Dennis the Menace Sequel | Forgotten Failures 

One thing I love about the first movie is that the kid actually feels like a real kid. Not some hokey child actor spouting off scripted catchphrases, but an actual, real kid.

It looks like the screenwriters just forgot about making a coherent plot and instead started wondering, "How many different liquids can we drench Don Rickles with?"

The most unforgivable thing about this movie is the lack of Mr Wilson's moustache! 😁

I am absolutely loving this channel.

The original is something nostalgic in a way that hurts. I’m 33 and it takes me back to a simpler time in life. Movies times with my Dad.

Don Rickles' bit in Dirty Work was simply insane, it's even more insane he did this kids movie shortly afterwards lol

“... tastes like paint... and wood. I’ll make us some sandwiches.” My wife and I recently rewatched the OG. Walter Matthau plays Mr. Wilson in a way that you can visualize someone you know saying and doing things like he would... mainly my father-in-law.

I love the Dennis The Menace movie, it's one that my family rewatches every year. I didn't even know there was a sequel, but it sounds like we're not missing anything.

Honestly, the original Dennis the Menace always makes me tear up. It's so wholesome and wonderful.

The first movie terrified me too as a kid. This is the moment I first realized that it was Christopher Lloyd. I still think the movie is scary just from seeing these clips. A rewatch is in order.

*Dennis the Menace* was more faithful to the black-and-white sitcom, while *Dennis the Menace Strikes Again* was more faithful to the comics and cartoon.

I'm impressed with your channel and your content. It started a couple of years ago when I saw a Laurel & Hardy video and since then I've patiently awaited your next video and fallen down the rabbit hole to catch myself up on all your videos. You are the best at this. And there are many good film reviewers out there, but your content and your style put you up there a notch above. And being a L&H fan didn't hurt either. Cheers, and thank you.

RIP Betty White

"It tastes like paint. And wood."

It's difficult to go from Walter Matthau to Don Rickles. He's the OG Grumpy Old Man (which was released the same year as Dennis The Menace).

I didn’t know there was a sequel, also, I didn’t even know that was Christopher Lloyd either! I need to see Dennis the Menace again

I absolutely love the Walter Mathau one. The cast is just perfect. Especially the kid that plays Dennis.

I grew up with a VHS copy of strikes back and I loved it. “You take Dennis, you give him some matches, you step back and BA BA BOOM” 🤣 haven’t seen this movie in over 10 years

The original Dennis the Menace was a common Sunday afternoon staple on Channel 5 in the UK. Which caused never ending confusion, because we have a character called Dennis the Menace who originated in comics, has a dog and uses a slingshot to cause trouble, but they're *different characters* and the Dennis from the Beano is way more malicious, like a proto-Bart Simpson.

You missed another Dennis the Menace movie! An animated one called Dennis the Menace in Cruise Control. It has Tom Arnold as Mr Wilson...and a plot involving a princess and a magical hypnotist ... yeah I’m not kidding

I have to admit, that "how can you compete with that" line got a genuine laugh out loud chuckle out of me.

I have this movie still on VHS. I liked this version as well. I'm not sure how more people couldn't know about it.

This channel just.... just hits it out of the park. Way too underrated. I just want to add that both of the films have some excellent actors for Mr. and Mrs. Wilson. Dang man George Kennedy was in the sequel too. Great actors all around!

I loved the original because of Walter Matthau like you. Even as child in the 90’s, I was a huge fan of both Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau.

I just can't imagine Betty White being frightened by a baby alligator that nibbles on toes. I've seen Lake Placid too many times.

Featuring "Susan from Seinfeld in a Bad Wig" as Mom!

I broke my arm in 2 places back in 1993 on the same day I went to go see the original Dennis the Menace movie on its opening day, a few weeks later I would go on to see Rookie of the Year wearing my cast upright just like Henry did in that movie ! Good times 😆😆😆

As a child of the 80’s/90’s I didn’t even know this existed…. and I’m glad.

