Hey Arnold!: The Movie

Hey Arnold!: The Movie
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Tuck Tucker
Produced by	Craig Bartlett Albie Hecht
Written by	Craig Bartlett Steve Viksten
Based on	Hey Arnold!  by Craig Bartlett
Starring	Spencer Klein Paul Sorvino Jennifer Jason Leigh Francesca Smith Jamil Walker Smith Dan Castellaneta Tress MacNeille Christopher Lloyd
Music by	Jim Lang
Edited by	Christopher Hink
Production companies	Nickelodeon Movies Snee-Oosh, Inc.
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release dates	June 28, 2002 (2002-06-28)
Running time	76 minutes[1]
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	US$3–4 million[2][3]
Box office	$15.2 million[2]

Hey Arnold!: The Movie is a 2002 American animated comedy film based on the 1996 Nickelodeon animated television series Hey Arnold!. The film is directed by Tuck Tucker, written by Craig Bartlett and Steve Viksten with music by Jim Lang. The film follows Arnold, Gerald, and Helga on a quest to save their neighborhood from a greedy developer who plans on converting it into a huge shopping mall. The film was released on June 28, 2002 and produced by Nickelodeon Movies and Snee Oosh, Inc. and distributed by Paramount Pictures. The film stars Spencer Klein, Paul Sorvino, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Francesca Smith, Jamil Walker Smith, Dan Castellaneta, Tress MacNeille, and Christopher Lloyd.

Plot

Arriving home from a basketball game, Arnold and his best friend Gerald learn that a man named Scheck, the CEO of FutureTech Industries (FTI), has announced plans to redevelop the entire neighborhood as a luxurious high-rise shopping mall. That night, Helga discovers that her father, Big Bob, is working with FTI to build a new super-sized branch of his beeper store in the proposed mall. Helga tells her father that their neighbors are going to suffer if he builds his store. Big Bob argues that his store is a good thing, because the Patakis will become extremely wealthy. Helga ultimately sides with her father, though is hesitant to do so due to her love for Arnold.

Arnold hosts a protest rally against FTI. However, their permit is stolen by Scheck's employees, and the protest is subsequently declared illegal. The failure of the rally encourages many of Arnold's neighbors to give up and sell their homes to FTI. As the residents begin packing their belongings, Grandpa Phil tells the story of the "Tomato Incident", a major Revolutionary War battle fought in the city. Arnold learns from a local historian that the neighborhood was declared a historic district after the war, effectively ensuring its preservation, but that the legal documents granting it landmark status had been sold to a collector, who is none other than Scheck himself. When confronted, however, he denies having the document and kicks Arnold and Gerald out of his office.

As the boys are about to give up, Arnold gets a mysterious phone call from "Deep Voice", who informs Arnold that the document is hidden in Scheck's office safe. Arnold and Gerald manage to steal the key to the safe from Scheck's assistant Nick. Nick later notices the missing key and informs Scheck. Meanwhile, Phil and the boarders try to develop a backup plan in case Arnold fails to get the document. Phil concocts a plan to wire the storm drain tunnels beneath their street with dynamite to destroy FTI's construction equipment.

Arnold and Gerald sneak back into FTI headquarters and access the safe, but the document is missing. Scheck appears from behind them with the document in his hand. He reveals that his ancestor, the leader of the British forces, was humiliated by the Tomato Incident, and that for years, Scheck has been planning to avenge his family by tearing down the neighborhood and replacing it with a hulking building carrying the Scheck name. He then burns the document to ensure that his plans will proceed, before summoning his guards to get rid of Arnold and Gerald. They manage to escape, but believe they have failed, until Arnold is able to obtain FTI security-camera footage of Scheck burning the document.

