History Film / InspectorGadget1999

* DestroyTheProductPlacement: An early scene has Scolex cause John's car to crash into a Website/{{Yahoo}} billboard, causing it to topple onto the former's limo. The "Yahoo!" jingle even plays as it falls.

* HeroesWantRedheads: John Brown/Gadget is infatuated with the redheaded Brenda Bradford.

* JerkassHasAPoint:
** Quimby is an ObstructiveBureaucrat who refuses to let Gadget work on the Bradford case. However, he makes the very true point that, contrary to the name he was given, Gadget is ''not'' actually a police inspector, or even a trained officer. He is just a security guard turned into a publicity stunt that Quimby now has to put up with.

* AdaptationLocationChange: In the cartoon, Gadget resided in the fictional Metro City. In the film, he lives in equally fictional Riverton, Ohio.

** Metro City was renamed Riverton.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

--> '''Gadget''' (sarcastically): Yeah! I ''comprende!''
--> (Scolex winces in barely-controlled fury)
--> '''Scolex''': No, no, no. I ''comprend-o. Yo comprendo.'' Conjugate the verb, for pity's sake. Kramer, pull the NSA chip before he butchers another language!

* OffModel: [=RoboGadget's=] tie--light brown with a wide black stripe--is not the same as the Inspector's dark blue one. [[FailedASpotCheck Oddly, no-one in Riverton notices.]]

* LuckyTranslation: As lame as Gadget's "You should've quit while you were ahead" pun is, its Polish translation, taking advantage of a well-known if somewhat rarely used phrase that can be roughly rendered as "Dreams of a severed head" (meaning aspirations expressed long past deadline), is arguably pretty funny.

The movie opens with an origin story for the titular hero (Broderick). Originally a human security guard named John Brown, he dreams of one day being a respected police officer, though he is continually rejected due to his lack of experience. He also has designs on Brenda Bradford (Fisher), a scientist that works at the cybernetics lab he's employed for. After the lab creates a prototype for a computer chip that can control lifelike robotic limbs, Brown's life changes as CorruptCorporateExecutive Sanford Scolex (Everett) breaks into the lab, kills Brenda's father, and makes off with the prototype foot. When Brown pursues him, the resulting car chase ends with Scolex blowing up his car and leaving him with extensive tissue damage. In the aftermath, a bowling ball from Brown's car flies into the air and lands Scolex's own left hand, crushing it to pieces and leading to him getting a selection of cybernetic replacements. His favourite replacement [[RuleOfCool (because it looks cool)]] is a metallic crab-claw. He dubs himself "Claw." As for Brown, Brenda decides to make him the prototype for the "Gadget Program" and repairs his damaged body by converting him into a cyborg with numerous odd and zany functions--and his own talking wisecracking car the Gadgetmobile (voiced by Creator/DLHughley). Now dubbed "Inspector Gadget," he realizes his dream of joining the police force - though his generally goofy and awkward nature and lack of control over his new hardware makes him something of a walking disaster area. Meanwhile, Scolex still has designs on the technology that created him, as he plans to use it to build an unstoppable robot army to take over the world...

* DestroyTheProductPlacement: An early scene has Sykes crash Scolex's car into a Website/{{Yahoo}} billboard, causing it to topple onto them. The "Yahoo!" jingle even plays as it falls.

* FauxAffablyEvil: Claw, who goes from suave and debonair to excessively hammy at the drop of a hat.

** Don Adams has a vocal cameo as the voice of Brain in mid-credits scene.

* {{Catchphrase}}: Wowser.

* ChubbyChaser: Brenda implies that she was one: she tells Scolex that "she liked him better fat."

* CompositeCharacter: Sykes is one for the various hulking, dim-witted henchmen from the cartoon show.

* TheDitz: Inspector Gadget, but slightly less so than in the cartoon. The Mayor of Riverton also has shades of this.

--> '''Gadgetmobile:''' Better buckle up, Penny. This car's got only two speeds. 'Fast' and [[LudicrousSpeed 'Whoo! What was that?']]

* EvilIsHammy: You can tell Rupert Everett is having an absolute blast as Claw in the first film.

* GrapplingHookPistol: John has one that comes out of his hat. He uses it twice throughout the film. One to stop an escaped convict. The second time to scale a building to warn Brenda about Scolex.

** "No no, just... Claw... one word. Like Music/{{Madonna}}".

* KickedUpstairs: John Brown, a security guard with two years of experience and not the brightest bulb around, is promoted to Police Inspector upon his lifechanging revival.

* KillerRobot: Scolex designs [=RoboGadget=] as a robot's whose sole function is to terrorize the city and make Inspector Gadget look bad.

* AdaptationalIntelligence: Gadget is far more competent in the movie than in the cartoon, and doesn't rely entirely on Penny and Brain.

* AwesomeMcCoolname: Sanford Scolex.

!The film provides examples of:

* SurveillanceStationSlacker: Sykes is asleep in front of the security monitors as John is trying to steal the robotic foot from Scolex Industries.

* KeepItForeign: In the Italian dub, Scolex's line

* GratuitousItalian: Scolex often uses the Italian words "Arrivederci" and "Ciao".

* "Let's see what you can do, Gadgetmobile, because [[Film/TopGun I feel the need, the need for speed]]."

* OffModel: [=RoboGadget's=] tie--light brown with a wide black stripe--is not the same as the Inspector's dark blue one.

%%* OffhandBackhand

* ForTheEvulz: In revealing his evil plan, Claw seems quite eager to see the raw chaos that would be unleashed through his robotic warriors upon selling them to the highest bidders; Aside from exacting revenge on Gadget for the loss of his hand, he has no other deeply personal motivations for his crimes.

* GroinAttack: John Brown AKA Inspector Gadget mistakenly does this to the guru while trying to train his new cybernetic body (he was blindfolded for some reason), after the guru tells him to focus on "obtaining the balls" -- as in the metal balls on the floor.

* KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler:Artemus Bradford, courtesy of Scolex]].

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Claw was captured, Sykes went to rehab... so what happened to Kramer?

* TheCheerleader: For [[AllGuysWantCheerleaders some reason]], [[TheDitz Robo-Brenda]] is this.