Now we need a (Almost) Cult Classics for the first Dennis the Menace.

Gee that little kid really does show how McCauley was leaps and bounds ahead of the glut of other child actors

This channel has so much class in it

"I'm bound to come back to these at a later date" uhhhhh please do, I want to know how the hell a dinosaur ends up in a Dennis the Menace movie

The sequel nobody talks about.

the original 93 one is for me an all time classic, not a home alone clone at all more of a comfy summer vacation family film that feels like it could of been any decade from the late 40s up to now, the whole cast rules even little mason gamble

You know the original was directed by the original Michael Myers from Halloween? Either film would be so much more interesting if they just made the neighbor Myers. Like, that's his nighttime persona. And he attacks him one night, and it's all played for laughs.

This is my favorite channel with all that you put into it and the work is top notch.

I always love how the actor who played Dennis in the first film (Mason Gamble) went on to have a major supporting role in one of my all time favorite films, 1998’s Rushmore (he played the role of Dirk Calloway).

You sir are not just a reviewer you are a connoisseur of movies

So the screenwriter of The Iron Giant and Secondhand Lions wrote a Dennis the Menace sequel?

With a cast like this, it's actually even more impressive that they couldn't make a good movie. That's a very special level of incompetence.

Thank your good sir for being consistent, many of us look forward to your videos!

One thing I feel that was missed from the first movie was Mr. Wilson's change of heart. Sure, it happens in a beautiful way as he regrets what he said to and about Dennis and makes the decision to go looking for him when the latter is missing. Thing is though... that's the problem Mr. Wilson drives off and we get two more small scenes of him walking around shouting Dennis's name in hopes of finding him. It turns out to be futile and the next we see of Mr. Wilson is him sleeping on his porch. If they really wanted to show a redemption, I think he should have actually found Dennis when he was under the bridge being held hostage by Switchblade Sam. Mr. Wilson yells to Dennis and notices he's with a dangerous-looking man. Dennis realizes Mr. Wilson is there to help and runs towards him. Sam confronts Mr. Wilson and attempts to attack him. Mr. Wilson, being a former navy member, easily subdues Sam and knocks him out cold. Mr. Wilson gets his gold back and he and Dennis share a hug in forgiveness before heading back home to safety. What do y'all think? Would you appreciate a movie where Walter Mathau knocks Christopher Lloyd out?

To be honest, I actually really liked the Dennis the Menace sequel as a kid. I saw that one before the 1993 movie. I do like the original better though.

Can you please cover the Leave it to Beaver film staring Shooter McGavin?

Yeah, I'm glad I missed this one. The first movie was perfect. I had no idea Hughes directed it. Matthau was excellent, and Christopher Lloyd is the man of 1,000 faces. In every role he plays, he never comes off as the same person.

I am a big fan of this channel and it touches my childhood and the vast majority of the films here are ones I fondly remember. I hope to one day be a filmmaker and screenwriter and many of these films were inspirations for me. Thank you Joe Ramoni for these videos and I would love to get in touch to chat about films and these underrated classics.

I'ver never seen this movie, and I have to say, the clips you were panning made me laugh out loud! I want to see this now, looks good.

I love your videos. Extremely well thought out, educational and wonderfully paced. Great voice too!

As a kid I thought switch blade Sam was Charles Lee Ray. That guy actually scared me. Christopher Loyd is a national treasure.

Merry Christmas, Joe Ramoni and Everyone at Hats Off Entertainment. We Love You, Peace !

This channel is rapidly becoming one of my faves

How I would written the Mr. Wilson and Dennis' grandfather rivalry that they were childhood best friends but turned rivals around high school. Dennis' grandfather was this very popular jock and he left Mr. Wilson in the dust and Dennis' grandfather did something that Mr. Wilson could never forgive him for and has bothered him up to this day.

This movie always stood out to me to the days of VHS, where because my childhood VHS collection was what I thought was the biggest movies out there, I held this Dennis the Menace sequel on the same level of popularity as Disney films. I watched this a ton as a kid. It's not good. But some things got burnt into my memory, and years later I realize that no one else knows this movie as well as I do.

