The Rugrats Movie
The Rugrats Movie | |
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Directed by |
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Written by |
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Based on | Rugrats by Arlene Klasky Gábor Csupó Paul Germain |
Produced by |
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Starring | |
Edited by |
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Music by | Mark Mothersbaugh[1] |
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Distributed by |
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Release dates |
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Running time | 80 minutes[2] |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $24 million |
Box office | $140.8 million |
The Rugrats Movie is a 1998 American animated comedy film[1] based on the Nickelodeon animated television series, Rugrats. It was directed by Igor Kovalyov and Norton Virgien and was written by David N. Weiss & J. David Stem.[3] The film features the voices of E. G. Daily, Tara Charendoff, Christine Cavanaugh, Kath Soucie, Cheryl Chase, Cree Summer, Jack Riley, Melanie Chartoff, Michael Bell and Joe Alaskey, along with guest stars David Spade, Whoopi Goldberg, Margaret Cho, Busta Rhymes, and Tim Curry. The film takes place between the events of the series' fifth and sixth seasons. The Rugrats Movie is the first feature film based on a Nicktoon and the first installment in the Rugrats film series.
Plans for a Rugrats film adaptation, along with Production then began in 1995 after the television series had restarted after a small hiatus.
The Rugrats Movie was released in the United States on November 20, 1998.[1] The film received generally positive reviews from critics, though some criticized its darker tone compared to the television series. The film was a box office success, opening at #1 and grossing a total of $141 million worldwide. It became the first non-Disney animated film to gross over $100 million in the United States.[6]
The film was followed by two sequels: Rugrats in Paris: The Movie in 2000 and Rugrats Go Wild in 2003, which is a crossover with The Wild Thornberrys.
Plot
This article may need to be rewritten to comply with Wikipedia's quality standards. (April 2023) |
With Dil still causing problems at the Pickles' home,
Lost in the woods, Tommy leads the babies toward a ranger's cabin, believing it to be the home of a magic "lizard" (a mispronunciation of
Tommy eventually finds Dil during a storm, but as he struggles to take care of him, Dil continues acting selfishly. Tommy eventually loses his temper and prepares to pour Mash Banana Baby food onto Dil for the monkeys to take him again, but his rage and the storm scares Dil into ending his behavior and his tears cause Tommy to calm down, and the brothers begin to bond. After the storm passes, they reunite with Phil, Lil, and Chuckie, who, upon having a change of heart, stop the monkeys from trying to take away Tommy and Dil. Angelica recovers her Cynthia doll and reunites with the babies. As the monkeys start to chase them, the babies started to cross a damaged bridge, Angelica falls out of the Reptar wagon and hangs through a gap in the bridge above a raging river. They are cornered the monkeys, but when Scar Snout the wolf who is also on the bridge, it scares and causes the monkeys to flee in fear of him. It attempts to eat the babies until Spike intervenes and fights it. After a brief tussle, the fight ends with both Spike and Scar Snout falling off the bridge, sacrificing Spike in the process.
Stu, looking for the babies in a
Voice cast
Main
- E. G. Daily as Tommy Pickles
- Tara Charendoff as Dil Pickles
- Christine Cavanaugh as Chuckie Finster
- Kath Soucie as Phil, Lil, and Betty DeVille
- Cheryl Chase as Angelica Pickles
- Jack Riley as Stu Pickles
- Melanie Chartoff as Didi Pickles and Grandma Minka
- Michael Bell as Drew Pickles, Chas Finster and Grandpa Boris
- Tress MacNeille as Charlotte Pickles
- Philip Proctor as Howard DeVille, Igor
- Joe Alaskey as Grandpa Lou Pickles
Guest
- David Spade as Frank
- Whoopi Goldberg as Margaret
- Tim Curry as Rex Pester
- Hattie Winston as Dr. Lucy Carmichael
- Andrea Martin as Aunt Miriam
- Cree Summer as Susie Carmichael
- Tony Jay as Dr. Lipschitz
- Busta Rhymes as Reptar Wagon
- Roger Clinton Jr. as Air Crewman
- Margaret Cho as Lt. Klavin
- Edie McClurg as Nurse
- Charlie Adler as United Express Driver
- Gregg Berger as Circus TV Announcer
- Abraham Benrubi as Serge
Baby singers
- Lenny Kravitz
- Iggy Pop
- Lisa Loeb
- Gordon Gano
- B-Real
- Patti Smith
- Jakob Dylan
- Phife Dawg
- Beck
- Lou Rawls
- Dawn Robinson
- Laurie Anderson
- The B-52's without member Keith Strickland
Production
Talks about making Rugrats into a feature film existed since the beginning of the series. The first attempt was in May 1993, when
Two months before the release of the movie, an episode prequel titled "The Family Tree" was aired as the final episode of the fifth season. The film's beginning and ending parody Paramount and Lucasfilm's Indiana Jones film series. This later inspired the second segment of the episode "A Tale of Two Puppies / Okey-Dokey Jones and the Ring of the Sunbeams", that aired during the show's eighth season in 2002.
This film was the first Rugrats production to use digital ink and paint, rather than the traditional cel animation used in the show.
