The Rugrats Movie (1998)

Intense, gripping, stylish and poignant

Awesome Movie

Go in cold, and you're likely to emerge with your blood boiling. This has to be seen to be believed.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

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.

The Rugrats movie was a disappointment. With such a successful show till that point, you would've expected the first Rugrats film to be a major hit but instead it was a major disappointment. The story is that a new member of the Pickles family was recently born called Dil and Tommy and his friends do not like him and decided to somehow send him back to the hospital by going out on a wild crazy adventure. Problem is that on the way to their journey, they get lost and are faced with a very difficult situation and want to return home but they are unsure how. Like I've said, the film was a let-down. The plot was very cheesy and the film was not really about the Rugrats but more about Tommy and his new 'annoying' brother. I was seven at the time when I watched this but even then you can instantly tell just how poor this film is and the Rugrats movie is nothing like we see in the Rugrats TV series prior to this film. Sure the film has some good parts but mostly it was pretty ordinary and dull which is a shame considering how successful its TV show is and this movie basically put a massive dent on its show. Fortunately, the following Rugrats films is somewhat better but even those films did not even live up to expectations. So if you asked me "Is it necessary and worth watching"? I will say NO! Like I've said, there are some parts that are good but overall the film is average or below. The sequels in my view are much better than this film. Ever since this film was made, the Rugrats as a whole has gone downhill and eventually everything was ended in 04.

Taking place immediately after the "Rugrats" episode "The Family Tree" where Didi finds out she's pregnant. "The Rugrats Movie" is when Tommy's new sibling is finally born. The Rugrats are very excited about Tommy's new sister, but when the baby is finally born, it's a boy. Baby Dil practically does nothing, but cry, scream, and poop. Tommy thinks he can take him back to the hospital in exchange for a new baby brother, but soon they all get lost in the woods. This is their first time in actual danger, not just their imaginations.This is certainly not the best story for a movie, but it is okay. Baby Dil, however is very annoying. More-so in the later episodes of the show than this movie, because he constantly interrupts their adventures and makes every episode about baby-sitting Dil.While "The Rugrats Movie" is a decent film, it has flaws.It's starts the downfall of a once great cartoon show.Like in "Pokémon: The First Movie" this film tries a little bit too hard to be darker and more dramatic than the TV show it's based on.There are WAY too many jokes about poop, pee and other such gross things. I'm fine with crude humor when it's in small doses (like on "Rocko's Modern Life"), or when it's actually made funny (like on "The Ren & Stimpy Show"). But this movie (and the later episodes of the show) just over-do it.There are good things too though.I loved the opening sequence of the film.The animation is great, and perfect for the big screen.The voice acting is top-notch.Some parts were really funny. Like when they spoofed "Indiana Jones".Overall this is a decent and mildly entertaining film. But it's certainly not one of the greatest animated movies ever. There are better movies of animated TV shows ("The Simpsons Movie"; "The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie"; "Batman: Mask of the Phantasm"), but there are also worse ones ("Aqua Teen Hunger Force: Colon Film for Theaters"; "Pokémon: The First Movie"). Funny, nicely animated, good voice acting, but a little bit too much potty jokes, and it added a horrible character to a great TV show.Rating: 6/10 "Decent"

A really good film, I thought, at the time, it was one of the best 'modern' cartoons, the digital effects were again very good. I admit I am rather biased as I was quite an avid Rugrats fan at the time, and still think there a really good small screen cartoon for both children and adults. Anyway, back onto the film, the soundtrack to the film was also quite good, with some up-and coming artists, some of whom who made it big afterwards, although some of the rap songs on it weren't my cup of tea! Overall I was really impressed, and although technology has since moved on it remains a good feature-length. I also thought the sequel, Rugrats in Paris was another good film, however I wasn't over-keen on the 'Wild Thornberries & Rugrats' mixture in the second sequel.Cheers, James