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'@@ -15,22 +15,19 @@ }} | music = [[Craig Safan]] -| cinematography = Paul Maibaum | editing = Jeff Wishengrad -| studio = [[The Bubble Factory]] -| distributor = [[TriStar Pictures]] -| released = {{Film date|1998|01|23}} +| studio = [[The Bubble Factory]] and [[TriStar Pictures]] +| distributor = [[Columbia TriStar Home Video]] +| released = {{Film date|1998|03|31}} | runtime = 78 minutes | country = United States | language = English -| budget = $8 million -| gross = $80,837<ref name=boxoffice>{{Cite news|url=http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=slappyandthestinkers.htm|title=Slappy and the Stinkers (1998) Box Office Mojo}}</ref> }} -'''''Slappy and the Stinkers''''' is a 1998 American [[adventure film|adventure]] [[comedy film]] directed by [[Barnet Kellman]], and written by Robert Wolterstorff and Mike Scott. Starring [[B. D. Wong]] and [[Bronson Pinchot]], the plot concerns a group of children who try to save an abused [[California sea lion|sea lion]] from a greedy circus owner. +'''''Slappy and the Stinkers''''' is a 1998 American [[direct-to-video]] [[adventure film|adventure]] [[comedy film]] directed by [[Barnet Kellman]], and written by Robert Wolterstorff and Mike Scott. Starring [[B. D. Wong]] and [[Bronson Pinchot]], the plot concerns a group of children who try to save an abused [[California sea lion|sea lion]] from a greedy circus owner. ==Plot== At prestigious private school Dartmoor Academy, principal Morgan Brinway is forcing the second-graders to study opera appreciation. Five feisty kids (leader Sonny, contraption making Loaf, movie loving Domino, sympathetic albeit tough Lucy, and the reluctant participating Witz), nicknamed the "Stinkers" by Mr. Brinway, are secretly skipping class to create chaos on the school grounds. Witz becomes the test pilot for a flying chair, one of Sonny's newest ideas. The Stinkers go to Groundskeeper Roy's shed and steal his leaf blower. Before that, they stole Mr. Brinway's desk chair. The Stinkers fail to notice that the leaf blower was not entirely duct taped onto the desk chair. When turned it on, the leaf blower flew off the contraption but left Witz sitting in the chair. The leaf blower was heading straight for Mr. Brinway's new convertible, but the leaf blower ran out of gas before it could destroy the car. However, Roy accidentally obliterates the car's side door with his lawn mower's edging blade. Mr. Brinway warns the Stinkers they will be expelled if they mess up one more time, but they soon rebel while trying to keep a low profile and are involved in even more misadventures. -When the kids discover [[sea lion]] Slappy during an aquarium field trip, Sonny and the others decide to free him by smuggling him back onto the school bus and hide him in Mr. Brinway's hot tub; as a form of celebrating their success, they have a party. After Mr. Brinway arrives home earlier than usual, the Stinkers retrieve Slappy and hide him at Witz's house. Roy mistakes the sea lion for a giant gopher and sets out to kill him. Animal broker Anthony Boccoli plans to steal Slappy and sell him to a Bulgarian circus, but some of his attempts to catch Slappy fail. +When the kids discover [[California]] [[sea lion]] Slappy during an aquarium field trip, Sonny and the others decide to free him by smuggling him back onto the school bus and hide him in Mr. Brinway's hot tub; as a form of celebrating their success, they have a party. After Mr. Brinway arrives home earlier than usual, the Stinkers retrieve Slappy and hide him at Witz's house. Roy mistakes the sea lion for a giant gopher and sets out to kill him. Animal broker Anthony Boccoli plans to steal Slappy and sell him to a Bulgarian circus, but some of his attempts to catch Slappy fail. The next day, the Stinkers take Slappy with them to the beach so they can set him free, but Slappy refuses to leave. The kids discover there was an orca (which they assume is Willy from ''[[Free Willy]]'') swimming nearby and that's why Slappy didn't want to go in the water since orcas eat sea lions. Sonny decides they should return Slappy to the aquarium, but they have to first attend a festival at Dartmoor. Roy tries to dispose of Slappy which causes the festival attractions to get ruined. Assuming this was caused by the Stinkers, Mr. Brinway expels them. The Stinkers discover that Boccoli kidnapped Slappy, which prompts the kids to set off on a rescue mission. @@ -62,14 +59,11 @@ ==Reception== -On review aggregator [[Rotten Tomatoes]] the film holds a 0% rating based on reviews from 4 critics.<ref>{{cite web |date=23 January 1998|title=Slappy and the Stinkers |url=http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/slappy_and_the_stinkers/ |website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]] |access-date=30 September 2023 }}</ref> +On review aggregator [[Rotten Tomatoes]] the film holds a 0% rating based on reviews from 4 critics.<ref>{{cite web |date=31 March 1998|title=Slappy and the Stinkers |url=http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/slappy_and_the_stinkers/ |website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]] |access-date=30 September 2023 }}</ref> [[Roger Ebert]]'s review gave the film 2 stars and commented: "''Slappy and the Stinkers'' filled me with shreds of hope: Was it possible that this movie, about five kids who kidnap a sea lion, would not be without wit?"<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ebert |first=Roger |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2gM5hn0fKG8C&q=%22Slappy+and+the+Stinkers%22+-wikipedia |title=Roger Ebert's Movie Yearbook 1999 |date=1998 |publisher=Andrews McMeel Pub. |isbn=978-0-8362-6831-7 |language=en}}</ref> -[[Variety (magazine)|''Variety'']] found that "Filled to the gills with slapstick humor, the improbably titled “Slappy and the Stinkers” could well have been sold as “[[The Little Rascals]]” meets “[[Free Willy]].”'