The Rugrats Movie

Infobox_Film
name =The Rugrats Movie


caption =The 'Danish' poster for The Rugrats Movie. Note the word "diapers" being replaced with the "Danish" alternative "nappies".
director =Igor Kovalyov Norton Virgien
producer =Gabor Csupo Arlene Klasky (Klasky Csupo) Nickelodeon Movies
writer =David N. Weiss J. David Stem
starring =Elizabeth Daily (voice) Christine Cavanaugh (voice)
Kath Soucie (voice)
Cheryl Chase (voice)
Cree Summer (voice)
Tara Strong (voice)
music =Elvis Costello Nigel Harrison Mark Mothersbaugh Jamshied Sharifi
cinematography =
editing =John Bryant Kimberly Rettberg
distributor =Paramount Pictures
released =November 20 1998
runtime = 81 min.
language =English
followed_by =""
budget =$28,000,000 (estimated)
imdb_id =0134067|

"The Rugrats Movie" is a 1998 animated film, produced by Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies. Based on the animated long running Nickelodeon series, Rugrats, this film introduced Tommy's baby brother Dil Pickles, who was named after Didi Pickles's cousin, and appeared on the "Rugrats" TV series the next year.

This is considered the darkest of the Rugrats trilogy of films, 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, and so forth) being radical departures from the series' usual light-hearted appeal. There are some mixed opinions on "The Rugrats Movie" as a result. This is also the only tremendous box-office success film of the Rugrats.

Plot

The Rugrats are expecting the arrival of Tommy Pickles's new sibling, whom everyone believes will be a girl. However, a singing competition between Angelica Pickles and Susie Carmichael causes Didi to go into labor. She is rushed to a high-tech birthing center ("The Werner P. Lipschitz Center for Hollistic Birthing"), where she gives birth to Tommy's brother, Dil Pickles. However, the brothers do not get along, with Dil crying endlessly, and for seemingly no reason at all. Stu gives Tommy a pocketwatch holding a photo of the two brothers, and tells him he now has responsibility ("Sponsitivity" as Tommy puts it) to look after Dil. Meanwhile, a TV Show called the Banana Brothers's cast (two unnamed men and several monkeys) board on a train. The men of Banana Brothers argue who watches after the monkeys and who gets the coffee. The two men go to the donut shop to have a breakfast, but then, the monkeys drive the men alone in the donut shop as they drive off with the train and then crash into the forest. Chuckie Finster and Phil and Lil DeVille believe Tommy is not happy with Dil, and so decide to take him back to the "popsicle" (hospital) using Stu's invention, "Reptar Wagon". Angelica Pickles then kicks the Wagon, and the Rugrats are on a crazy ride strolling around the city and destroying several cars. Then, they crash into a mattress store delivery truck that goes onto the freeway. Then, the delivery truck crashes into the wilderness next to the freeway (which they drop off a binky), and then the Rugrats find themselves lost in the woods. They think Tommy's brother is broked again.

After Dil poops in his diaper, the Rugrats are forced to change it, which goes horribly after Dill pees everywhere in the process. Angelica soon discovers her beloved doll, Cynthia, has gone missing, and realizing the babies must have it, ventures out with Spike to find them. Stu and Grandpa Lou discover the disappearance of the babies and Angelica, and briefly believe they may have been taken during the delivery/removal of the "Reptar Wagon", which was taken by the babies. The rest of the adults discover the disappearance of their children, Drew Pickles nearly murdering his brother in the process. Didi, Betty, Chas, Howard, Charlotte, and others head out into the forest to find the babies, while Stu, Drew, and Grandpa try to figure out another way of searching. They are hampered by a nosy news-reporter named Rex Pester (Tim Curry). Back at the forest, Phil and Lil blame Dil for all their troubles they are having. Tommy quickly attempts to defend his brother, but Dil grabs one of his diaper straps and rips it off, making his brother's diaper fall down entirely, humiliating Tommy in front of his friends. After Tommy picks up his diaper, Chuckie notices a house in the distance, and Tommy declares the would go to "find the Wizard". But while running, he falls into a hole, made by a wolf, which they hear howl. They dash into the Reptar Wagon and speed down a hill. Then, they splash into the river because of Dil's absent-minded hands, and then Chuckie nearly drowns into the fish river. While this happens, the park rangers think that the Reptar Wagon is a (dragon), and they become very worried about the dragon in the park. Then, after the Reptar Wagon reaches land, pulled by the babies, and they soon become hungry as well. Then, Tommy, Phil, and Lil blame themselves of how they got lost, until Chuckie finds a giant clown picture on the Banana Brothers Train. Around this time, the camera cuts to the living room with Angelica Pickles wanting and begging to go to the circus. Then the camera cuts back to the babies.

The babies have now discovered the monkey train, and have a number of problems, including being pursued by a horde of circus monkeys and a hungry wolf (nicknamed Scar Snout by fans). Chuckie is wounded multiple times, but Tommy is too pre-occupied by Dil to notice. Dil is kidnapped by the monkeys, and after being insulted by his friends, Tommy goes off to find his brother. Tommy finds Dil, but his brother refuses to behave, prompting Tommy to lose his temper, and shout at Dil. A storm frightens Dil, and Tommy protects him with a hug and a song. The next day, Chuckie; Phil; and Lil come looking for the brothers, and save them from the monkeys. They also run into Angelica and Spike, but the group gets trapped on a rope bridge, and are attacked by the wolf. Spike defends the babies, and "sacrifices his life" by pushing himself and the wolf into the river below.

