Dennis the Menace (film)

Dennis Mitchell is a five-year-old boy who lives with his parents, Henry and Alice, and is the bane of next door neighbor George Wilson. One morning Dennis shoots an aspirin into Wilson's mouth with a slingshot. This causes him to gag and spit out the pill, as Dennis flees. Dennis's parents learn of the incident, but because they both are working, Alice has to take him to stay at Margaret's house for the day. Dennis dislikes Margaret who is mean to him. Margaret and Dennis, along with his friend Joey, venture into the woods to an abandoned tree house and to fix it up. Later, while getting paint from a high shelf in the garage, Dennis tries to grab his slingshot, which was taken away from him by Henry, and accidentally spills the paint on the ground. He tries to vacuum it up, but ends up spilling a glob of paint into Wilson's barbecue grill, while he's cooking chicken, and he tastes the paint. That night, Dennis has a set of babysitters; Polly and her boyfriend, Mickey. He plays doorbell pranks on them and they retaliate by sticking a thumbtack on the doorbell and preparing water and flour to douse on the prankster. However, Wilson goes over to Dennis' house, against the wishes of his wife, Martha, to find out what Dennis knows about the paint in his chicken. But when he rings the doorbell, he pricks his thumb, and gets water and flour dumped on him, much to Martha's amusement. Meanwhile, a burglar named Switchblade Sam arrives in town and begins robbing houses, as well as striking fear into the children he meets.

Henry and Alice are having increasing difficulty getting people to watch Dennis when they both work. Wilson and Martha are charged with the task for the weekend. Martha loves Dennis as if he were her own grandson, as she and George are childless, and she enjoys telling Dennis a bedtime poem that her mother told her. But George is further irritated by Dennis spilling bath water on the bathroom floor, replacing his nasal spray with mouthwash, and his mouthwash with toilet cleanser, and letting Ruff into the house.

Fortunately for Wilson he has been selected to host the Summer Floraganza. He has been growing a rare night-blooming orchid for forty years especially for the event. The flower will die shortly after blooming. Alice’s flight is delayed by a thunderstorm and Dennis remains for the night of the orchid’s blooming. Martha is understanding, but George is deeply dismayed about this. But, at her insistence, he grudgingly lets Dennis stay outside for the party with a firm warning to behave himself. However, he opens the garage door, causing it to knock over the dessert table and make a huge mess. Wilson angrily sends him inside. He hears Switchblade Sam robbing the house, goes downstairs, and finds Wilson's gold coins missing. Just as the flower is to bloom, he distracts the viewers to alert Wilson of the robbery, distracting them long enough to miss the flower's brief blooming span. Irate about his forty year investment gone to waste and everything else, Mr. Wilson severely chastises Dennis, causing him to flee on his bike. He heads into the park, where Switchblade Sam grabs him as a hostage.

Henry and Alice arrive home to find Dennis gone; they call the authorities and friends to search for him. Wilson joins them, as he now feels guilt about what he said, especially since he really had been robbed. Dennis unintentionally defeats Switchblade Sam by handcuffing him to a rope. He returns to Wilson's house the next morning with Sam in his wagon, having also recovered Wilson's gold coins. Sam is also taken into police custody by an amused sheriff. When the officer closes the door on Sam's handcuffed hand, he ends up breaking his hand. Dennis and Wilson make amends, and the Mitchells and Wilsons are also on better terms. That night, Wilson explains that he's learned some things about children: "Kids are kids, you have to play by their rules. If you can't do that, you're headed for trouble. You have to roll with the punches. You have to expect the unexpected."

