Dennis the Menace Strikes Again
| Dennis the Menace Strikes Again | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Charles T. Kanganis |
| Produced by |
Robert Newmyer Jeffrey Silver |
| Written by |
Tim McCanlies Jeff Schechter |
| Based on |
Dennis the Menace by Hank Ketcham |
| Starring |
Justin Cooper Don Rickles George Kennedy Betty White Brian Doyle-Murray Carrot Top Dwier Brown Heidi Swedberg |
| Music by | Graeme Revell |
| Cinematography | Christopher Faloona |
| Edited by | Jeffrey Reiner |
Production company |
Outlaw Productions Hank Ketcham Enterprises |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Family Entertainment |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 71 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Dennis the Menace Strikes Again (Also known as: Dennis 2: Dennis Strikes Again) is a 1998 direct-to-video sequel to the 1993 theatrical feature Dennis the Menace. It was produced by Outlaw Productions and released by Warner Bros. on July 14, 1998.
None of the cast from the first film appear in this one.
Plot
Some years after the previous film, Dennis Mitchell (Justin Cooper) is worse than ever. At the beginning of the film, he goes over to Mr. Wilson's (Don Rickles) house to offer him some pets as gifts for his birthday. These include frogs, lizards, snakes, insects, tarantulas, scorpions, mice, exotic mammals, and even a baby alligator. This ordeal ends with Mr. Wilson unintentionally riding down a flight of stairs in Dennis' red wagon and accidentally getting his birthday cake thrown in his face by Martha (Betty White). Soon after this incident, Mr. Johnson, Dennis' grandfather and Alice's father and Henry's father-in law (George Kennedy), shows up and announces that he is moving in with the Mitchells. Dennis starts spending more time with him than his annoyed neighbor. Mr. Wilson, upset that he's getting older, gets tricked by two con men (Brian Doyle-Murray and Carrot Top) who try to talk him into buying a "rare" root used to make tea to make people younger.
Mr. Wilson is about to pay $10,000 when Dennis comes by. Dennis then reveals that he owns a root of the same kind, which he says he found on a place where those abound. Soon afterwards, the two impostors return and sell Mr. Wilson a machine that allegedly makes people younger. Suddenly, the attitudes of him and Mr. Johnson reverse as the latter feels George's pain of living in the same neighborhood as Dennis, while he starts to feel youthful and happy.
While Dennis is trying to clean up a pile of garbage that he accidentally threw on Grandpa's car while he was taking out the trash, he accidentally destroys Mr. Wilson's machine with cotton candy mix that he mistook for soap. As a result of this, the Wilsons plan on moving away to be away from him for good, whereupon Mr. Johnson decides to move into their house, although no one seems to really want to carry out this plan.
Dennis helps the police (unintentionally) catching the con men, who were pretending to be several different workmen at the Wilson house when they were planning to move, attempting yet again to drain his bank account by stockpiling a hoard of his as yet unendorsed checks by claiming that the house needed several repairs before it could be sold. Dennis, who was a "menace" throughout the whole film, ends up being a hero. The police return the uncashed checks, and Mr. Wilson decides not to move. Mr. Johnson, however, is now planning to move out of the Mitchell house because of everything Dennis has put him through.
The film ends as Dennis and his grandfather are in his camper in the Grand Canyon and Dennis, wanting to take a rock home to Mr. Wilson as a present, accidentally takes the one from under the camper, causing it to roll down the incline it is parked on top of with Mr. Johnson still in it. The others see on the news what has happened as Dennis explains to the camera and Mr. Johnson is being airlifted to safety. Dennis gives a shoutout to Mr. Wilson, which leaves him flabbergasted.
Cast
- Justin Cooper as Dennis Mitchell, a young boy with a knack for pranks
- Don Rickles as George Wilson, the Mitchell's next door neighbor and Martha's husband
- Betty White as Martha Wilson, George's wife who thinks of Dennis as a surrogate grandson
- George Kennedy as Mr. Johnson: Dennis' maternal grandfather, Alice's father and Henry's father-in law, who moves in with the Mitchells
- Brian Doyle-Murray as Professor
- Scott "Carrot Top" Thompson as Sylvester
- Dwier Brown as Henry Mitchell, Dennis' dad
- Heidi Swedberg as Alice Mitchell, Dennis' mother
- Keith Reece as Gunther, a friend of Dennis
- Jacqueline Steiger as Margaret, a friend of Dennis
- Danny Turner as Joey, Dennis' best friend
- Alexa Vega as Gina
- Brooke Candy as little girl on diving board
Legacy
Dennis the menace strikes again was notable for the performance of Don Rickles which was extremely well received by audiences. Rickle's physical comedy and stunt work was compared to that of Buster Keaton and Laurel and Hardy. Despite being a direct to video release the film still receives widespread television play and has achieved something of a cult following.
External links
- Dennis the Menace Strikes Again at the Internet Movie Database
- Dennis the Menace Strikes Again at AllMovie
- Dennis the Menace Strikes Again at Rotten Tomatoes