The Rugrats Movie
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| The Rugrats Movie | |
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 VHS cover |
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| Directed by | Igor Kovalyov Norton Virgien |
| Produced by | Gabor Csupo Arlene Klasky |
| Written by | David N. Weiss J. David Stem |
| Starring | Elizabeth Daily (voice) Christine Cavanaugh (voice) Kath Soucie (voice) Cheryl Chase Cree Summer Tara Strong |
| Music by | Elvis Costello Nigel Harrison Mark Mothersbaugh Jamshied Sharifi |
| Editing by | John Bryant Kimberly Rettberg |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures Nickelodeon Movies |
| Release date(s) | November 20, 1998 |
| Running time | 81 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $28,000,000 (estimated) |
| IMDb profile | |
The Rugrats Movie is a 1998 animated film, produced by Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies. Based on the animated long running nicktoon series Rugrats, this film introduced Tommy's baby brother Dil Pickles named after Didi Pickles's cousin. Dil later appeared in the Rugrats series the next year, and is considered the darkest of the Rugrats films ever to be produced due to its tone and aspects of the storyline (Babies lost in dangerous woods, interior conflicts between the group over being lost and Dil himself), being radical departures from the series' usual light-hearted appeal. There are some mixed opinions on The Rugrats Movie as a result. It is also criticized due to the introduction of Dil Pickles, which cause most Rugrats fans to believe that the show has jumped the shark.
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[edit] Plot
The film's plot itself mostly concerns the babies and their adventures attempting to get along with Dil, Tommy's newborn baby brother and the problems he (sometimes) helps create. Tommy secretly feels that his brother is hogging all the love from their parents, which is true in a way one can see, when the parents sing Dil a lullaby instead of reading a story to Tommy. Though Tommy's friends are rather sick of him crying all the time, Tommy does feel love and responsibility towards Dil, especially when his father gives him a watch with their picture inside. Tommy calls the watch a "Sponsitility." At the same time, Phil, Lil and Chuckie see Stu's new invention, the Reptar Wagon, (which was made for a contest in Japan) and they put Dil inside so that they can drive him back to the hospital, except for Chuckie, who is trying to stick up for Tommy. Tommy tries to stop the twins from taking his brother, but Angelica comes on scene, is angered at the babies for being so loud, and accidentally kicks the Reptar Wagon out the open front door with the babies inside. However, just after the babies get down the street, she realizes that Dil has her Cynthia doll.
After evading a few car crashes and injuries of other babies, the Rugrats end up inside a mattress truck, which leaves the factory to travel down a highway. Meanwhile at the Pickles house, a delivery man comes and takes a crate in his truck, which was meant to have the Reptar Wagon inside it, but instead now holds a goat from Didi's parents. Stu comes upstairs and sees the crate is gone, and presumably his Wagon. He asks Lou where the kids are, but when Lou remembers that the kids had been playing in the crate before, both men shriek in realization that the kids must be still in the crate, on their way to Japan.
The mattress truck that holds the babies and the wagon swerves off the highway and down into a forest. When the babies emerge, they stand amazed at how big the new place is. They change Dil's diaper, a horrific experience, and Chuckie blames the newborn for a frog that hopped on his head. The parents, now knowing their kids are missing, and call the police to help search. Angelica, pulled by Spike is going down the same highway off which the babies crashed, which is closed off and marked by flares. She is forced over the ridge of the road, crashes down a tree, and is knocked out. She wakes up with Spike in her face, now in the same forest the babies are lost in.
Meanwhile, Betty, Howard, Stu and Didi run out of the Pickles house, to be met by the press and media in the front yard, showering them with questions. An action news reporter named Rex Pester is among them, who nags Didi about how she feels about the situation. Once Drew and Charlotte drive up to see what is going on, Rex tells Drew that his brother lost his only daughter, and a fight ensues. Chaz comes on scene, telling everyone that someone saw Angelica heading north down a highway. Everyone leaves for said highway. Soon after arriving, a police officer finds a binky that belongs to one of the babies.
The babies go up the hill and see the area covered in forest, and their houses are nowhere. Chuckie falls to his knees and cries out that they must be doomed, and a wolf below the hill sees them. Phil and Lil blame the mess on Dil. Tommy defends his brother and proposes that they could go see the "lizard" (his mistake of the word "wizard") who can give them a wish that they can use to go home. Chuckie sees smoke between the forest trees in the distance, which must mean the lizard lives there. Tommy is about to lead his friends back down the hill when he accidentally steps in a wolf footprint. The babies, frightened, get into the wagon and speed off down the hill into a forest. They zoom right past two park rangers in a jeep. One of the rangers glimpes the Reptar Wagon and assumes it to be a dragon. The babies, thanks to Dil, fall into a river. The Wagon inflates a raft around itself, and they enjoy their boat ride. They float under a bridge just as the rangers' jeep passes over them. When the two rangers get to their cabin, the woman who saw the "dragon" tries to tell headquarters, and the other laughs off her sighting. He casually looks into a telescope and sees the wagon floating in the river. He cries out in fear, thinking it was a dragon. The other ranger looks, but doesn't see the wagon.