I never knew Don Rickles was in a sequel movie? You'd think that alone would've helped the film immensely

Please do an almost Cult Classics on Dudley Do-Right, I loved that movie as a kid

I had this movie when I was a kid, it was one of the couple dozen DVDs i had back then. I haven't thought of it in maybe ten or more years. This video may have awakened my nostalgia for DVD's... I dont know how to feel about that lol. Great video as always!

Love this channel.

I remember watching the original with all my friends on New Years Eve as a kid, and rewinding the beans scene where Christopher Lloyd farts into the campfire, watching it about 30 times. I haven't thought about this movie in years but watching that scene again feels like hearing a song I used to know by heart.

Seriously man these videos have so much care, thought and research. It’s obvious you enjoy what you’re doing. Keep them coming!

I’m gonna be honest, I’ve never seen the original. As a kid born in ‘93, I owned and watched Strikes Again (‘98) several times. All of the clips from the sequel in this video are super nostalgic for me, but I mostly look back on it as a movie I liked as a kid when I didn’t have a “film critique” lens like I do now as an adult. Maybe someday I’ll watch the original, but the sequel will always hold a special place in my heart. I will say, thank you Hats Off for reminding me about this childhood love that I had forgotten.

I'm sure norm Macdonald's dirtywork was actually don rickles last live action movie performance but he wasn't named in the credits it was also Chris farleys last performance

I'd love for you do something with 'Problem Child'

I actually snickered at some of the clips you played. For some reason, seeing Don Rickles dance to "Play that Funky Music" still cracks me up.

You have just earned yourself another subscriber. I'm really enjoying your videos.

Hahaha. I loved the first Dennis the menace movie. And I did watch the second one but, like you, I didn’t really remember much of it. Thanks for bringing all this back.

I'm 35, and I still watch the Dennis the menace movie from time to time. It's awesome.

I think it's not talked about as much, mainly as people feel it's a Home Alone knock off, even if it was directed by the same person and the IP came first. There's also people being not too familiar with Dennis the Menace, and outside the US, people more familiar with the other Dennis the Menace.

Anxiously awaiting a Problem Child 3 episode. Love this channel!

“It tries too hard to be Home Alone at times”, literally next shot is older Buzz from Home Alone. Nice lol

Thanks for throwing light on the unknown sequels. I am taken back to my aunt who loved the first movie for their strong vibes after the comics to endear her. I might just see the second one to weigh in my views then share it with her.

The 1987 one, which had Victor DiMattia as Dennis and William Windom as Mr. Wilson, was basically an extension of the live-action 1959-1963 CBS TV sitcom and produced by Coca-Cola when they owned Columbia Pictures, which produced the sitcom when their TV division was called Screen Gems. It gets more confusing because there was an animated TV show on the air at the time unconnected to either of them or any of the subsequent movies. Columbia had nothing to do with it but the animation was done by DiC, the same company Columbia hired to animate *The Real Ghostbusters.* Then another cartoon came around the time of the 1993 movie!

I've recently started watching this channel and you're putting out really good videos. Keep it up 👍

It's saying something when I laughed more at a ten second clip of 'The Naked Gun' than I did at anything else in this entire video about the movie being talked about.

WOW, had NO idea this movie existed, and I'm a big fan of Rickles and White and Kennedy. Thanks for the great content, as always...now I'm gonna rewatch the Matthau one!

Dude the part in the first movie where Christopher Lloyd farts on the fire still makes me laugh til I cry. Oh and the chiclet teeth! I fucking love that film.

That Carrot Top BlackFace was Wild

Ah: the early 90's and the comedy stylings of Carrot Top: the good ol' times.

