The Garbage Pail Kids Movie (1987)

User Rating:

2.7/10   

Director:

Rodney Amateau

Writers:

Linda Palmer (written by) &
Rodney Amateau (written by)

Genre:

Adventure | Musical | Comedy | Family | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

The Garbage Gang Is Alive and Grosser Than Ever!

Plot:

Seven disgusting kids but nevertheless of interesting personality are being made of the green mud coming out of garbage can...

Plot Keywords:

Kid | Toilet Humor | Bully | Bully Comeuppance | Friendship

Awards:

3 nominations

Cast

Phil Fondacaro	...	Greaser Greg - Suit
Anthony Newley	...	Captain Manzini
Mackenzie Astin	...	Dodger
Katie Barberi	...	Tangerine
Ron MacLachlan	...	Juice
J.P. Amateau	...	Wally
Marjory Graue	...	Blythe
Debbie Lee Carrington	...	Valerie Vomit - Suit (voice)
Kevin Thompson	...	Ali Gator - Suit (voice)
Bobby Bell	...	Foul Phil - Suit (as Robert Bell)
Larry Green	...	Nat Nerd - Suit
Arturo Gil	...	Windy Winston - Suit (voice)
Susan Rossitto	...	Messy Tessie - Suit
John Cade	...	Bartender
Lynn Cartwright	...	Authorative Voice / Fashion Show Host

Runtime:

Spain:96 min | USA:100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:L | USA:PG (certificate #28712) | UK:PG (cut)

Company:

Atlantic Entertainment Group

Trivia:

Director Rodney Amateau's last film.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: Shadow of the cameraman visible on Tangerine when she crosses the street at night to meet Juice.

Quotes:

Captain Manzini: [coming up with a spell to get the kids back in the garbage pail] "Rats and thunder, wind and hail \ Send the kids back in the pail."
[it fails to work]
Captain Manzini: I don't understand it. It's your basic Mary Poppins and it's not working.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Borrower (1991)

Soundtrack:

Working With Each Other

Thank God I Grew Up

Garbage Pail Kids Movie, The (1987)

1/2 (out of 4)

I must admit that I was seven years old when this movie came out. I was a fan of the cards and I remember begging my mother to take me to see this on opening day, which she did. A couple of my friends went along and I still remember the sold out crowd of pre-teens laughing and having a blast with the film. I believe I watched it a couple more times when it first hit VHS but I haven't seen it since....until this latest viewing. What did I think of the film twenty-two years after being a kid who loved it? Well, it was the pits. It really shocked me to re-watch something I found entertaining as a kid and I know that saying that many kids never grow up but thankfully I did. Now I'm not going to sit here and put this film down for being disgusting, vile or featuring "ugly" jokes because nothing here offended me today. What I will put down is the entire screenplay, which really makes one scratch their head because the story is so bad that you can't help but wonder if any real attempt was made to come up with something good or if this was just thrown together to make some quick cash. The story pretty much as the Garbage Pail Kids coming to the aid of a weak boy (Mackenzie Astin) who might just be getting taken advantage of by a girl (Katie Barberi) he has a crush on. I think the biggest problem with the screenplay is that it tries to tell too much story in regards to the GPK and this wasn't needed. The cards told us all we needed to know so the film should have just stood back and delivered the goods that the cards did. Valorie Vomit, Ali Gator, Greaser Greg, Nat Nerd, Windy Winston, Messy Tessie and Foul Phil are the kids here and most of them never really get to dig into their "tricks" from the cards. Valorie Vomit, for one example, only does her thing once at the end of the movie. Now, a lot of parents back in the day would have said that's a good thing but every generation has its thing that parents object to and this was one from the 80s. The performances are all pretty brutal with Astin not delivering anything and Barbieri delivering a really, really bad performance. You do have the costumes by John Carl Buechler who previously did the film TROLL and would later do Friday THE 13TH PART VII. While watching this horrid movie I couldn't help but smile at thinking back at some of the cards and passing them around class in the school. It's a real shame that this film didn't do anyone any good but I can't help but wish that a real R-rated remake would come along and really do things right.