Police Academy: Mission to Moscow (1994) starring George Gaynes, Michael Winslow, David Graf, Leslie Easterbrook, G.W. Bailey, Christopher Lee, Ron Perlman, Claire Forlani, Charlie Schlatter directed by Alan Metter Movie Review

Police Academy: Mission to Moscow (1994)   1/51/51/51/51/5


George Gaynes and Christopher Lee in Police Academy: Mission to Moscow

Nyet Another Police Academy

For a while it seemed that the "Police Academy" franchise had finally come to its end with "Police Academy 6: City Under Siege" thanks to its lack of Box Office success, at least the annual churn out of another sequel had certainly come to an end. But 5 years after Lassard and his officers solved a crime wave they returned with the 7th movie "Police Academy: Mission to Moscow" which if you couldn't guess saw some of the regulars taking a journey to Russia to help them Ruskie's out. Sadly the 5 year hiatus did nothing to improve what was to come in what currently is the last "Police Academy" movie and nor did switching the action to Russia because what we got was the same tired old jokes and ideas which had fuelled all the previous "Police Academy" movies. And even the new faces which included parts for Christopher Lee, Charlie Schlatter, Claire Forlani and Ron Perlman failed to pep things up or make up for the dwindling number of regulars.

With the Russian police struggling to find evidence against Russian Mafia boss Konstantine Konali (Ron Perlman), who they believe has plans to take over everyone's computers with a computer game he has produced, Cmndt. Alexandrei Nikolaivich Rakov (Christopher Lee) calls on overseas help. That help comes in the shape of Cmndt. Eric Lassard (George Gaynes) who brings together his favourite officers along with Captain Harris (G.W. Bailey) and Cadet Kyle Connors (Charlie Schlatter) to head to Moscow and help gather the evidence to put Konali away. With the aid of Russian translator Katrina (Claire Forlani) they set about infiltrating Konali's inner circle but in their own bungling way get things seriously wrong.

Charlie Schlatter and Claire Forlani in Police Academy: Mission to Moscow

Now whilst in a way switching the location to Russia was quite a good idea although the outcome of it is not any different to what we saw in the previous 2 movies. What this means is we have a criminal mastermind in the shape of Russian Mafiosi Konstantine Konali coming up with a cunning plan to take control of everyone's computers who buy a game he has had made. And so Lassard and Harris and a few of the die hard regulars head to Moscow to solve the crime in there own inept way. Basically think about "Police Academy 6" and then relocate it to Russia without really changing anything. Even the subplot of Lassard ending up spending time with a Russian family instead of doing his job fails to disguise the weakness of the story and what is evident is that in the 5 years in between parts 6 and 7 everything had stopped and no one had used the time to come up with something different for are favourite officers to do.

And like the storyline the humour hasn't move on either with the same old gags being trotted out once more and whilst after a 5 year gap it is amusing to watch Harris being made to look stupid whilst Michael Winslow delivers sound effects it doesn't take long for them to grow boring. Even the various new characters, are friendly Russians, fail to really add to the humour and a rather strange scene which sees Christopher Lee kissing George Gaynes is just that strange, not funny. As with the storyline, those 5 years definitely didn't see any new gags being thought up and I swear that every single joke in this final "Police Academy" can be found somewhere in the previous 6 movies.

As for are regulars who by now have definitely dwindled well David Graf, Leslie Easterbrook and G.W. Bailey all slide back into character with ease doing what they had done in all the previous movies. Yes it's nice to see them again after a few years off but like the humour it doesn't take long for the familiarity to breed contempt. Even the new characters such as Charlie Schlatter as vertigo suffering Cadet Kyle Connors and Claire Forlani as attractive Russian translator Katrina fail to really make a lasting impression despite dominating many a scene. And whilst Ron Perlman seems to be having fun playing a Russian Mafia boss, Christopher Lee hardly gets a look in as Cmndt. Alexandrei Nikolaivich Rakov and most certainly doesn't deliver the same idiotic slapstick to rival George Gaynes who to be honest is once more the best thing about the movie.

What this all boils down to is that "Police Academy: Mission to Moscow" despite coming 5 years after part 6 ends up no better and to be honest is just about on par with it's immediate predecessor. It's basically the same old storyline with the same old jokes and whilst switching things to Russia allows for a few new characters it doesn't end up making "Police Academy 7" any better.

The irony is that it is now 17 years since we last saw a "Police Academy" movie and whilst it is impossible to ignore that the franchise got progressively worse I wouldn't mind another one being made especially if they could get those pivotal actors who are still with us to return for some sort of one of "Police Academy Reunion" movie.


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