Munchie Strikes Back Reviews

MUNCHIE STRIKES BACK turns an annoying, no-budget children's movie into an annoying, no-budget children's series. The title character, an impish trickster with the gift of teleportation, resembles a doddering puppet with a giant Alfred E. Neuman head. To answer for the cosmic ramifications of his last earth-bound adventure, Munchie is summoned before a celestial tribunal presided over by the imperious Kronus (Angus Scrimm). Munchie is taken to task for numerous historical boners, including sinking Atlantis, crashing the Hindenburg, igniting Vesuvius, and inadvertently sabotaging Chernobyl. He's sentenced to return to earth to help down-on-her-luck single mom Linda McClelland (Lesley-Anne Down). Munchie bonds instantly with her son Chris (Trenton Knight), who is the only one who can see the creature. The star pitcher of his Little League team, Chris is constantly being bullied by the insufferable Brett Carlisle (Corey Mendelsohn), who is his chief rival both on the ball field and for the attentions of girl-next-door Jennifer (Natanya Ross). Meanwhile, Linda's boss makes improper advances toward her on an out-of-town business trip; when she turns him down, she's fired, sending the McClelland family into a financial tailspin. Through Munchie's intervention, Chris has a field day on the baseball diamond, to the bemusement of his cynical coach (John Byner), and Linda comes into a bagful of money, avoiding eviction and saving the day for all of them. A final sequence back at the tribunal lets Kronus introduce the next lucky recipient of Munchie's attention, an earthling so beleaguered that the entire species seems mobilized against him: Bill Clinton. This is the sort of ill-considered comedy in which a Little League team can be named the Hillside Stranglers, and big laughs are expected from the sight of a woman kicking a dog. However, none of this should be of the slightest concern to the film's target age group. Children's appetite for cuddly, smart-mouthed, anthropomorphic alien creatures seems inexhaustible, and we can expect to see Munchie for years to come. And indeed, the final credits promise that "the Munch will return in MUNCHIE HANGS TEN."