The parents and police, all at the highway, still search for clues. Lou finds a candy wrapper from Angelica and Howard and Stu find tire tracks. Stu deduces that they're in his Reptar Wagon, and goes home, and idea in mind. The babies are having a grand time until Chuckie falls overboard. He is saved by Phil and Lil, but not Tommy, as he was busy helping Dil, who almost fell in. They narrowly avoid going down a waterfall, and in a team effort they drive their wagon out of the water and crash into a tree on shore.
At the Pickles House, Stu and Chaz are lowering Dactar, a flying machine that Stu made years ago. He plans to use it to search for the kids by air. The machine drops and falls on Lou, and when the dust clears, he's asleep under the wreck. The babies go in circles around a tree, thanks to directions from Tommy's Sponsitility. Chuckie sees a crashed train with a clown face painted on it and they all discover that monkeys are inside. The creatures come out and play with the kids, though Chuckie is not amused. Tommy has to stop playing to feed Dil, and the monkeys, attracted by the banana flavor, start licking Dil. Tommy runs off to chase some monkeys who stole Dil's diaper bag, and during this Dil is taken away by monkeys and Chuckie steps on his glasses, cracking them.
Angelica, still being pulled by Spike, forces him to stop as her rollerblade is cracked. While she mourns wistfully over Cynthia, the wolf creeps up behind her. Just before it can snap at her head, Spike runs in fear, taking Angelica with him. Stu's on the roof of his house, mounted on the seat of Dactar, which is attached to the car that Lou is going to drive. Lou mistakes Chaz's directions and takes off down the road. Dactar and Stu fly clumsily after.Phil, Lil and Chuckie try and replace Dil with a baby monkey, but Tommy sees and in angered at them. The others refuse to help find Dil, though Chuckie is unsure. Tommy walks off by himself to find his brother as rainclouds gather.
Angelica, having had enough of Spike pulling her, forces him to a stop as it begins to rain. he hides between trees to keep from getting wet while Angelica sings a number about how she's going to get Cynthia, and just after it ends, Spike drags her by the leash-caught foot deeper yet into the forest. The park rangers are at their cabin. The blonde ranger tries to tell his companion, the girl who saw a "dragon" to be cool and calm. Just then dark figures enter the cabin and he falls over in fright. The figures are the missing kids parents, who beg for help. The blonde ranger refuses to go where dragons are, but the other ranger quickly helps them and tells the parents to follow her.
Tommy finds Dil being dragged in the dirt by monkeys. He takes his brother under a shelter of tree roots and tries to share a bottle with him--which Dil drinks all of--and share a blanket with him--which Dil hogs every last bit of. They fight over the blanket, and when it rips, Tommy falls in the mud. Dil laughs at him. Tommy then refuses to be his brother any longer, even throws away his Sponsitility, and is about to waste a can of Dil's baby food, when Dil clings tightly to him and sobs. Tommy stops his terrible actions and takes Dil back to the tree-root shelter. He gives Dil half the blanket, and Dil gives Tommy the other half. They sleep happily while it rains outside.
Phil, Lil and Chuckie are not so lucky. They are out in the rain and lightning, seeing scary shapes from the shadows in the trees, and lightning even strikes one down. The fallen tree nearly gets Phil, but all of the babies come out unscathed, and realize that their situation is no longer an adventure. Phil proposes that they go find the lizard to get them home already, but Chuckie knows that if they do that, Tommy and Dil won't get home. A few hours later, around dusk, the parents and a park ranger--who is helping them search in her jeep--are trying to push the a jeep out of the mud while Didi starts crying out in hopelessness. Stu calls her on radio, announcing that he is flying on his Dactar Flying Machine to help in aerial search. He appears to not be the best pilot.
Tommy and Dil awake to see monkeys stalking towards them. When they are about to be taken, Phil and Lil come and pull the monkeys away to save them. Chuckie drives the Reptar Wagon up and scares more off. He takes a can of banana-flavored baby food and runs off, passing Angelica, who doesn't have Spike with her, on the way. The monkeys follow. He stumbles at the top of a grassy cliff, right above the river where the babies floated and sailed hours earlier. On the other side of the river is the wolf. Chuckie tosses the can into the river, but some of the contents still spill on him and the monkeys attempt to lick him to death. Just then, Tommy comes up the hill, riding Spike. They both mount the dog and ride away, being chased, until they fall off. Phil and Lil hear their screaming and run to them, but all four are surrounded by monkeys. When they're about to be grabbed, Dil comes driving the wagon. They hop in as it passes by, and push off monkeys that try to get in. Angelica comes in as well as they ride onto an old bridge.
Angelica nearly falls through a gap in the planks, but the others help her up. Just then the monkeys catch up but before they can appear to be aggressive, they run screaming off the bridge. The babies cheer, but abruptly stop when they turn to see the wolf behind them. Spike comes to their rescue and fights the wolf, in the process getting his collar ripped off. Spike grabs the wolf's tail in his mouth and pulls it over the edge of the bridge. The babies begin to cry, oblivious to the fact that Stu is flying above them, telling everyone on the radio contact that he found the kids. He tries to land, but crashes instead, and when he rises, he has the Dactar machine clinging onto his body, making him appear as the lizard.