• Mason Gamble as Dennis Mitchell
• Walter Matthau as George Wilson
• Joan Plowright as Martha Wilson
• Christopher Lloyd as Switchblade Sam
• Robert Stanton as Henry Mitchell
• Lea Thompson as Alice Mitchell
• Amy Sakasitz as Margaret Wade
• Kellen Hathaway as Joey McDonald
• Paul Winfield as the Chief of Police
• Ben Stein as Boss (only as a cameo shot at a meeting)
• Natasha Lyonne as Polly
• Devin Ratray as Mickey
• Hank Johnston as Gunther Beckman
• Melinda Mullins as Andrea
• Billie Bird as Edith Butterwell
• Bill Erwin as Edward Little
• Arnold Stang as the Photographer
• Jeannie Russell as Neighbour

Mason Gamble won the role of Dennis Mitchell after beating out a reported 20,000 other children who had auditioned for it.[1]

The film premiered on June 25, 1993. It was known simply as Dennis in the United Kingdom in order to avoid confusion with an unrelated British comic strip, also called "Dennis the Menace", which also debuted in 1951.[2]

The film was a success at the box office. Against a $35 million budget, it grossed $51.3 million domestically and a further $66 million overseas to a total of $117.3 million worldwide,[3][4] despite generally negative reviews from film critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 27%, based on 26 reviews with an average rating of 3.9/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Walter Matthau does a nice job as Mr. Wilson, but Dennis the Menace follows the Home Alone formula far too closely."[5]

Vincent Canby, in what would become one of his final reviews for The New York Times, remarked that "this 'Dennis the Menace' isn't a comic strip, but then it's not really a movie, certainly not one in the same giddy league with the two 'Home Alone' movies," adding that "Mr. Hughes and Mr. Castle try hard to re-create a kind of timeless, idealized comic-strip atmosphere, but except for the performances of Lea Thompson and Robert Stanton, who play Dennis's parents, nobody in the movie seems in touch with the nature of the comedy" and that the film "simply looks bland, unrooted in any reality." Of the other performances, Canby stated that Gamble was "a handsome boy, but [that] he displays none of the spontaneity that initially made [Macaulay] Culkin so refreshing".[6]

A mixed review came from Peter Rainer of the Los Angeles Times, who praised Matthau's performance enormously, yet called the film "pretty tepid tomfoolery but [...] not assaultive in the way that most kids’ films are nowadays":

The “Dennis” comic strip, early ‘60s TV show and currently syndicated animated series all opt for an Everytown U.S.A. blandness—pipsqueak rebellion in a ‘50s time warp. The movie, directed by Nick Castle from Hughes’ script, is still caught up in that warp (with a few concessions, like the fact that both of Dennis’ parents now work). This means that Dennis doesn’t get into any high-tech shenanigans. No computers, no video games, no laser guns. The film pretty much sticks to the old-fashioned basics [and] since this Dennis is only 5 years old, perhaps the decision was made to keep things slapstick-simple. Or could it be that the filmmakers regard Dennis as a “classic"—like, say, Huck Finn or Penrod?

This sort of misplaced reverence probably won’t do much for young audiences accustomed to a little more zap and bounce in their heroes. Parents might be grateful, though. The shenanigans in “Dennis the Menace” are mostly so mildly conceived and executed that kids aren’t likely to try them out on their families when they get home from the theater. Mom and Dad won’t have to lock up the frying pans.

If Hughes was expecting this film to create another pipsqueak franchise for him, he may have miscalculated. “Dennis the Menace” seems more like a rest period in between Culkin-ized tantrums. It’s not much—just one goofy little foul-up after another—but its lack of crassness is rather sweet.[7]

Roger Ebert gave the film two-and-a-half stars out of four and wrote, "There's a lot to like in Dennis the Menace. But Switchblade Sam prevents me from recommending it."[8] Mason Gamble received a Razzie Award nomination for Worst New Star but also won "Best Youth Actor Leading Role in a Motion Picture: Comedy" at the 15th Youth in Film Awards.

The film also spawned a platforming video game for the Amiga, Super NES and Game Boy platforms. It included stages based off Mr. Wilson's house, the great outdoors, and a boiler room among others.

• Dennis the Menace on IMDb
• Dennis the Menace at AllMovie
• Dennis the Menace at the TCM Movie Database
• Dennis the Menace at Box Office Mojo
• Dennis the Menace at Rotten Tomatoes