PLANET SICK-BOY: http://www.sick-boy.com "We Put the SIN in Cinema"
Some people complained about German-born Roland Emmerich being chosen to direct The Patriot – the country's premiere film about our fight for independence. Spike Lee recently shot his big mouth off when he found out an upcoming biopic about Muhammad Ali was going to be helmed by a white guy instead of a black director.
A wise woman once asked `But what about the children?' (okay, it was
Reverend Lovejoy's wife on The Simpsons). The U.S.'s latest kiddie
flick to hit theatres is set in Paris and directed by
Luckily, Rugrats in Paris is a pretty decent film. As an adult, I enjoyed this sequel a lot more than the first Rugrats picture, especially the hilarious send-up of The Godfather's opening scene. Instead of Connie Corleone's pending nuptials, this film begins with a wedding between Grandpa Lou and his new bride Lulu (voiced by Debbie Reynolds, although Talia Shire would have been a perfect fit). The festivities are highlighted by a mother-son dance, in which the perpetually scared, two-toothed redhead named Chuckie wishes aloud that his mother was still around to dance with him (apparently, she's been dead for some time).
In the meantime, Tommy's father Stu is called to France, where his giant mechanical Reptar has malfunctioned, potentially delaying the opening of a stage performance (a la `Miss Saigon') in Euro-Reptar Land, a Japanese theme park in Paris. For some reason, Stu decides to bring not only his whole family, but all of his friends and their families, too. A mildly amusing montage of the packing, passport application process and air flight ensues.
When the gang hits Paris (where wee-wee becomes oui-oui), we're introduced to Coco (Susan Sarandon), the director of the Reptar stage extravaganza who is under the impression that she needs to find a family in order to receive a promotion within the Japanese conglomerate that owns the theme park. Coco latches onto Chuckie's father, Chas, who seems like a better match for Coco's pretty Japanese assistant, Kira (Melanie Griffith).
If this jumble of characters seemed confusing to you, you've probably never seen the show. While Paris may still be enjoyable if you haven't, it probably helps if you've taken in at least a few episodes. The kids spurt out funny malapropisms, like `over my dad's potty,' instead of `over my dead body,' just like the television series. Paris also includes some really slick animation, save the crudely drawn characters, especially with shadows and reflections.
I was really enjoying the film until they started in with the `Who Let the Dogs Out' song (not a great way to teach little kids to keep their traps shut while they're in a movie theatre). Also glaringly evident was the fact that Paris had more fart/shit/piss gags than Adam Sandler's new film (which was rated PG-13 to Paris' G). While the film's story would probably have been better suited for an hour-long television special (with commercials) than an 80-minute film, Paris is still heads and shoulders above most recent children's films.
1: 20 – G but contains a lot of fart, piss and shit gags
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