Tommy goes up to him and wishes for Spike to come back. Stu falls through old planks in the bridge and when the babies look down they see Stu and Spike safe on the riverbank. Headlights appear and police cars and jeeps come up carrying the parents. They rush out to hug their kids. Another police car pulls up, carrying the circus masters of the monkeys. Rex Pester appears to try and hog news screentime on camera, but the monkeys smother both him and his camera. The movie comes to a final close as Chuckie narrates how life is much better with Dil around.
It was released on Thanksgiving weekend in 1998, and reached #1 at the box office (the first and only Nickelodeon Movies production to do so until Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events) ahead of Enemy of the State, and became the first non-Disney animated movie to gross $100 million in the United States and Canada, and the only such movie not made by DreamWorks until 20th Century Fox's Ice Age achieved the feat. The film was followed by Rugrats in Paris: the Movie and Rugrats Go Wild.
Slap T. Pooch from Nickelodeon's animation showcase Oh Yeah! Cartoons has appeared in Nickelodeon Movies' opening logo sequence to this film.
[edit] Guest Stars
- David Spade as Ranger Frank
- Whoopi Goldberg as Ranger Margaret
- Busta Rhymes as The Reptar Wagon's voice
- Tim Curry as Rex Pester
- Roger Clinton as Air Crewman
- Margaret Cho as Lt. Klavin
- Fred Schneider as one of the newborn babies
- Beck as one of the newborn babies
- B-Real as one of the newborn babies
- Phife Dawg as one of the newborn babies
[edit] Trivia
- Tagline: An adventure for anyone that ever wore diapers.
- After the closing credits one can see a clip where Grandpa falls asleep on the Reptar Wagon and rolls away. This was moved to before the closing credits when it was aired on CBS (in order to speed up the closing credits themselves).
- Two extra scenes not seen in the theatrical release were included in the airings on CBS. One was a dream sequences Tommy's parents have, while the second was a brief army march style song from the babies.
- The film's soundtrack was also a success. The single "Take Me There", performed by BLACKstreet & Mya featuring Murda Mase and Blinky Blink reached number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1998. The original version interpolated portions of the Rugrats theme without crediting the original composers. As a result of a threat of legal action, the song has since only been performed or broadcast in its remixed version (the "Jacksons Remix"), which retains the same vocal track, but is instead backed by an interpolation of The Jackson 5's 1969 hit "I Want You Back".
- Another piece of trivia concerning the soundtrack is that David Bowie recorded a song for the movie, "Sky Life", that went unused. The soundtrack's producer, Karyn Rachtman, was herself disappointed that it was not used.
- Rex Pester, a nosy newsreporter reads off a list of the Rugrats name, but reads them wrong. He mistakes the Rugrats as Tammy (Tommy), Dale (Dil), Bill and Jill (Phil and Lil), Chunky (Chuckie) and Amelia (Angelica). He also mentions that they are lost in the woods with their pet horse (Spike the Dog).
- This is the first Paramount/Nick Movies animated motion picture.
- The Rugrats Movie grossed over $100 million in its theatrical run, making it the most successful animated movie in America that is based on a TV show.
- The song sang when the monkeys appear is a cover of Witch Doctor song performed by DEVO.
- First appearance of Dil Pickles.
- The version seen on CBS is also the version seen on Nickelodeon (and recently Nicktoons Network).
- This is the First Animated Nickelodeon Movies movie to get a rated G Movie by the MPAA.
- This film has a short parody of "Indiana Jones" towards the beginning of the movie. It features a rolling boulder, the theme song, and Tommy calls himself Okey Dokey Jones, although Chuckie is dressed more like Indiana Jones with his signature Fedora hat, brown leather jacket, brown shoes, and handbag, but Tommy has his bullwhip.
- In the Video game for the Playstation one, (Search for Reptar) if one goes to the basement, one can see what appear to be blueprints for The Reptar Wagon.
- When the gang hears the wolf howl, it sounds alot like the howl that Aleu, Balto's daughter who was portrayed in Balto 2:Wolf Quest did when she bid her father a final goodbye.In fact right around the ending of the howl, they used the sound clip of Aleu's howl for the movie, but they changed it so that it would sound like the wolf that was in this movie, not Aleu.
- When Spike is about to go off the bridge, you can see that he has his collar on and then in the next scene, it's gone.
[edit] External links
| Rugrats, All Grown Up! and Tales from the Crib |
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| Episodes: Rugrats · All Grown Up! · Angelica and Susie's Pre-School Daze · How The You-Know-Who Stole You-Know-What! Movies: The Rugrats Movie · Rugrats in Paris: The Movie · Rugrats Go Wild Characters: Tommy · Dil · Chuckie · Kimi · Phil and Lil · Angelica · Susie · Harold · Spike · Fluffy · Others |