<ref>{{Cite web |last=Loewenstein |first=Lael |date=1998-01-20 |title=Slappy and the Stinkers |url=https://variety.com/1998/film/reviews/slappy-and-the-stinkers-1117436852/ |access-date=2023-12-15 |website=Variety |language=en-US}}</ref> In a review for ''[[The New York Times]]'', [[Lawrence Van Gelder|Lawrence van Gelder]] stated, "On a dark winter's day, other 7-year-olds whose film memory bank remains similarly and understandably undernourished may find "Slappy and the Stinkers" a welcome alternative to an afternoon of snow-filled galoshes."<ref>{{Cite web |title='Slappy and the Stinkers': Kids Freeing a Sea Lion |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/film/012398slappy-film-review.html |access-date=2023-12-15 |website=archive.nytimes.com}}</ref> while ''[[TV Guide]]'''s retrospective review was more negative: "Kids still young enough to be hooked on Saturday morning cartoons may enjoy this self-consciously cliché-ridden kiddie flick, but it will be torture for their adult chaperones."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Slappy and the Stinkers |url=https://www.tvguide.com/movies/slappy-and-the-stinkers/review/2030039625/ |access-date=2023-12-15 |website=TVGuide.com |language=en}}</ref> The ''Catholic News and Herald'' called it "rarely amusing and anything but cute."<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 10, 1998 |title=Videos |pages=7 |work=The Catholic news & herald [serial] |publisher=Charlotte, NC : Cathedral Pub. Corp. |url=http://archive.org/details/catholicnewshera1997unse |access-date=December 15, 2023}}</ref> +[[Variety (magazine)|''Variety'']] found that "Filled to the gills with slapstick humor, the improbably titled “Slappy and the Stinkers” could well have been sold as “[[The Little Rascals]]” meets “[[Free Willy]].”'<ref>{{Cite web |last=Loewenstein |first=Lael |date=1998-01-20 |title=Slappy and the Stinkers |url=https://variety.com/1998/film/reviews/slappy-and-the-stinkers-1117436852/ |access-date=2023-12-15 |website=Variety |language=en-US}}</ref> In a review for ''[[The New York Times]]'', [[Lawrence Van Gelder|Lawrence van Gelder]] stated, "On a dark winter's day, other 7-year-olds whose film memory bank remains similarly and understandably undernourished may find "Slappy and the Stinkers" a welcome alternative to an afternoon of snow-filled galoshes."<ref>{{Cite web |title='Slappy and the Stinkers': Kids Freeing a Sea Lion |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/film/033198/slappy-film-review.html |access-date=2023-12-15 |website=archive.nytimes.com}}</ref> while ''[[TV Guide]]'''s retrospective review was more negative: "Kids still young enough to be hooked on Saturday morning cartoons may enjoy this self-consciously cliché-ridden kiddie flick, but it will be torture for their adult chaperones."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Slappy and the Stinkers |url=https://www.tvguide.com/movies/slappy-and-the-stinkers/review/2030039625/ |access-date=2023-12-15 |website=TVGuide.com |language=en}}</ref> The ''Catholic News and Herald'' called it "rarely amusing and anything but cute."<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 10, 1998 |title=Videos |pages=7 |work=The Catholic news & herald [serial] |publisher=Charlotte, NC : Cathedral Pub. Corp. |url=http://archive.org/details/catholicnewshera1997unse |access-date=December 15, 2023}}</ref> -Another even more negative review described the film as follows: ''"Slappy and the Stinkers'' is the kind of generic-brand, pseudo-Disney children's comedy that you'll see playing on the VCR in a pediatrician's waiting room, and which will one day be logged into evidence after a receptionist loses her mind from watching it all day and murders someone. It was conjured into existence, perhaps using dark magicks, after the success of ''Free Willy'' made marine animals all the rage in Hollywood."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Eric's Bad Movies: Slappy and the Stinkers (1998) |url=https://www.mtv.com/news/nnie7c/erics-bad-movies-slappy-and-the-stinkers-1998 |access-date=2023-12-15 |website=MTV |language=en}}</ref> - -===Box office=== -The film received a limited theatrical release, and made $34,488 in its first weekend of three weeks of theatrical exhibition. It earned a total box office gross of $80,837.<ref name=boxoffice/> +Another even more negative review described the film as follows: ''"Slappy and the Stinkers'' is the kind of generic-brand, pseudo-Disney children's comedy that you'll see playing on the VCR in a pediatrician's waiting room, and which will one day be logged into evidence after a receptionist loses her mind from watching it all day and murders someone. It was conjured into existence, perhaps using dark magicks, after the success of ''Free Willy'' made marine animals all the rage in Hollywood."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Slappy and the Stinkers (1998) |url=https://www.mtv.com/news/nnie7c/slappy-and-the-stinkers-1998 |access-date=2023-12-15 |website=MTV |language=en}}</ref> ==References== @@ -85,7 +79,10 @@ [[Category:1990s adventure films]] [[Category:1990s children's comedy films]] +[[Category:1990s direct-to-video films]] [[Category:1998 films]] +[[Category:1998 direct-to-video films]] [[Category:American children's adventure films]] [[Category:American children's comedy films]] +[[Category:Direct-to-video films]] [[Category:Films about pinnipeds]] [[Category:Films about animal rights]] '