RUGRATS IN PARIS: THE MOVIE A film review by Steve Rhodes Copyright 2000 Steve Rhodes RATING (0 TO ****): ***
The Rugrats are back in a movie, RUGRATS IN PARIS: THE MOVIE, that is sweeter and funnier than their first. Offering as much for the adults as the kids, the film opens with the classic wedding scene from the Godfather, complete with Nino Rota's music. In a darkened room, one of the Rugrats, asking a favor of the "Bobfather," starts off with "I believe in the playground ..." The surprise is that this scene plays as smartly funny for the kids in the audience as the adults. My son mentioned it as one of his favorite parts.
One of the girls even wakes up with a dead horse's head in her bed. Don't worry, the movie is correctly rated G. The head came off of a rocking horse. This scene, however, is one that undoubtedly will appeal mainly to the adults.
The Rugrats, as always, get much of their humor from their rampant malapropisms. "Somebody got up on the wrong side of the bread," one of them remarks about a crabby stewardess. The story has Chuckie's dad trying to find a wife. When the kids hear about him looking for a "date," they decide that a date is a "raisin that makes you poop."
Mr. Pickles and the rest of the crew head for Paris where he is called to repair a large mechanical dinosaur called Reptar that is being used in something approximating a Gilbert and Sullivan opera. The Paris setting gives the animators a chance to show off their colorful talents to maximum effect. The result is a bright and cheerful movie that is a delight to watch.
The foreign locale also provides many opportunities for humor. As the kids play with the first bidet that they have ever seen, one ecstatically proclaims, "Wow, a potty that squirts you back!"
My favorite line comes when the adults are in church. As they sit in their pews at the famous Notre Dame cathedral, one of them starts to nod off to sleep. "If you've seen one church, you've seen them all," she says sarcastically. "Wake me if you see a hunchback."
So what monster will the French use in the big battle against Reptar? Why a gigantic, bright blue snail, of course. The really gutsy move is that by Nickelodeon. They scheduled it to open opposite THE GRINCH juggernaut. They'll need help from all of the snails that they can get to knock out that blockbuster. And they'll need lots of garlic.
RUGRATS IN PARIS: THE MOVIE runs a fast 1:18. It is rated G and would be fine for all ages.
My son Jeffrey, age 11, loves Rugrats and their latest movie, giving it ****. His favorite scene was Reptar's showdown with the big snail. He also mentioned the music among several other parts that he really liked. His friend Maxim, age 12, gave it ***, saying it was a good movie but had only an okay plot. His favorite parts were those with Reptar in them.
Email: Steve.Rhodes@InternetReviews.com Web: http://www.InternetReviews.com
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