Kindergarten Cop

Arnold Schwarzenegger's enjoyable but not hugely special Kindergarten Cop - has a whole roomful of the little tykes making genital jokes and constantly having to go to the bathroom. [21 Dec 1990, p.7]

The Great Stone Man never looks more alien than when he smiles, but the expression starts to become him, and as he grows more human through his contact with the kids, Schwarzenegger begins to exude actual warmth.

The surprise is that Kindergarten Cop is delightful and entertaining, a cop movie with suspense, no blood and a lot of genuine warmth. The script is intelligent and plays to the unique strengths of Schwarzenegger as a star. [21 Dec 1990, p.E1]

Kindergarten Cop finds Arnold up to his old tricks, which will be exactly what his fans will want to know. But it's tough on kids and may make more than a few feel uncomfortable. [21 Dec 1990, p.51]

As a one-off this could have inoffensively scraped by on thin charm alone. But don't forget kids, it gave rise to such monstrosities as Last Action Hero, Junior and Jingle all the Way…

No one laughs at Arnold Schwarzenegger better than Arnold Schwarzenegger himself. In Kindergarten Cop, he plays off the Schwarzenegger image more gleefully and successfully than ever before. That is not quite enough to save the movie from its lame, predictable script.

It would be lying not to say that some of the moviemakers here aren't working at the top of their craft, or that the movie won't reach audiences. On its own terms, Kindergarten Cop is nearly fool-proof: the last word in glib, shallow, soulless, spuriously warm-hearted commercialism. [21 Dec 1990, p.1]

Cop John Kimble poses as a kindergarten teacher in order to apprehend a major drug lord Cullen Crisp and his accomplices. Schwarzenegger is great in the lead role, ably demonstrating that he knows how to be funny, and the plot all serves to keep things entertaining. Kindergarten Cop is one of those movies that should fail spectacularly, but somehow it works.

Kindergarten Cop was a surprisingly good film. I was not expecting it to work, and it worked so much better than I expected it to. Kindergarten Cop is a little overlong and the villains are perhaps a little too pantomime. However, the film does look lovely, and the score and soundtrack gives it its heart-warming sentiment. The script also worked. It was funny, it was poignant and it was well-meaning, while there is also a heart-warming story, good direction and pacing and the action while sometimes intense is well-handled. I was very surprised by the acting. Kindergarten Cop is not Arnold Schwarznegger's best film, but it does show that he can do comedy, and here he does do it well. He is suitably low-key and avoids being wooden as well. Penelope Ann Miller gives good support as well, and the chemistry between the two is convincing without taking over the film too much. The characters could have easily been stereotypical and unlikeable, but they aren't, instead they have a certain warmth to them, and this is including the kids. Overall, not a comedy classic, but it works far better than it should have done. 8/10 Bethany Cox

The plot is obviously loose to set up this silly plot structure, I just think Arnold is so good and maybe the only actor ever who could pull this off. We are unfortunately at a 0/10 on the villain scale here.

Entretenida comedia de los noventa y un Arnold S. saliendo de su zona de confort, creo que no hay nada más que añadir al respecto.

It's better than it needs to be, and manages to be sufficient in every genre it tackles.