Rugrats Revisited: Part 10 By: Roxanne Greenberg The First Movie (November 20, 1998):

Way back in '96, in an arrangement between Nickelodeon and Paramount Pictures, the Nickelodeon Movies branch was created; with the intent on bringing their hit TV shows to the silver screen. Their first effort, though, was not an adaptation of one of their shows, but of a children's book: Harriet the Spy. Their next effort, though, was an adaptation of one of their shows...in part, at least: Good Burger, based off the reoccurring sketch from All That about working for a fast food joint. The successes of those two films, on top of the growing popularity of Rugrats, ultimately lead to what would become Nick's biggest hit of that era: The Rugrats Movie.

It's worth noting that, while the reaction from critics was mixed (The film is ranked at a 59% "rotten" rating on review aggregator, Rotten Tomatoes; 1% shy of being ranked as “fresh”), the film was a huge success financially; according to the Klasky-Csupo website, it was the first non-Disney animated movie to gross over $100 million worldwide during its theatrical run…which isn’t true, when Don Bluth’s An American Tail, released in 1986, holds that honor (Although I couldn't find any info on if that was adjusted for inflation or not).

I remember when this came out, I wanted to see it in theaters...but I couldn't talk my parents into taking me (In fact, I wouldn't see my first movie in theaters until almost a year later; with Star Wars Episode I), so I ended up waiting until it came out on home video, so we could rent it. I remember loving it as a kid, although I haven't seen it in roughly 15 years or so, so how well does it hold up?

The plot picks up several months after the end of the previous season, with Didi very visibly pregnant, and everyone has come together to throw a baby shower for the daughter she’s expecting…although it’s cut short by her going into labor, and once she gives birth, she’s in for the surprise that her newborn child is a boy; whom she and Stu decide to name Dylan Pickles, or “Dil” for short. However, Dil proves to be more of a hassle than previously thought; as Stu and Didi have lost sleep over Dil’s constant crying, while Tommy feels what Angelica told him earlier is true, and that his parents don’t love him anymore since they got the new baby (Which may have been her being a jerk, but part of me thinks that her saying that plays off of the nightmare she had in season 3’s Angelica’s Worst Nightmare).

The first encounter

This ultimately leads to Phil and Lil deciding they want to take Dil back to the hospital, although Tommy refuses…but a mishap with Angelica causes the Reptar Wagon, with the babies and Cynthia inside, to roll out the front door and go flying down the road, and after a long chase scene, end up in the nearby forest; where a train carrying circus monkeys crashed earlier. Thus, the babies start to explore the forest in an effort to find their way home, all while the tension between the four begins to mount; feeling that Dil is to blame for getting them into this mess. All the while, Angelica goes in pursuit of them to find Cynthia, and the parents begin to track down their missing kids. Will the kids find a way home and learn to adjust to having Dil around, or will the Black Hole Son tear these friends apart?

They also throw in the obligatory stab at Disney

In all honesty, this movie has aged surprisingly well; there’s some instances of immature humor here and there (Like the pee rainbow at the end of the This World is Something New to Me song sequence), but they’re generally few and far between; the rest is well written, and stands alongside some of the best episodes of the TV series.

There are also many musical segments; some of which were pretty good; I for one am particularly fond of Yo Ho-Ho and a Bottle of Yum…but I am not very fond of them getting the Witch Doctor song stuck in my head again. Oh, and one of the songs (On Your Marks, Get Set, Ready, Go!) gets away with a swear completely uncensored in this G- rated movie; I suppose it helps the lyrics are hard to understand with how fast of a rap this is, but they managed to get away with the line “so fast the wind’ll blow dry your asshole”; which is one of the greatest moments of getting crap past the radar in this franchise's history. As for the background music, it’s quite good; managing to keep the general feel of Rugrats while also making it feel grander…and throwing in the classic Indiana Jones theme song during the “Okie-Dokie Jones” segments at the start and end of the movie was a nice touch.

