Police Academy III is a resounding example of why some people ridicule franchises and shudder against sequels. This whole series is based on stupidity, funny, small minded, unintelligent fun. To squeeze two story lines out of that was plausible but three...and eventually a WHOPPING SEVEN seems unforgivable. However I will say that the plots are there and perhaps as a slapstick, silly comedy TV Series (ie: The Cartoon series) Police Academy may have won people over. Number three in the series tries to really go back to the roots that made the original charming but it's too late to try that. We've been there, we've done that and although moments of it are reminiscent of that silly stupidity, it's definitely lacking and part of the character charm of the original and even the second cast is lost with a mish mash of so many characters, it's too much to follow.
Lead actor Steve Guttenberg sadly returns to the dying series as Sgt. Carey Mahoney. All his laughs, and pranks, and witty sarcasm is left behind and Mahoney is barely used as anything more than just a figure head. The rest of the original cast, and a lot of the characters from the second film return as well and they are all so severely downplayed that each character loses his charm. Even the insane Eugene Tackleberry who still has some great scenes (played by David Graf) is way underplayed and the unexplained absence of his true love who was played by Colleen Camp in the second film was unfortunate. Then they added some new characters and brought over some of the second film characters including the incredibly annoying Bobcat Goldthwait as Zed. This guy is not funny in any capacity and he made an alright villain but the idea of bringing him on as a regular cast member was not a good decision and the attempt at making him an odd couple partner to Sweetchuck was a disaster and didn't work. However the character Sweetchuck was the one redeemable new character as he had a slapstick, funny physical character who was annoyingly cute at times.
I won't say there is NOTHING redeemable about Police Academy 3. It was good to see the zany Cmndt. Eric Lassard played by George Gaynes back as more of a full time character. Also it was good that the film was set back at the Academy and the roles of Cmndt. Mauser, and Capt. Proctor (from Police Academy 2) were still fun to watch screw up and see the cadets get the better of them. Also the last fifteen minutes of the film are actually some of the better scenes in the entire series featuring an intense almost action packed chase scene on Jetskis. If you saw the first two, you might as well do as I did and check out this third installment but otherwise it probably won't please you much. They're losing steam with poor writing and bad decisions and I think there is some hope here and even some promise but overall...it's a flop!! I can't imagine the next 4 getting any better. 4/10
Lead actor Steve Guttenberg sadly returns to the dying series as Sgt. Carey Mahoney. All his laughs, and pranks, and witty sarcasm is left behind and Mahoney is barely used as anything more than just a figure head. The rest of the original cast, and a lot of the characters from the second film return as well and they are all so severely downplayed that each character loses his charm. Even the insane Eugene Tackleberry who still has some great scenes (played by David Graf) is way underplayed and the unexplained absence of his true love who was played by Colleen Camp in the second film was unfortunate. Then they added some new characters and brought over some of the second film characters including the incredibly annoying Bobcat Goldthwait as Zed. This guy is not funny in any capacity and he made an alright villain but the idea of bringing him on as a regular cast member was not a good decision and the attempt at making him an odd couple partner to Sweetchuck was a disaster and didn't work. However the character Sweetchuck was the one redeemable new character as he had a slapstick, funny physical character who was annoyingly cute at times.
I won't say there is NOTHING redeemable about Police Academy 3. It was good to see the zany Cmndt. Eric Lassard played by George Gaynes back as more of a full time character. Also it was good that the film was set back at the Academy and the roles of Cmndt. Mauser, and Capt. Proctor (from Police Academy 2) were still fun to watch screw up and see the cadets get the better of them. Also the last fifteen minutes of the film are actually some of the better scenes in the entire series featuring an intense almost action packed chase scene on Jetskis. If you saw the first two, you might as well do as I did and check out this third installment but otherwise it probably won't please you much. They're losing steam with poor writing and bad decisions and I think there is some hope here and even some promise but overall...it's a flop!! I can't imagine the next 4 getting any better. 4/10