broadcast Services Company. The ...

's face is never shown. Gadget and Claw are never referred to as "John Brown" and "Sanford Scolex", their respective civilian names from the first film (though Claw's communicator is still labeled as "Scolex Industries"; Claw also reveals to his minions that all his assets, including his "multi-million-dollar high-rise evil headquarters", were confiscated by the police following his arrest in the previous film). The film received mixed reviews, although its reception slightly improved over its predecessor. With the exception of

D. L. Hughley Darryl Lynn Hughley (; born March 6, 1963) is an American actor and stand-up comedian. Hughley is best known as the original host of BET's ''ComicView'' from 1992 to 1993, the eponymous character on the ABC/ UPN sitcom ''The Hughleys'', and as ...

, who returned as the voice of the Gadgetmobile, none of the actors from the 1999 film reprised their roles.

Plot

Sometime after the events of the first film,

and his Gadgetmobile are having problems in their line of work, mostly because of Gadget's overzealous nature and his paranoia about minor crimes committed by citizens. Gadget is put on probation by an angry Chief Quimby after charging Quimby's mother for going slightly above the speed limit on a mostly-deserted highway. At this time, Dr. Claw escapes from prison, seeking revenge on Gadget for putting him in prison and to restart his multi-million-dollar empire. Mayor Wilson takes this opportunity to create G2, a female Gadget-type robot that can function normally compared to the original Gadget, who not only was born a human but has recently been malfunctioning. Gadget begins to fall in love with G2, though G2 does not reciprocate as she prefers to work alone, viewing him as a nuisance but at the same time appreciating his determination to fight crime. Dr. Claw begins a new plan to steal gold from the Federal Reserve. Gadget makes repeated attempts to stop Claw, but is continually foiled by his own bumbling and gadgetry glitches; his antics also prevent G2 from stopping Claw. Gadget's bumbling allows Dr. Claw's men to steal components for Claw's latest scheme and get away with it. Chief Quimby becomes increasingly frustrated and eventually relieves Gadget of duty after an incident at a science convention involving Claw's men putting an override chip on Gadget, allowing Claw to control Gadget like a puppet and cause significant damage. Penny offers to help, but Gadget tells her that she is still too young and to not get involved. Meanwhile, Dr. Claw's henchmen are now free to steal the rest of the components for Claw's scheme. Penny decides to examine the evidence on her own and eventually finds Claw's hideout at an abandoned bowling factory in the outskirts of the city. She infiltrates the hideout, but Claw and his men capture her. After a series of unsuccessful jobs, Gadget gets a job as a parking valet. At Mayor Wilson's fundraiser, Claw infiltrates the event and activates a bowling pin containing laughing gas to keep the people busy as he steals a 50,000-karat ruby, though G2 is immune to the gas. In order to stop the robot, Claw uses a magnet to trap G2. Afterwards, Claw and his minions escape, but Gadget fails to recognize them. After G2's failure, Quimby is ordered by Mayor Wilson to deactivate the robot and terminate the Gadget program. Feeling that G2 was scapegoated, and still in love with her, Gadget goes to Baxter's laboratory to reactivate G2, which makes G2 realize that Gadget cares for her. Brain (voiced by Jeff Glenn Bennett), having escaped Claw's men, tells them through Baxter's bark translating device that Claw has kidnapped Penny and has used the three stolen supplies (ionic fuel cells, a protoid laser, and a ruby) to build a super-weapon. Upon realizing that Claw is based in the bowling factory, Gadget finally connects the evidence Penny previously presented to him. Gadget asks G2 to help him save Penny and foil Claw's scheme, and G2 agrees. The next day, Claw activates his machine. The weapon is a laser that freezes time in Riverton, allowing Claw and his minions to easily rob the Federal Reserve. Claw has plans to not only use the laser against Riverton, but also the entire world, so he can rob Fort Knox and a variety of other places. Both Gadgets manage to avoid the weapon's blast, and confront Claw and his minions at the Federal Reserve. Claw orders his minions to attack Gadget and G2 so he can get away. Gadget and G2 decide to switch chips in order to make Gadget work perfectly, leaving G2 to deal with the glitches but to still successfully capture Claw's hired goons. Gadget chases after Claw but Claw drops Penny off the truck with explosives attached to her. After saving Penny, Gadget and Penny reunite with G2 and the Gadgetmobile. At a bridge, Gadget stops Claw's truck with a puddle of bubble gum. Claw's minions try to escape, but get stuck in the bubble gum and are arrested. When Gadget orders Claw to put his hand (and claw) up, Claw gets away in a rocket-like escape pod. After Claw escapes, Gadget, Penny and G2 go to Claw's laser to unfreeze Riverton. Both Gadget and G2 are congratulated by Mayor Wilson and Chief Quimby (who happily reinstates Gadget) for their heroic efforts, with Gadget also giving credit to Penny, admitting he is proud to have her as a partner and awarding her a Junior Inspector Medal for her meritorious conduct. After the meeting, Gadget and G2 share a kiss outside the city hall. In the process, fireworks emerge from Gadget's hat. A firecracker lands right near Quimby and Wilson and the fuse burns out. After a few seconds, it explodes, causing both Wilson and Quimby to angrily yell out to Gadget.

