Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, June 16, 1990                   TAG: 9006160255
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: E3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JANET MASLIN THE NEW YORK TIMES
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

'GREMLINS 2' IS BETTER THAN THE FIRST BATCH

Add this to the very short list of sequels that neatly surpass their predecessors.

"Gremlins 2" moves away from the sleepy small-town setting of the 1984 film. It has a more savvy, urban feeling and a faster pace.

A more important alteration is the gremlins themselves, who were often vicious and predatory in the earlier film but are a lot more playful this time. While the new gremlins can also turn ugly, what they most enjoy is throwing things, making colossal messes and playing practical jokes. They're a lot less like horror-film fixtures and a lot more like mischief-loving children.

Once again, the gremlins spring forth from the huge-eyed, tender-eared, perilously cute little pet called Gizmo, who never means to cause trouble but spins off vicious little flesh-and-blood gargoyles whenever his human keepers violate certain basic rules.

Gizmo is once again in a Chinatown shop, directly in the path of a publicity-loving real estate developer, Daniel Clamp (John Glover). He owns a brand-new midtown office building called the Clamp Premier Regency Trade Center, the last word in high-tech magic.

Although the earlier film's colorless leads are still on hand, with Billy (Zach Galligan) working at Clamp Center as a designer and Kate (Phoebe Cates) as a tour guide, the building is more of a star.

As Clamp strides importantly through the lobby, a voice is heard over a loudspeaker instructing the owner of a car to "please remove it from the Clamp Parking Garage. Your car is old and dirty."

Obviously, Clamp Center cries out for the disruptive presence of a gremlin or two. So Gizmo is inadvertently allowed to get wet, after which the creatures are spawned and the place quickly overrun.

Gremlins pop up in the salad bar, in the toy store and even in the genetics laboratory run by the devilish Dr. Catheter, aka Christopher Lee. Lee's irresistibly ghoulish presence and experiments give the film an added measure of fun.

It's too bad that one holdover from the earlier film is an element of graphic gremlin-bashing, like the scene that sends one gremlin through a paper shredder and spatters green goo all over the frame. The film is only rarely scary or disgusting, but even this is more than it needs.

Indeed, this time the creatures are so likable that the story's resolution seems a bit sad.

"Gremlins 2" is so crazily overloaded with gags that it functions as a grab bag of pop cultural artifacts, moving from one to another without worrying where they may lead.

But where they're going, if the film's ending is any indication, is right toward "Gremlins 3."

`Gremlins 2' Rated PG-13 for several violent and gruesome scenes and a few sexual references. Towers Theater (345-5519), Valley View 6 (362-8219).