Cross It’s A Wonderful Life with ET and Invasion Of The Body Snatchers and you’ll get something close to these entertaining and occasionally grotesque tales from producer Steven Spielberg, writer Chris Columbus and director Joe Dante.

In the first film we meet Billy Peltzer (played by Zach Galligan), a young man whose inventor father (Hoyt Axton) gives him an odd Christmas present in the shape of a tiny, adorable furry creature called a Mogwai, which is named Gizmo. The pet comes with a set of rules: don’t get him wet, don’t feed him after midnight and keep him away from direct sunlight. But Galligan breaks the first rule and the damp little critter pops out a dozen smaller offspring. Then the offspring break the second rule and, overnight, turn from cute furry guys to malevolent scale-covered trolls with world domination on their mind. The only way to stop them: rule three. But it’s an anxious (and extremely funny) battle to make it to daylight, with the bad gremlins finding ingenious ways to multiply over and over until they’re a force to be reckoned with.

In the sequel, Zach Galligan is back, along with Phoebe Cates, his girlfriend from the first film. They’re both working in an ultramodern skyscraper owned by a Donald Trump clone (a hilarious John Glover). Galligan’s furry little buddy is captured by a mad scientist, who not only helps it multiply, but invests the nasty, scaly offspring with intelligence and the ability to talk. What follows is imaginative mayhem that spoofs old movies, modern television, and the conveniences of postmodern technology. In many ways, the sequel is even more inventive and laughter-inducing than the original.

Both films are packed with special effects, all the most impressive when you consider the gremlins are puppets, not computer generated imagery. Expect a wild and fun-packed (if occasionally dark and scary) ride.

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