Daniel el travieso

This film is a great little family comedy. I loved it as a kid, and it still holds up today. Walter Matthau is delightfully miserable, Mason Gamble is chasing, and Christopher Lloyd is unrecognisably fiendish. Get the popcorn, sit the kids down, and enjoy...whilst remembering to tell the kids not to try ANYTHING Dennis does!

For me, this cinema version featuring the innocent mischief of cartoonist Hank Ketcham's precocious hyperactive preschooler, Dennis (The Menace) Mitchell, is a classic sleeper. Remarkable performances by Mason Gamble (as "Dennis Mitchell") and Walter Matthau (as "Mr. Wilson") help to mold the screenplay into a delightful light-hearted comedy intended for the whole family. I, personally, look forward to the day that its presentation is offered in DVD format.

How can this movie get such a low rating? It is really well made, has some very funny moments and the casting is excellent. Dennis is cute as a button and totally believable, his parents are.. well, just perfect and mr Wilson is the best mr Wilson you could wish for. The same applies to many of the smaller roles. And then there is Christopher Lloyd in one of his best performances ever. I loved this movie, both the first and second time I saw it. It deserves at least an 8, so I gave it a 9 to boost the score.

I feel really badly that this movie is on the list of worst according to average vote. If you consider that it relies very much on slap-stick humour, which does not appeal to everyone, that might explain its poor showing.

The movie is best compared to "Home Alone." I feel it is by far the better of the two movies. Dennis is wide-eyed and innocent and the slap-stick scenarios are 'accidental' rather than contrived as in "Home Alone."

This is a movie that elderly parents can watch and be guaranteed to have a good time. It is also a movie that kids will love. If those in between can't appreciate it, that speaks a lot for their loss of innocence.

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