I recall the Dennis The Menace film where Dennis ends up finding dinosaur bones in his and Mr Wilson's front gardens, resulting in some archaeologist to start digging up their gardens or something. Mainly what I recall of that film was a scene where Dennis is giving people a tour of his house and leading them upstairs just as his mom is getting out the bathroom from a shower and screaming as the tour group watches her run out the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her into the bedroom

All these mentions of Home Alone and I suddenly remembered Buzz was in the first Dennis! I have a clear memory of him struggling to read "'I will never be big e-nug to pull anything but silly old mail carts' soabed Huffy... Soabed... Sa-bob-ed... Sa-bob-ed Huffy."

Do "the Stupids"!

Honestly, the zany tone of this film does not fit the tone of the comic. Most of the comic strip is about Dennis smuggling questionable animals or saying things he shouldn't to adults.

I love Don Rickles but he played blue. A family movie was never gonna let him shine.

I love your use of Jerry Goldsmith's score to the original in this video. I remember seeing the movie as a kindergartener and loving Switchblade Sam's theme, humming it quite often. Little did I know that the same man wrote the Klingon music that I loved, and the theme from The Shadow. I was a Goldsmith fan before I bothered to read movie credits. Anyway, this is another great video. I always appreciate your balanced reviews, even for movies I'd never bother watching myself.

Inspector Gadget was absolutely nothing like the cartoon that inspired it. They had a guy who was part man, part machine, and that was pretty much it.

I really wanted to mention this since you uploaded the video. HBO Max just added the two Dennis the Menace movies on their platform and surprisingly the straight to video blunder is now in HD.

I've found that I can judge the quality of a movie based on how distractingly noticeable it is that they're on the WB or Universal backlot. Sometimes you notice and just think "oh hey it's the town square part of the WB backlot" and that's it. But in bad movies I find that basically every scene it's just like "this is a backlot this is a backlot this is a backlot". Which means that both the movie is bad but also that they did a bad job dressing the back lot so it looked different.

Interesting detail - there's a different UK comic character also called Dennis the Menace who went on sale ON THE SAME DAY as in the United States. This has to be the mother of all coincidences.

Your channel is gold

Great content as usual, mate.

Thank you, Joe. I've never seen the first film, but might check it out on your say-so.

Tbf, that Jerry Goldsmith score for the original is fantastic.

Don Rickles was comedy loyalty I remember when he died in 2017 one of the first truly insult comics

Thank you for the incisive, intelligent, entertaining commentary.

Rewatched the original "Dennis the Menace" with my wife just last year, and we both enjoyed ourselves. I used to watch it plenty as a kid, and feared that maybe it wouldn't hold up now that I'm in my thirties, but like you said, it holds up very well, and appeals to both children and adults alike. This sequel however, I've never seen it, and now that I've seen this, I'll gladly pass, lol! Straight to video sequels are (more often than not) a big red flag to me, and this here certainly solidifies that opinion. This video was a lot of fun though, great work as usual Joe. Keep the quality content coming! -Jex

Carrot top was my favorite part of the movie. Walter Matthau will always be my fav MR Wilson.

"I'm not sure why it doesn't get more praise." "It's a pretty generic family comedy." You pretty much answered your own question. As for the first movie, I remember not liking it as a kid because the overall direction and the soundtrack were just too moody for me to enjoy. I remember it actually making me feel uncomfortable while watching it. What felt so great about slapstick movies like Home Alone (in my opinion) is that the slapstick scenes are played pretty straight. No wacky music, no cartoon sound effect, just the harsh reality of what would happen if you stepped on a nail. It's kinda like comparing old Road Runner shorts to modern ones. Still, with the visual success of comic strips adaptation like Charlie Brown, I'm surprised nobody decided to make an animated Dennis the Menace movie with the comic's original style.

Great Videos! Keep it up! Definitely becoming one of my favourite channels!👍

Can't believe they Got Suddam Hussein to star in the first Dennis the Menace, I guess the early 90's were a different time.

You just convinced me to Re-Watch the Walter M. Dennis the Meneace. Thabk you.

It would have made your essay complete had you observed the kids behavior as it is an integral part of the final product. Great video!