Must See Movie...

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

For those who remember Jay North as the lively little kid who seems to take an almost fiendish delight in tormenting grumpy neighbor Mr. Wilson, this new Dennis The Menace feature film will bring back some good memories. Warner Brothers even had the foresight to cast Hollywood's number one specialist at curmudgeon roles Walter Matthau as the ever grumpy Wilson.Young Mason Gamble is Dennis Mitchell, problem child deluxe. Parents Robert Stanton and Lea Thompson have trouble getting babysitters as Dennis's reputation is known far and wide. The next door neighbor Wilsons played byz Matthau and Joan Plowright take him, at least Plowright makes the offer.The usual mayhem follows with Matthau the brunt. But when robber Christopher Lloyd steals Matthau's valuable coin collection, Dennis is on the case. What follows is what you see in the Home Alone films.Gamble made a nice and appealing Dennis. But even natural scene stealers like kids are up against it when dealing with Walter Matthau. Poor Gamble didn't have a chance.Dennis The Menace is a nice family film for a family movie night.

Cash-grab adaptation of Hank Ketcham's comic strip centered around a "mischievous" ("annoying" is a far better word) boy Gamble and cranky next door neighbor Matthau. Although one can find many issues with Gamble's portrayal of Dennis Mitchell—one being that the character just doesn't seem like a little boy of the 1990s—he and Matthau end up making a pretty decent duo; while Plowright, Stanton and Thompson all fit nicely into supporting roles. Perhaps the greatest thing about this movie is the chillingly disgusting drifter, played excellently by Christopher Lloyd, who creeps slowly through the cookie-cutter town like a python in a rose-garden. Lots of dull jokes, but the movie never ceases to be boring. Very anti-climatic. Followed by direct-to-video sequel and Saturday morning cartoon.**½ (out of four)

This is far from a perfect family comedy, but I consider it one of the most underrated ones. Amy Sakasitz as Margaret Wade is rather annoying and the usually excellent Christopher Lloyd is sadly over-the-top and distracting as Switchblade Sam complete with a subplot that was a little too violent and doesn't fit with the overall tone of the movie. However, Dennis the Menace despite what its reputation and rating suggests is actually very entertaining and does a pretty good job with the transition from comic to movie. It has been criticised for taking too much ideas from the Home Alone movies and I suppose that's true with the sight gags, but I personally think the sight gags are funny. The cinematography is good, the soundtrack is fun, the story while predictable is well structured and interesting, the pacing is brisk and the direction is efficient. And the acting with exception of Lloyd is not bad at all. Mason Gamble thankfully isn't the annoying brat I was expecting prior to seeing this film, instead he is cute and funny as the mischievous yet well-meaning Dennis, while Walter Matthau from the facial expressions to the delivery of the dialogue is brilliant as Mr Wilson. Joan Plowright is also very touching and Lea Thompson and Robert Stanton also do well as Dennis's parents. In conclusion, it is a decent and entertaining film. 8/10 Bethany Cox

I remember exactly when I first saw some of this movie. It was Christmas Eve in 1997, when I was eleven years old and it came on TV (it's not a Christmas movie, so don't be mislead by that), but I didn't finish it, and can't remember exactly how much I liked what I saw. At the time, I had never heard of Dennis the Menace, and only recall seeing a strip once in the newspaper funnies shortly after that. To this day, I'm still not very familiar with the strip, and have never seen any episodes of the TV show, but a few months over a decade after seeing some of this movie, I finally watched the whole thing, which left me with mixed feelings.Dennis Mitchell is five years old and lives with his parents, Alice and Henry, in a suburban house. Their next-door neighbours are Mr. (George) and Mrs. (Martha) Wilson, an elderly couple. Unfortunately, it's Dennis' nature to constantly cause trouble, even if he means well, and he often unintentionally makes Mr. Wilson's life difficult! During the summer, Dennis' parents have to find people to babysit him while they're at work. Sadly, their son's bad reputation spreads among the local babysitters! By the time they both have to go on business trips, meaning they will have to find someone to look after their son while they're gone, they try many people, all of whom refuse, so they have no choice but to leave him with the Wilsons! Meanwhile, a thief named Switchblade Sam prowls around town, and anyone around could become a victim of his! Knowing this adaptation of the "Dennis the Menace" comic strip wasn't very popular, I didn't have very high expectations, though I think I was expecting some laughs, remembering what I had seen before. Fortunately, I wasn't let down by that. Some of the gags are lame, such as the scene with Margaret and Joey (two kids Dennis has to stay with at times), where Margaret makes forces Joey to close his eyes and kiss her doll's bare buttocks. You can usually expect lame gags like that in these PG-rated family movies. There's also a scene where Switchblade Sam lets out a huge fart. Yes, I think you can also usually expect fart jokes in these PG-rated family comedies, ones which aren't usually funny, no exception here. Fortunately, there aren't too many of them in this film, that's the only one I can think of. Despite these weak gags, however, there are also some very funny ones, usually the ones involving Dennis causing poor Mr. Wilson grief.Overall, due to the mixture of funny and lame gags, this is certainly not a work of genius, but worse comedies have been made, including some of these other PG-rated children's comedies, such as "Jungle 2 Jungle", "Snow Day", and probably countless others! Aside from the humour, some performances are highlights, including Walter Matthau as the short-tempered Mr. Wilson. I may have enjoyed this adaptation of "Dennis the Menace" more if I had watched it from start to finish back when I was eleven, and right now, I wouldn't want to watch it multiple times, but since I did find some parts funny, and the gags and conflict kept me watching, I will give it some credit. So, while this movie is pretty cheesy, and I'm sure it's generally more amusing for kids, some parts could amuse adult slapstick fans.