Critic Reviews

It’s rare that a prequel — especially one premiering nearly forty years after the original — manages to live up to the original, so much so that I foster the exact same feelings for it.

Boosted by attractive cell-shaded computer animation, Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai is a bouncy fable about fortitude, togetherness and family, sprinkled with wiseacre humor, enlivened by zippy action set pieces, and enhanced by touches of ancient Chinese folklore. Featuring Sandra Oh, George Takei, and Bowen Yang, its vocal cast is strong.

The voice cast is excellent; Hong is especially good as the adventurous Grandpa. .... Gremlins: Secrets Of The Mogwai should be a good entry point into the Gremlins legend for kids, and it’s sophisticated enough that their parents should enjoy it, as well, even if they watched the original movie with their hands covering their eyes.

Secrets of the Mogwai gets the spirit of the movies. None of the gaps it fills in were quite necessary, yet the way it fills in those gaps is done with some heart, some humor and some welcome, franchise-correcting authenticity. I’m ready for more.

Even though there’s an overarching story, each episode has an individual style and atmosphere. A beautifully animated family series, “Gremlins: Secret of the Mogwai” features the same dark and chaotic tone of Dante’s films while paying tribute to its Chinese folklore culture.

Secrets of the Mogwai has a human touch, and a sense of humor and adventure that spans generations. It doesn’t rewrite any books, but it’s better than an animated prequel series to a 39-year-old live-action movie has any reason to be.

Gremlins: The Wild Batch continues the pre-movie mythology of the Mogwai with good voice acting, fun action sequences and expressive animation.

Crisply animated (particularly when it ventures into SF’s Chinatown) and gives us a multi-layered fantasy that’s unpredictable and even addresses issues of racism, sacrifice, family dysfunction and defying how others label you – without becoming pedantic.

Compared to two great movies, this series doesn’t really measure up. Compared to the long history of animated spinoffs, however, it goes far beyond its 80s counterparts.