The Rugrats Movie (1998)

Too much of everything

Beautiful, moving film.

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

The first thing that should be clarified here in this movie is that "The Rugrats Movie" is by far the darkiest, slimiest and moodiest point of anything pertaining to Rugrats that was ever made. Seriously. At one point, Drew Pickles puts his brother Stu Pickles in a choke-hold at one point or another in the movie, blaming him for losing his daughter Angelica. There's definitely not that much humor to be have here in this movie. If you watch the cartoon, you'll know what I mean and that is definitely a turn off point for some and why "The Rugrats Movie" as a whole, received a polarizing response by critics.There are definitely some parts of the movie that drag on and on. The part where the babies get lost and stuck in the forest and wonder around aimlessly in hopes of getting back home, drag on WAY too long and Dil's overall presence in the movie is more irritating than it is pleasing to the typical viewer.Then again if you are someone who isn't a fan of Rugrats, you shouldn't even be watching this in the first place.I give the movie credit for taking a different direction and doing something it's not but, in 20/20 hindsight, it's not all perfect. The songs that the cast of the characters sing throughout the course of the movie are hit and miss. The best one was probably Angelica's take on Blondie's "One Way Or Another" hit song from the 80's.In all, I only recommend checking this movie out if you are a part of the Rugrats fan base. For everyone else, it's nothing special and you can safely skip it as there's better family movies out there.

Tommy and his friends are excited and looking forward to the arrival of his new baby sister. However when young Dil arrives he turns out to be a boy as well as not being as much fun as had been expected. With Dill taking all his parent's attention away from Tommy, the other babies find themselves all marginalised by this screaming and pooping creature. Trying to return Dil to the hospital turns into a much bigger adventure than they planned when they wind out lost deep in the woods.Some cartoons are aimed at kids but have plenty for adults to enjoy; some cartoons are so completely for kids that adults struggle to get anything from them. The Rugrats Movie falls somewhere in the middle, being engaging enough for adults without really having that much specifically for them. Of course for kids the simple plot will provide enough adventure to hold the attention while the baby jokes come fast enough to amuse. Adults will not be turned off by the film because it is professional enough to distract, but the adult references are few and far between and certainly not as clever as the Pixar films that adults will be used to.The voice cast deliver the characters from the TV show well enough and will please fans by delivering more of the same but just over a longer running time. Guest turns from Curry, Goldberg, Spade, Clinton, Cho and Rhymes don't add a great deal but in their defence I suppose it was easy work for money. Overall then a professional and enjoyable film for child fans of the series which fills the running time well. However there isn't much for adults other than the promise that at least it won't grate the way some kids films do.

In my town we have a 10am movie showing of G and PG movies during the summer months. Only costs a dollar for the kids and the adults are free. Thank GOD! Because I would have hated to spend any more money on this show. This movie, although rated G was NOT what I wanted my children (or the children of my friend who we went with.) to see. We are used to watching TV, but shows that are somewhat educational. This movie used the word "stupid" and "hate" (JUST the words I want my 3 and 4 year old s to use!)My daughter (3 yrs old) was scared of the wolf in the forest and the monkeys are mean, and the little girl in with the blond hair is just plain mean too. The movie was really a PG if you ask me. I thought the movie was worthless... although I giggled a few times(at the little cartoon kids vocabulary , but I started to fall asleep in the middle and wished I could but I had to cuddle w/ my daughter because she was frightened...(I didn't mind the cuddling.) If you don't mind rude kids and scary scenes then fine, but my vote is no.....We don't like sponge bob either, that was the other movie showing today. I really don't see how all these parents liked this movie for their children. My take of it is, kids learn to be smart mouthed and sarcastic soon enough, why push it on them at 3 and 4.

Based on the second longest running cartoon on TV, (longest running is obviously The Simpsons) this is a good movie for the kids, and a bit for the adults. Basically best talking baby friends Tommy (Elizabeth Daily), Chuckie (Christine Cavanaugh), and the twins Phil and Lil celebrate the birth of a new baby, Tommy's new predicted sister. When the baby comes out it is a baby, but it doesn't matter, they name it Dil, he is a troublesome baby at first, but when the babies are thrown into the wilderness they must learn to like him. Basically they want to take Dil back to the hospital, but instead the head towards the "lizard" (Wizard) to have one wish. Also going their way is the mean Angelica (Cheryl Chase) after her Stacey doll. Also starring The Emporer's New Groove's David Spade as Ranger Frank, Whoopi Goldberg as Ranger Margaret and Tim Curry as Rex Pester. Good for kids, and adults will like some of it too. Worth watching!