Los Angeles police officer John Kimble has been after drug lord Cullen Crisp for years and finally arrests him after he murders a man who told Crisp that he's seen his estranged wife. Apparently when she left she took their soon and three million dollars and now she is living in Astoria, Oregon. Kimble heads north with partner Phoebe O'Hara; it is planned that she, as a former teacher, will go undercover at the local school to identify Crisp's son and thus his ex-wife who they hope will testify... they have no idea of the boy's current name and there are no decent pictures of him or his mother. Unfortunately Phoebe gets ill so Kimble must play teacher... how hard can it be? He soon finds out that six year olds are much harder to deal with than criminals! He must figure out how to deal with the children while trying to identify Crisp's family. Inevitable before long Crisp is bailed and heads to Astoria looking for his son.One might think that because this is a comedy set in a kindergarten class it will be a family film suitable for all ages... it isn't. There are scenes of violence at the start and end as well as scenes of sustained threat to a child that are too intense for children. The sight of Arnie struggling with a class full of six-year olds is pretty funny; he does a fine job in the role. Pamela Reed also really impresses as his partner Phoebe. There are also notable performances from Linda Hunt as the school principal and Penelope Ann Miller as a fellow teacher who has a son at the school and provides a possible love interest for Kimble. The children of the class feel natural and provide many of the film's laughs. The identity of Crisp's wife and family aren't too obvious as there are a number of possibilities... that said when we do learn who they are it isn't a huge surprise. The early parts of the film, and its ending are the best; it did drag a little in the middle as Kimble gets control of her class. Overall I'd recommend this to Arnie's other films; just don't expect the action to be as full on as his earlier '80s films.

It's a comedy, it's police, it has action ... It's great. It is an entertaining film where several types of genre are mixed very intelligently achieving a fantastic result. In it we see an Arnold again to the rescue, in a dangerous mission, with a "perfect" companion, and a "target" that must protect very hidden. Arnold laughs at himself, from his previous papers, worse so naturally that it is even more fun. I remember reading that years later Stallone compared this movie with his "Stop or my mother shoots" and he did not understand why "Cop" had reaped so much success and his did not ... I did not comment. While the protagonist's performance is very good we must not forget the rest of his co-stars, funny and natural kids that raise a smile when you least expect it. They are irreverent, funny and tender, and you end up feeling as much affection for some of them as he does.

Ivan Reitman's "Kindergarten Cop" delivers what it promises. I had actually seen the end of it on TV when I was little (starting where the kids learn never to talk to strangers). Now that I've seen the whole thing, I can affirm that it's an excuse for Arnold Schwarzenegger to be a tough guy and for the kindergartners to be silly. If you don't expect anything profound then you won't be disappointed.The reason why I watched it was because I read that Carroll Baker co-starred in it. I wanted to see what it was like for the woman known as Baby Doll (from Elia Kazan's film adaptation of Tennessee Williams's play) to co-star with the man known as the Terminator. She played the last kind of role that I would've expected someone like her to play. The other main cast member is Penelope Ann Miller, who's appeared in assorted movies over the years (Other People's Money, Chaplin, Carlito's Way, The Artist).Basically, the movie doesn't pretend to be anything that it isn't.

Police detective John Kimble (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is tracking stone-cold killer Cullen Crisp (Richard Tyson). He arrests him for murder. Detective Phoebe O'Hara (Pamela Reed) is assigned to be his partner. They track Cullen's ex Rachel (Penelope Ann Miller) to an Oregon kindergarten after she supposedly stole Cullen's millions and their son. O'Hara is sick and Kimble is pressed into undercover work as a substitute teacher looking for which mother is the former drug lord wife.The setup is a bit too dangerous. The basic premise is to get Arnold into a kindergarten class. That is actually a very funny premise. He is hilarious with the kids. The problem is that it's also a violent crime drama. There's no way to bridge the two disparate aspects of this movie. It works as a comedy as long as Arnold's with the kids and nobody remembers the cold blooded killers lurking out there. Once the movie touches anything serious, the movie grinds to a halt.