After Arnold finds out that Deep Voice is Helga, he asks why she decided to help him instead of her father. Helga reluctantly confesses that she loves Arnold, and then kisses him. Helga and Arnold escape the building and meet Gerald on a city bus. Despite several near-collisions, the kids eventually make it back to the neighborhood unharmed. Mayor Dixie arrives at the scene, along with the police and a news crew. Accessing the large ScheckVision monitor poised atop a nearby building, Arnold and Bridget show the Mayor the footage of Scheck burning the Tomato Incident document. The Mayor officially restores the neighborhood's status as a historic site.

Scheck arrives, demanding to know why demolition has not begun. He sees the footage of himself burning the document on the ScheckVision monitor and is promptly arrested. Harold, who was woken up by the collision, sits down on the detonator that ignites Phil's explosives. The explosives beneath the street ignite, but destroy the ScheckVision monitor instead. Phil and the boarders flee from the police. Helga denies ever having loved Arnold, claiming that she said those things in "the heat of the moment." Arnold, unconvinced, pretends to accept it. Eugene sings about the neighborhood being saved until Gerald interrupts him, saying, "Show's over, Eugene." Helga cheerfully returns home .

Cast

Production

In 1998, the Nickelodeon cable network renewed the original Hey Arnold! series for a fourth season, and gave creator Craig Bartlett the chance to develop a feature adaptation.^[4] As work on the fifth season was completing, Bartlett and company engaged in the production of Arnold Saves the Neighborhood, which would eventually become Hey Arnold!: The Movie.^[4] The Neighborhood project was considered for television and home video,^[3][4] but executives at Paramount Pictures decided to release it theatrically after successful test screenings.^[3] According to animation historian Jerry Beck (in his Animated Movie Guide), the decision was buoyed by the financial success of the first two Rugrats films, The Rugrats Movie and Rugrats in Paris: The Movie.^[4]

Release

The first trailer was released during the 2002 Kids' Choice Awards. They showed segments on Nickelodeon called "Backyard Players" where kids would play Arnold, Gerald, and Helga and act out scenes from the film. There was a contest held for a lucky winner to be Arnold for a day and go to the film's premiere. The song 2-Way by Lil' Romeo was used to help promote the movie.

Rating

Hey Arnold!: The Movie was Nickelodeon's first animated feature to receive a PG rating from the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA).

Box office

Opening on June 28, 2002 in the United States, despite beating its extremely mere budget of $3 million, the film was still considered a box office bomb. The film grossed $5,706,332 from 2,527 theaters on its opening weekend, ranking sixth in the box office and second in the week's new releases, behind Mr. Deeds.^[2] The film grossed $13,728,902 domestically and $1,520,406 overseas for a worldwide total of $15,249,308^[2]

Critical reception

The film received mixed to negative reviews. It currently holds a 29% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 78 reviews with the following critical consensus: "Bland, unoriginal and lacking the wit of the TV series, Hey Arnold! is a 30-minute cartoon stretched beyond its running time."^[5] Metacritic recorded a score of 47/100 based on 23 reviews, indicating "Mixed or average reviews".^[6] The film received some positive reviews such as those at The New York Post, The San Francisco Chronicle and Entertainment Weekly.

Home media

The film was released on VHS and DVD on December 31, 2002 (New Year's Eve); its special features consisted of only the theatrical trailer and an interactive game based on Charlotte's Web 2: Wilbur's Great Adventure.^[7] The film has also been available for streaming on the internet service Netflix.^[8]

Video game

THQ released a video game of the movie, exclusively for the Game Boy Advance. The game consists of five worlds, with four levels each (each including a boss on the fourth level) and the player can play as Arnold, Gerald, Grandpa, and Grandma. Helga is playable only with a cheat code found on various websites.

See also

• List of American films of 2002
• List of animated feature-length films

References

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Hey Arnold!: The Movie

• Hey Arnold! The Movie at the Internet Movie Database
• Hey Arnold! The Movie at Box Office Mojo
• Hey Arnold! The Movie at Rotten Tomatoes
• Hey Arnold! The Movie at Metacritic