DENNIS THE MENACE STRIKES AGAIN (1998) ** I don't know who thought that they could visually present Dennis without a cowlick, but that was a bad idea. There are in fact several bad ideas, and not just the requisite ones on behalf of the protagonist. Don Rickles and especially George Kennedy are entertaining, but it seems like they get twice as much screen time as Dennis. We didn't come see this to see grouchy old men! Or, yeah, we did, but as foils and accomplices, not soloists. Brian Doyle-Murray, same thing. Alexa Vega compensates for not being Oriental by generating perfect Gina-energy, and more incredibly (but not nearly as cool) Jacqueline Steiger somehow manages to make Margaret a nearly sympathetic character. Yeah, I identified with Dennis as a kid, and Ruff looks as right as he could without being drawn. Could have been a lot worse, but they also had the tools for something even better.
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