utgard14 There's a crime wave in the city and Captain Harris has proved an utter failure at stopping it. So the governor sends in a special team to help him, much to his frustration. The team, not surprisingly, is made up of the Police Academy gang. Penultimate entry in the series is total crap with no laughs in sight. The last in the series to feature Bubba Smith, Marion Ramsey, Lance Kinsey, and Bruce Mahler (who was last seen in part 3). Whether they left the series by choice or not, I do not know. I'd like to give them credit and say they did. Look for Dean Norris (Breaking Bad) and Allison Mack (Smallville) in small roles. It's pretty dreadful stuff. Makes the Ernest movies look like art.

SnakesOnAnAfricanPlain One thing you notice about this movie is the abundant reliance on those one note characters. Matt McCoy gives up on being a Guttenberg replacement and is now left as an actual serious cop. He isn't a lot of fun, as everyone around him is quirky or funny. This may seem like a brave move by some, but let's face it, it's a little late to be trying to leave such a franchise with some dignity. Although this is horrible, it may be the most memorable, as I saw it as a child and actually remembered specific details about the (ahem) plot. I did enjoy some very brief moments, such as the henchmen actually teasing their boss. Just a little something, but it made the relationship with their boss a bit humane.

deli584876 The Police Academy franchise is like Chinese food. The first PA movie was like when you first bring it home from the restaurant, it's fresh, new, tasty, and superb. The second PA movie was like the next day leftovers. Not quite as good as yesterday but still a pretty satisfying meal. The third PA movie is still edible but starting to become pungent. The fourth PA movie is when it becomes the equivalent to pig slop that you can barely keep down.And by the fifth and sixth PA movies unless you have the stomach of a goat, you'll be puking your guts out. I didn't bother with the seventh but I'd imagine it would be lethal by then.

Sandcooler One thing that struck me about this installment: it has some new jokes! I don't think I've seen the writers coming up with new material since the second one or so. Granted, most of it is tiresome slapstick, but at least it's new tiresome slapstick. They have dodged some other bullets too. Our heroes don't go on trips anymore, they don't have romantic subplots that go nowhere. They just solve crimes, and are comically bad at it. I even wanted to know who the leak was, the plot is more compelling than usual. Especially Harris and Proctor deliver some good laughs in this one, the bus scenes are pretty funny. The mayor is also a funny character. Generally the post-Mahoney era is rather pointless, but this is by far the best movie of those three.