Monkeys conducting trains: setting a new standard for cool

The animation is generally quite good, putting even the Chanukah special, which was very impressively animated, to shame, and even has some effective use of CGI. However, I wouldn’t say it’s all perfect; there are some moments where the CGI does look a bit off (For example, the circus train crash looked a bit clunky to me).

A common complaint I see among reviews from critics is that the film “lacks direction”, and to be honest, I’d have to agree; there’s some scenes that seem random, until something from it comes into play later; for example, Angelica sees an ad on TV for a monkey circus…as we suddenly cut to a scene with the circus monkeys breaking out of their cages and hijacking the train they were on, which at that point in the movie, it seems completely random, although it comes back up much later into the film; when the babies are lost in the very same forest that train crashed.

Regardless, this was a very enjoyable movie; fans of the series that haven’t seen this yet should definitely check this out, even if they aren’t very fond of Dil.

Now, I go over my personal picks for the best, worst, weirdest, saddest, and scariest scenes in the movie.

Worst: Witch Doctor musical sequence

I’ll admit, the only reason I hate this part was because of the earworm that is the Witch Doctor song; although Devo did change up the lyrics in their cover of it to better fit the movie, it’s still annoying.

Weirdest: Birth of Dil This scene is easily the film’s “Big-Lipped Alligator Moment”, just for how little sense any of it makes. The scene begins with Didi in the delivery room, when she begins to scream as she pushes, leading to a fade to black…and then we get a lengthy CGI scene that is best described as being the Rugrats equivalent to the Stargate sequence from 2001: A Space Odyssey; as we fly through a colorful vortex, as our solar system zooms by, followed by some fish, a T-Rex, some dancing monkeys, Stonehenge, the Great Pyramids and Sphinx, and atoms flying by like a scene transition on The Big Bang Theory, all rendered in very dated CGI, and set to a triumphant reprise of the Rugrats theme song. Based off of how the next scene begins, I assume this is supposed to be what Dil is seeing as he exits the womb…but the choice in visuals makes no sense.

“My god; it’s full of stars…and fish”

Saddest: The first Dil-a-Bye musical sequence

In all honesty, this is probably the most depressing moment of the entire series so far; as Stu and Didi sing a lullaby for Dil in an effort to get him to stop crying and go to sleep, all the while you see Tommy trying to catch their attention, to no avail; leading to him crawling into the closet in his room and quietly crying himself to sleep, while Spike is sitting out in the rain, howling. This scene was heart-wrenching to sit through, and one of the most effective emotional moments of the movie.

You honestly just want to hug him

Scariest: The Wrath of Khan Tommy Seriously, this scene was very heavy. As a thunderstorm rolls in, Dil drinks the last bottle of milk Tommy had with him, and ends up ripping the blanket in half; causing Tommy to finally snap, leading to a surprisingly scary scene in which he goes into a rant on how Dil has ruined his life (His parents care more about Dil than him, his friends have abandoned him, and now they’re lost in the woods with no more milk), and is about to dump a jar of banana-flavored baby food on Dil and let the monkeys do whatever they want with him. He doesn't go through with it, but the fact he had reached a point that he was about to do this was honestly shocking.

Best: Big Damn Heroes

Shortly after the previous scene, Tommy and Dil (Whom had made amends and are finally getting along) are surrounded by monkeys that don’t look very happy…when suddenly, Phil and Lil show back up and help drive off the monkeys, with Chuckie not far behind; as he lures the monkeys away from the main group so they can escape. This part kicked off the climax of the film; as all 3 major plots came together in an exciting finale.

A runner up would be the Okie-Dokie Jones scenes that bookend the movie; this bit being popular enough to generate a lot of merchandise, and it managed to capture the feel of the movie franchise it was spoofing quite well (The fact they actually used the Indiana Jones theme song helped sell it).

Join us next time, as we learn that Cynthia is a really cool dancer, with a look at the 6th season of the TV series…which is also the longest season of the entire series.