Cast

French Stewart Milton French-Stewart IV (born February 20, 1964), known professionally as French Stewart, is an American actor, best known for playing Harry Solomon on the NBC sitcom ''3rd Rock from the Sun''. He also played Marv Murchins in ''Home Alone 4'', In ...

Elaine Hendrix Katherine Elaine Hendrix (born December 28, 1970) is an American actress. She is known for her roles in ''Superstar'', ''Romy and Michele's High School Reunion'', the 1995 ''Get Smart'' series, the 1998 remake of '' The Parent Trap'', ''Dynasty' ...

as G2 * Tony Martin as

Dr. Claw ''Inspector Gadget'' is an animated science fiction comedy series from the mid–1980s co-created by Andy Heyward, Jean Chalopin and Bruno Bianchi, and was originally syndicated by DIC Audiovisuel and Lexington Broadcast Services Company. Th ...

Caitlin Wachs Caitlin Elizabeth Wachs (pronounced ''wax''; born March 15, 1989) is an American production coordinator and actress. She appeared alongside Ally Walker and Robert Davi on the NBC television series '' Profiler'' in the role of Chloe Waters and ...

as Penny * Jeff Glenn Bennett as Brain the Dog (voice) *

as Gadgetmobile (voice) * Mark Mitchell as Chief Quimby *

Sigrid Thornton Sigrid Madeline Thornton (born 12 February 1959) is an Australian film and television actress. Her television work includes '' Prisoner'' (1979–80), '' All the Rivers Run'' (1983), '' SeaChange'' (1998–2019) and '' Wentworth'' (2016–2018 ...

as Mayor Wilson *

Bruce Spence Bruce Spence (born 17 September 1945) is a New Zealand–Australian actor. Spence has amassed over 100 film and television credits and has also acted in theatre. Biography Spence won an AFI Award for Best Actor for his role in the 1971 comedy ...

as Baxter *

Alethea McGrath Alethea Ada McGrath (1 June 1920 – 9 February 2016) was an Australian actress and comedian. She played Jocasta Nu in '' Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones''. Her roles on television included Dot Farrar in ''Prisoner'' and three d ...

as Mrs. Quimby (cameo) *

Mungo McKay Mungo McKay (born 22 January 1971) is an Australian actor. Mungo McKay was born in Brisbane in 1971. McKay is the third son to Margaret and Desmond and the second brother to Brett and David. Mungo studied at the Queensland Academy of Dramatic ...

as the Bartender * James Wardlaw as Brick *

John Batchelor John Calvin Batchelor (born April 29, 1948) is an American author and host of ''Eye on the World'' on the CBS Audio Network. His flagship station is New York's 710 WOR. The show is a hard-news-analysis radio program on current events, world his ...

as McKible * Nick Lawson as Squint * Mick Roughan as Jungle Bob * Siros Niaros as The Ninja * Brian McDermott as Mr. Morgan

Production

The film was shot entirely in and around

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

, Australia. Filming locations included the

Queensland University of Technology Queensland University of Technology (QUT) is a public research university located in the urban coastal city of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. QUT is located on two campuses in the Brisbane area viz. Gardens Point and Kelvin Grove. The univ ...

Gardens Point Campus, Queensland Parliament House,

University of Queensland , mottoeng = By means of knowledge and hard work , established = , endowment = A$224.3 million , budget = A$2.1 billion , type = Public research university , chancellor = Peter Varghese , vice_chancellor = Deborah Terry , city = B ...

St. Lucia Campus, South Bank Parklands Beach,

Toowong Village Toowong Village is a highrise building situated at the centre of the Brisbane suburb of Toowong, Queensland, Toowong, Queensland, Australia, on the block of land bounded by Coronation Drive, High Street and Sherwood Road. The blue glass office t ...

Anglican Church Grammar School The Anglican Church Grammar School (ACGS), formerly the Church of England Grammar School and commonly referred to as Churchie, is an independent, Anglican, day and boarding school for boys, located in East Brisbane, an inner suburb of Brisbane, Q ...

and the

William Jolly Bridge The William Jolly Bridge is a heritage-listed road bridge over the Brisbane River between North Quay in the Brisbane central business district and Grey Street in South Brisbane, within City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was design ...

Release

''Inspector Gadget 2'' was released on

and VHS on March 11, 2003, four years after its predecessor was released.

Reception

The film received mixed reviews but more favorable than its predecessor.

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

reported that of critics have given the film a positive review based on reviews, with an average rating of . Joe Leydon of ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' gave the film a negative review. '' Radio Times'' gave the film a two out of five stars.

Common Sense Media Common Sense Media (CSM) is an organization that reviews and provides ratings for media and technology with the goal of providing information on their suitability for children.

gave the film a three out of five stars, writing that the film has cartoonish violence.

References

External links

* * * * {{Alex Zamm 2000s English-language films 2003 direct-to-video films 2003 action comedy films 2000s science fiction comedy films American action comedy films American coming-of-age films Australian coming-of-age films Australian action comedy films American films with live action and animation American superhero films Android (robot) films Cyborg films Disney direct-to-video films 2000s superhero comedy films Films directed by Alex Zamm Films set in 2002 Live-action films based on animated series Inspector Gadget Direct-to-video sequel films Direct-to-video action comedy films Films shot in Brisbane 2000s police comedy films 2000s American films