Two songs were cut from the film during production. The first revolves around Stu and Didi in a nightmare sequence where Dr. Lipschitz criticizes their parenting through a song. The second depicts the Rugrats pushing the Reptar Wagon through the woods, debating what to do about Dil in an army chant style song. These two scenes were cut from the theatrical,
The film was released in theaters with a CatDog short titled "Fetch". This short was later broadcast in CatDog Episode 21. However, the VHS, DVD, Laserdisc, and Blu-ray releases contains a different CatDog short from Episode 28 titled "Winslow's Home Videos".
Media
Home media
The Rugrats Movie was released on
Soundtrack
The Rugrats Movie: Music from the Motion Picture | ||||
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Soundtrack album by Various Artists | ||||
Released | November 3, 1998 | |||
Recorded | 1998 | |||
Genre | R&B, hip hop, pop | |||
Length | 41:51 | |||
Label | Interscope, Nickelodeon | |||
Rugrats soundtrack chronology | ||||
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Singles from The Rugrats Movie: Music from the Motion Picture | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
Allmusic | link[dead link] |
Entertainment Weekly | C link |
The Rugrats Movie: Music from the Motion Picture was released by
Entertainment Weekly's David Browne rated the Music From the Motion Picture with a C.[18]
Browne noted that, while the soundtrack is enjoyable for children and does "[make] concessions" for parents, adults may dislike the amount of rap.
The Rugrats Movie: Music from the Motion Picture spent twenty six weeks on Billboard 200, peaking at #19.[20]
Longtime Rugrats composer
In honor of its twentieth anniversary, the film's soundtrack was released on vinyl on November 30, 2018.[22]
Track listing
No. | Title | Artist(s) | Length |
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1. | " E.G. Daily (with Dialogue by Tara Strong) | 3:43 | |
6. | "A Baby is a Gift from a Bob" | Cree Summer & Cheryl Chase | 1:57 |
7. | "One Way or Another" | Cheryl Chase | 3:17 |
8. | "Wild Ride" | Kevi featuring Lisa Stone | 2:43 |
9. | "On Your Marks, Get Set, Ready, Go!" | Busta Rhymes | 3:41 |
10. | "Witch Doctor" | Devo | 3:33 |
11. | "Take the Train" | Rakim and Danny Saber | 4:05 |
12. | "Yo Ho Ho and a Bottle of Yum" | E.G. Daily, Christine Cavanaugh & Kath Soucie | 2:18 |
Total length: | 41:51 |
Video games
A side-scrolling video game titled The Rugrats Movie was released for Game Boy and Game Boy Color in 1998 and 1999 respectively. It was developed by Software Creations and released by THQ.[23][24] Broderbund also developed and published a video game based on the film: The Rugrats Movie: Activity Challenge. It was released in September 1998, as part of the film's marketing campaign.[25][26][27]
Books
Several books were released by Simon & Schuster's Simon Spotlight branch and Nickelodeon inspired by The Rugrats Movie. Tommy's New Playmate and The Rugrats Versus the Monkeys were also released on October 1, 1998, authored by Luke David and illustrated by John Kurtz and Sandrina Kurtz.[28][29]
The Rugrats Movie Storybook, released on the same date and using the same illustrators and publishers, was written by Sarah Wilson.[30] The same date saw the release of The Rugrats Movie: Hang On To Your Diapies, Babies, We're Going In!: Trivia from the Hit Movie!, a trivia book written by Kitty Richards.[31]
A novelization of the film written by Cathy East Dubowski was published on October 1, 1998, by Tandem Library.
Reception
Box office
The film was released on November 20, 1998, and made $27.3 million in its opening weekend,[35] from 2,782 theaters, averaging about $9,821 per venue and ranking number one that weekend, beating Enemy of the State.[36][37] It would be overtaken by A Bug's Life during its second weekend.[38] In total, The Rugrats Movie made $140.9 million; $100.5 million from the domestic market and $40.4 million from its foreign release.[35]
The film was released in the United Kingdom on March 26, 1999, and topped the country's box office for the next three weekends, before being dethroned by
Critical reception
On Rotten Tomatoes, The Rugrats Movie holds an approval rating of 59% based on 51 reviews, with an average rating of 5.8/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "Charming characters; loads of fun for kids and adults."[42] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.[43]
Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly graded the film with a B.[47] Schwarzbaum praised the movie for its appeal to both adult and child audiences, "juxtaposing the blithely self-absorbed parallel universes of small, diapered children and their large, Dockered parents".[47] However, other Entertainment Weekly reviewer Ty Burr gave The Rugrats Movie a B−, criticizing that the film's issues sprung from it being "bigger" than the original series, thus it's having more cultural references, out-of-place CGI scenes, and "[going] into scary territory".[48] Burr did praise the "escaped circus monkeys" for being "scary in a good way", as well as a joke that was accessible to younger audiences.[48]
Rugrats co-creator/co-writer Paul Germain (who, along with the other original writers, left the series in 1993) has stated that he felt that the film's writers did not understand what the series was about, and he thought that the scene in which Stu gives a watch to Tommy did not work, as the adults were not supposed to recognize the babies' intelligence. In addition, he felt that by giving Tommy a baby brother, Tommy was no longer the baby, which changed the series from what Germain intended it to be.[49]
Nell Minow of Common Sense Media gave the film three stars out of five, saying that it was "'90s animated tale has some cartoon violence, peril."[50]
Sequels
The film was followed by the sequels Rugrats in Paris: The Movie in 2000 and Rugrats Go Wild in 2003, the latter of which is a crossover with The Wild Thornberrys.