Stu flies in using "Dactar", a pteradactyl shaped mechanical glider, but crashes into Rex Pester's helicopter, and crash-lands in front of the babies. They mistake Stu for the "Lizard" (which they mean to say as "Wizard", from a story Didi read to Tommy in an earlier scene), and after discussing whether or not they should wish to go home, they decide they want Spike back. Stu collapses, and Spike appears unharmed. The parents, accompanied by forest rangers, arrive, and are re-united with their children. Rex Pester is attacked by the monkeys, who are also re-united with their circus owners. Tommy and the rest of the Rugrats welcome Dil into their group with open arms, and together they triumphantly steal the "Minnesota Cuke" video at the end of the film.

Reception

It was released on November 20 1998, and reached #1 at the box office with a gross of $27,321,470 in 2,782 theaters averaging to about $9,821 per theater, 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 2000's "" and 2003's "Rugrats Go Wild". It grossed in worldwide results, $140,894,675, making it a very large box office success, considering its modest $28 million budget. Despite the commercial success, the film wasn't well-received by critics, earning mixed reviews. It has a "rotten" rating of 41% on the Rotten Tomatoes website. But its sequel, "Rugrats In Paris" was more positively received, with Rotten Tomatoes.com giving the film a "Certified Fresh" rating of 73% and Metacritic.com awarding the film with a rating of 62 out of 100, which indicates "generally favorable reviews."

Guest stars

*David Spade as Ranger Frank
*Whoopi Goldberg as Ranger Margaret
*Tim Curry as Rex Pester
*Busta Rhymes as Reptar Wagon
*Roger Clinton as Air Crewman
*Margaret Cho as Lt. Klavin
*Edie McClurg as Nurse

Newborn babies

*Laurie Anderson
*Beck
*Patti Smith
*Iggy Pop
*Lenny Kravitz
*Lou Rawls
*Malik Taylor
*Lisa Loeb

Trivia

* The film was released in theatres with a "CatDog" short titled "Fetch"(although that episode premiered in 1999), in which Cat wins a radio contest and attempts to answer the phone as Dog chases down his tennis ball. (This short was later broadcast during a "CatDog" marathon and was also occasionally shown between programs on Nicktoons TV in the 2002-03 season.) However, the video release contained a different "CatDog" short, "Winslow's Home Videos".
* Slap T. Pooch from Nickelodeon's animation showcase "Oh Yeah! Cartoons" appeared in the Nickelodeon Movies logo sequence to this film.
* In the beginning and the end of the movie, the Rugrats attempts to steal a banana split is a reference to Raiders of the Lost Ark from the Indiana Jones films. The Raider's March is played in the background both times.
* The setting of the film is somewhere in the Altoona, Pennsylvania area. This can be proved by Charles Finster's remarks about a neighbour seeing the kids tear through his back yard and "headed north on I-99", and again with the babies rolling through a construction zone (part of I-99 was under construction at the time).
* While the monkeys sing, the song Witch Doctor is very heavily parodied, and the lyrics are very different. The new reconstructed song that parodies Witch Doctor doesn't have the phrase: "I told the Witch Doctor."
* Banana Brothers is a parody of Super Mario Brothers, a popular video game.

Goofs

*The Rugrats in the Reptar Wagon go right and get lost in the highway forest, but Angelica and Spike, and their parents go left, and they still find the highway wilderness. They took the wrong direction of where the Rugrats went.
*When the Rugrats sing in the river, Lil is in Reptar's mouth. In the next shot, Lil is next to Dil on Reptar's left side.
*The Rugrats didn't take anything with them while they accidentally get lost by Angelica, but they have a diaper bag
*In the beginning, the Rugrats don't understand that the chocolate coins are only chocolate. However, when the Rugrats are lost, Tommy thinks it's a chocolate.
*Before the movie, the Rugrats said "diaper" in reference to diapers. However, during and after the movie, the Rugrats say "diapie."
* When Spike and Wolf are fighting on the broken bridge, Wolf bites Spike's collar off--but the next few clips alternate with Spike with and without his collar.

Production Cuts

*Two songs were cut from the film during production. The first sequence revolved around Stu and Didi in a nightmare sequence where Dr. Lipschitz berates their parenting through song. The other sequence occurs as the Rugrats are pushing the Reptar Wagon through the woods, debating what to do about Dil in army chant style. These Two Scenes were cut from the Theaterical Version and the Video and DVD versions of the film. However, they were already animated at the time, and the scenes are shown on CBS and Nickelodeon TV airings of the film.

oundtrack

Infobox Album
Name = Rugrats: The Movie Soundtrack
Type = Soundtrack
Artist = Various Artists


Cover size =
Released = November 3, 1998
Recorded =
Genre = Soundtrack
Length =
Label = Interscope Records
Reviews =
*Allmusic rating|4|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:0nfwxq9jldke link] A soundtrack was released on November 3, 1998.

Track listing

# Take Me There - BLACKstreet/Mýa
# I Throw My Toys Around - No Doubt/Elvis Costello
# This World Is Something New To Me - Dawn Robinson/Lisa Loeb/B Real/Patti Smith/Lou Rawls/Laurie Anderson
# All Day - Lisa Loeb
# Dil-A-Bye - E.G. Daily
# A Baby Is A Gift from a Bob - Cheryl Chase/Cree Summer
# One Way or Another - Cheryl Chase
# Wild Ride - Kevi
# On Your Marks, Get Set, Ready, Go! - Busta Rhymes
# Witch Doctor - Devo/Ross Bagdasarian, Sr.
# Take The Train - Rakim/Danny Saber
# Yo Ho Ho And A Bottle Of Yum! - E.G. Daily/Christine Cavanaugh/Kath Soucie

External links

Box Office Leaders USA
before = I Still Know What You Did Last Summer
date = November 22
year = 1998
after = A Bugs Life

* [http://www.rugratonline.com/rrmovie.htm "The Unofficial Rugrats Online" page on the movie]