The Little Rascals [G]

Spanky and his best friend Alfalfa are the leading rascals in a boys club called the He-Man Woman Haters. For five years the group has played tricks on girls and basked in the glory on winning the annual go-cart derby every year. But this peaceful life of woman-hating takes a downward turn when Alfalfa falls in love with Darla, the boys’ clubhouse is destroyed, and their prized go-cart is stolen by neighbourhood bullies. How can they rebuild all that they’ve lost and win the race? To make matters worse, Alfalfa’s manhood is threatened when new-boy-in-town, Waldo begins wooing Darla. 

I used to love this movie as a child and I still love it today, though for a different reason. It’s one of those films that really appeals to two types of audiences because one group only sees the physical comedy and the other group sees the cleverness and truthfulness of the entire thing. It’s just great. 

Spanky and his best friend Alfalfa are the leading rascals in a boys club called the He-Man Woman Haters. For five years the group has played tricks on girls and basked in the glory of winning the annual go-cart derby every year. But Spanky and Alfalfa’s peaceful life of friendship and woman-hating is severely shaken when Alfalfa falls in love with Darla, the boys’ clubhouse is destroyed, and their prized go-cart is stolen by neighbourhood bullies. How can the boys rebuild all that’s been broken and win the race? And to make matters worse, Alfalfa’s manhood is threatened when the rich new-boy-in-town, Waldo begins wooing Darla. 

Based on an old television series, which I’ve never actually seen an episode of, The Little Rascals appeals to two audiences, as I mentioned before. On the junior side of the table, it’s really a kids’ movie as all the heroes and heroines are under ten years old, making their way in the big world, and adults have minimal roles and influence, which is probably why there were a few surprising adult cameos in this film. Kids love the fact that they can relate to the heroes and they love the physical comedy of the film; slapstick, schadenfreude, and just general funny visual gags. 

Adults, or at least tragic adults like me, enjoy this movie solely for the fact that it’s a delightful look at that age of childhood innocence, when they can say absolutely anything, even if they don’t really know what they mean, and make it sound both convincing and very funny. The script was very funny as you hear all these kids, each of which are very memorable characters, say the darndest things and the innocence behind it is so cute and powerful that you cannot help but smile and give a little chuckle. 

Starring Travis Tedford, Kevin James Woods, Jordan Warkol, Zachary Mabry, Ross Elliot Bagley, Courtland Mead, Sam Saletta, Blake Jeremy Collins, Blake McIver Ewing, Brittany Ashton Holmes, Bug Hall, and featuring great cameos from Mel Brookes, Whoopi Goldberg, Daryl Hannah, Reba McEntire, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, Raven Symone, Lea Thompson, Donald Trump, and George Wendt, The Little Rascals is a great little movie filled with friendship, mischief, romance, comedy, and thrills. It’s childish, but it’s still remarkably enjoyable.