Due to the less than great critical and box office reception of Police Academy 6, the series would live on through re-runs of the movies and the animated series into the 90s. The Police Academy movies felt like they were on TV all the time so even though we never got a new movie for five years, it never felt like the franchise went away.
How to Download Police Academy: Mission to Moscow
Police Academy: Mission to Moscow was released on August 26, 1994. You can download or stream the film from a digital platform. Click on the Download button at the end of this review and make your choice.
A Revival Through Reruns – the Movie Review
The Numbering Controversy
I guess there was enough interest in the re-runs that they decided to try and bring the series back for a seventh movie, Mission to Moscow. Now, this is my OCD talking here, but I hate how this does not have the number 7 in the title! Why would they leave it out, all the other movies are numbered so why would they not number this one? The only thing I can think of was that they thought this could be a potential soft reboot for a whole series to launch from.
Initial Excitement for Mission to Moscow
At the time this came out, I was excited to check it out, but not excited enough to go and see it in the theatre though. I remember the Blockbuster closest to my house having a huge standee for this when it came out and a ton of copies. I rented it and at the time, I was pumped and in really high hopes. To be honest, I remember thinking this was ok when I first saw it back in the mid 90s.
A Not-So-Terrible Entry in the Series
I have to say that in watching all the Police Academy movies back to back recently, Mission to Moscow is not horrible. The premise of there being a video game that can disable a security system that is being used by a big time Russian gangster is cool. Also, the fact that it is Ron Pearlman playing this Russian gangster called Konali is awesome. I 100 percent forgot about that until I watched it again so I got a huge kick out of that.
The Plot of Mission to Moscow
In Russia, Konali is a huge menace, leading to Russian Police Commandant, Rakov, calling in someone he met at a convention, good old Commandant Lassard to come and help take Konali down. Many of the iconic faces and voices of the Police Academy movies are missing from this one, but we still have Larvell Jones, Tackleberry, Callahan, and Captain Harris in the movie. Looking back, this may have been the time to completely reboot the series with a whole new cast. Although having Christopher Lee play the Russian Commandant was pretty damn funny.
Humor Based on Cultural Misunderstandings
We get a whole lot of Americans misunderstanding Russian culture going on in Police Academy: Mission to Moscow and that is where most of the humor comes from. It is still very silly, very dumb, and full of slapstick style humor as you would expect. However, by 1994, perhaps this kind of thing was not what people wanted at this time.
Final Thoughts on Mission to Moscow
Still, I did have a decent time with this and got a few chuckles while watching it and I liked the Russian setting the movie had. Having watched all the Police Academy movies recently, I think that the first one is a legit 80s classic. However, the rest of the series apart from a couple of bad entries (2 and 5) are fine and have some charm. There is nothing really wrong with this movie and that can be said for many of the other entries, they are just not all that great either. Still, a record of 5 out of 7 movies being ones I liked is not bad.
