Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai

Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai (2022) is a series that my daughter and I recently completed on MAX. The storyline follows a young boy in Shanghai who is gifted a Mogwai by his grandfather. Shortly after he gets it a sorcerer of sorts arrives and eats his grandfather whole and the boy barely escapes. The boy, now on the streets and an unlikely journey, will need to work with an untrustworthy orphaned girl he encounters and his Mogwai, named Gizmo, to uncover why the sorcerer wants the Mogwai so bad and stop him.

This series was cocreated by Stephanie Gonzaga (Duck Tales), Alexandra Chiu (Guardians of the Galaxy: Animated Series), Vaughn Ross (The Clone Wars) and Michael Chang (Teen Titans). This contains the voices of James Hong (Big Trouble in Little China), George Takei (Star Trek), Zach Galligan (Gremlins), Sandra Oh (Umma) and Gabrielle Nevaeh (Monster High).

This series was released with the launch of MAX and my daughter and I love the Gremlins movies...so we had to watch it. This series started a bit slow but by the end of episode 3 we were absolutely hooked. The animation is excellent and very well done. It reminded me of a Dreamworks project. The universe was fascinating and they did a good job telling an origin story that contained magic, new elements and aspects you know from the movies. When they incorporated hopping vampires from the martial arts movies my heart jumped a beat. I also loved the gods storylines and the family dynamics. There ends up being multiple villains in this that made the dynamics seem impossible to overcome. Our green gremlins friends were tremendous, hilarious, and I could watch their hijinks all day.

Overall, this was very well done by MAX and better than Velma. It was smart to involve Spielberg and Joe Dante in the making of this project. I would score this an 8/10 and recommend it as a fun, family series that's more intense than you may expect.

Known as Secrets of the Mogwai in the first season and The Wild Batch in the second, this show is a good entry in the Gremlins franchise. It feels like a mature series aimed at kids, never talking down to its audience, not shying away from cursing, alcohol or violence and portraying social issues in the Prohibition both in China and later the US.

The animation is gorgeous. A form of painted CGI, some of the backgrounds and animation are true 2D; this is best exemplified by water in the second season.

Where it falters a bit is that Sam's voice actor seems have an issue with intonation. I don't know if it was because he's going through puberty or something, but he sounds a bit off. An overall trivial detail.

A strong recommendation.

I watched this series with my 4 year old son and we both had a blast watching it! That being said, of course Secrets of the Mogwai gets browning points for contributing to some bonding tome between me and my boy. This show maintains alot of that speilberg magic and fun that made the first film such a beloved staple in so many households. Many adults or even older children may be turned away as the animation style may come off as being to childish and truth be told these were my initial thoughts as well. I beg however, please do not let the look of this series turn you away from sitting down and just giving it a shot! It has the childish animation and fun characters that kids will love while also delving into more serious matters and having captivating character and story moments that will also keep the older generations invested. Secrets of the Mogwai is a series that I would recommend anyone gives a watch especially if your a fan of the gremlins and ESPECIALLY If you have little ones to watch it with!

Fans of comedy-horror are bound to know Joe Dante's 1984 movie "Gremlins" and its 1990 sequel "Gremlins 2: The New Batch".* Well, we now have an origin story. The protagonist is Sam Wing, the owner of the shop from which the dad bought Gizmo in the first movie. "Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai" depicts him as a boy in 1920s Shanghai, coming into possession of Gizmo and having to protect him from a malevolent sorcerer.

As with the movies, the rules are to keep mogwai away from bright light, don't get them wet, and don't feed them after midnight; sure enough, the rules get broken, and chaos ensues. The miniseries manages to be fun every step of the way. You're sure to love it. Returning cast members from the movies are Zach Galligan (Billy in the movies, Henchman #2 here) and Haviland Morris (Marla in the second movie, Theodora here); Matthew Rhys (Riley) appeared in Steven Spielberg's movie "The Post" as the recently deceased Daniel Ellsberg.

*You may recall that the sequel depicted a mogul who was supposed to be Donald Trump (with a little bit of Ted Turner).

As a massive fan of the two Gremlins movies, I was excited for this new animated series and it lived up to my expectations.

Positives for Gremlins: Secret of the Mogwai (2022-): This show gives fans of the movies all of the wild and fun shenanigans you can expect from these creatures. The animation is something you'll have to get used to for a while and once you do that, the show is fun to watch. I really enjoyed the cast of characters as they go on these wild adventures with Gizmo and his fellow gremlins. The show has a bingable feel to it and it helps that the seasons are 10 episodes and the episodes are under 30 minutes long. And finally, this show serves as a good gateway for younger audiences to the movies and possibly the horror genre.

Overall, Gremlins: Secret of the Mogwai (2022-) is a fun continuation of the franchise for older fans and a good time for younger audiences.