INSPECTOR GADGET 2 (2003) *1/2 I would immediately have assumed that anyone telling me that Mathew Broderick made a better Inspector Gadget than French Stewart was an idiot. Broderick can be ok, but French can be a genius. Ironically, it's those qualities of the good inspector that you would have expected French to blow entirely out of proportion (gloriously, rendering them so recognizable as not to be ignored) that he misses (the genius, the humanity). Instead of absent minded professor, French gives us confounded petty loser. I don't know why. Maybe he felt that he should tone down some of the natural arrogance that he brings to placid nonconformist characters; if so that was a mistake. French never needed a plot, but he's always been able to take advantage of one. That's why it's so surprising that he finds virtually nothing to do with all those gadgets lying about. He did more with kitchen utensils in "Third Rock From the Sun"! The gadgets range into the realm of pretty cool, and I guess it's enough for little kids. Not for me, though, I like my animated heroes brought to life with splendour and elegance!
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