The Little Rascals

MOVIE DETAILS

Rating: 6.3 out of 10
Director: Penelope Spheeris
Writer: Penelope Spheeris, Robert Wolterstorff, Mike Scott
Star: Travis Tedford, Bug Hall, Brittany Ashton Holmes
Genres: Comedy/Family/Romance
Release Date: August 5, 1994 (United States)

Producer Hal Roach made an infinite number of “Our Gang” comedies between 1922 and 1944. These films were about a group of kids who carried out innocent, funny antics in everyday situations. When the series went to TV (MGM owned the rights to “Our Gang”), they were shown as “The Little Rascals.”

“The Little Rascals” is now a boldly styled new film by Penelope Spheeris, who brought off a successful combination of sophistication and affection in her big-screen version of “The Beverly Hillbillies.” She brings those qualities to this picture, too but it’s not as funny as it should be. Still, it’s unmistakably the work of a major filmmaker whose movies are always interesting and rewarding in one way or another.

In the first shot Alfalfa (Bug Hall) sitting on the front steps of an early-’20s white clapboard house there’s a TV antenna on the roof. You think: A mistake. But no: This “Little Rascals” takes place now. What Spheeris has done is put her Gang into more or less vintage clothes and filmed mostly (but not slavishly) in older L.A. neighborhoods. The ploy works like gangbusters; it’s the movie’s strongest suit evoking the past so as to suggest lost innocence for those locales have certainly faded since Roach could have used them himself.

The plot line is properly simple. The boys have formed their “He-Man Woman Haters Club” just when sweet-natured Alfalfa has fallen for pretty little Darla (Brittany Ashton Holmes). From Alfalfa’s divided loyalties come skirmishes, misunderstandings and adventures that lead up to a lively go-cart race.

It’s not form but content that trips up “The Little Rascals.” The movie needs many more classic-style slapstick, sight gags and pranks and much less adult repartee. We need more chances to laugh out loud, as when Alfalfa and his best pal Spanky (Travis Tedford) are forced to disguise themselves as ballerinas and then proceed to wreak havoc on a little girls’ “Nutcracker Suite” recital. Too much of the film is too much like the kiddie faux-gangster movie “Bugsy Malone,” which had the advantage of being entirely a period piece. Since Spheeris’ movie is set mostly in the real world, it’s creepy when 9-year-old Alfalfa and 5-year-old Darla carry on like romantic teenagers. But then again Shirley Temple’s vintage impersonation of Mae West probably wouldn’t play as innocently today as it did six decades ago.

On the plus side are the picture’s many surprise cameos by adult celebrities (most of them funny), its great look, its terrific pacing and its punchy eclectic soundtrack. Many of the Rascals’ 13 names are as appealing as Hall; as Buckwheat, Ross Elliott Bagley reveals an especially live-wire personality. “The Little Rascals” is such a forcefully shaped, sharply crafted picture that you wish you could have liked it better than you did.

MPAA rating: PG for some crude dialogue. Times guidelines: Even though a couple of the youngsters are presented as romantically precocious, the film is definitely family entertainment.

‘The Little Rascals’

Travis Tedford: Spanky

Bug Hall: Alfalfa

Brittany Ashton Holmes: Darla

Kevin Jamal Woods: Stymie

A Universal presentation. Directed by Penelope Spheeris. Produced by Michael King, Bill Oakes. Executive producers Gerald R. Molen, Deborah Jelin Newmeyer, Roger King. Written by Paul Guay & Stephen Mazur & Spheeris; from a story by Spheeris & Robert Wolterstorff & Mike Scoot and Guay & Mazur. Cinematographer Richard Bowen. Edited by Ross Albert. Costumes Jami Burrows. Original music William Ross. Production designer Larry Fulton. Art director Gae Buckley. Set decorator Linda Spheeris. Running time: 1 hour, 22 minutes

The Little Rascals on Gomovies Watch The Little Rascals for free. To watch The Little Rascals click the play button in the player.
Download The Little Rascals for free on Gomovies!
To download The Little Rascals for free online, go to “download The Little Rascals click on the download button.

For more movies like The Little Rascals Visit Gomovies.