References
- ^ a b c d e f "Detail view of Movies Page". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. Retrieved May 16, 2015.
- ^ "The Rugrats Movie (U)". British Board of Film Classification. December 16, 1998. Retrieved August 28, 2016.
- Time Warner). Retrieved November 10, 2016.
- ^ a b "Toledo Blade – Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Retrieved August 13, 2016.
- ^ "Viacom takes over Paramount". Variety. March 14, 1994. Retrieved April 25, 2023.
- ^ "THE RUGRATS MOVIE has hit $100 million".
- ^ "The Rugrats Movie". rottentomatoes.com. November 20, 1998. Retrieved May 16, 2015.
- ^ "Toledo Blade - Google News Archive Search".
- ^ Catherine Hinman (May 19, 1993). "Nickelodeon Adds Movies To Its Credits". Orlando Sentinel. Archived from the original on October 30, 2017. Retrieved January 18, 2011.
- ^ Graham, Jefferson (November 8, 1995). "'Rugrats' matures into Nickelodeon hit". USA Today. Retrieved December 25, 2023.
- ^ https://www.awn.com/mag/issue2.12/2.12pages/2.12soucievoice.html
- ^ christophernguyen726 (March 17, 2019). "The Rugrats Movie: DVD Vs. CBS Television Broadcast". Bootleg Comparisons. Retrieved April 9, 2019.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ "Rugrats Trilogy Movie Collection". Amazon.
- ^ Goldstein, Seth (January 23, 1999). "Paramount Preps For 'Rugrats' Vid". Billboard. p. 6. Retrieved April 9, 2014.
- ^ "Paramount to Release 'The Rugrats Trilogy Movie Collection' on Blu-ray on March 8". Archived from the original on December 29, 2022. Retrieved December 29, 2022.
- ^ "Rugrats Trilogy Movie Collection". Amazon.
- ^ a b c "The Rugrats Movie: Music From The Motion Picture [Enhanced CD] [ENHANCED] [SOUNDTRACK]". Amazon. Retrieved December 25, 2009.
- ^ a b Browne, David (January 8, 1999). "The Rugrats Movie: Music From the Motion Picture (1998)". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved December 25, 2009.
- ^ "Rugrats: The Movie Original Soundtrack". AllMusic. Retrieved December 29, 2009.[dead link]
- ^ "Rugrats: The Movie – Original..." Billboard.com. Retrieved December 29, 2009.
- ISBN 1-903111-40-4(p.151)
- Complex. Retrieved November 28, 2018.
- ^ "The Rugrats Movie". MobyGames. Retrieved December 24, 2009.
- ^ "Rugrats: The Movie". IGN. Retrieved December 22, 2009.
- ^ "Rugrats crawl onto computers". Animation World Network. September 30, 1998. Retrieved May 24, 2020.
- ^ "Three New Titles for 'Rugrats' Fans". Staten Island Advance. October 11, 1998. Retrieved May 24, 2020 – via NewsLibrary.
- ^ "The Rugrats Movie: Activity Challenge". MobyGames. Retrieved December 24, 2009.
- ISBN 0689821417.
- ISBN 0689821425.
- ISBN 068982128X.
- ISBN 0689822766.
- ISBN 0613872681.
- OCLC 040590978– via worldcat.org.
- ISBN 0634005146.
- ^ a b "THE RUGRATS MOVIE". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved December 22, 2009.
- ^ a b Welkos, Robert W. (November 24, 1998). "Weekend Box Office : 'Rugrats' Has Kid Power". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 10, 2010.
- ^ FABRIKANT, Geraldine (December 28, 1998). "'Prince of Egypt' Is No King at the Box-Office". The New York Times. Retrieved December 24, 2009.
- ^ "Weekend box office 26th March 1999 - 28th March 1999". www.25thframe.co.uk. Retrieved January 22, 2017.
- ^ "Weekend box office 2nd April 1999 - 4th April 1999". www.25thframe.co.uk. Retrieved January 22, 2017.
- ^ "Weekend box office 9th April 1999 - 11th April 1999". www.25thframe.co.uk. Retrieved January 22, 2017.
- ^ "The Rugrats Movie (1998)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved October 6, 2021.
- ^ "Find CinemaScore" (Type "Rugrats" in the search box). CinemaScore. Retrieved November 16, 2020.
- ^ a b Ebert, Roger. "The Rugrats Movie (G)". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on October 12, 2012. Retrieved December 24, 2009.
- ^ Gates, Anita (November 20, 1998). "FILM REVIEW; A Sibling Takes a New Rival for a Ride". The New York Times. Retrieved December 24, 2009.
- ^ Jeffries, Neil (January 1, 2000). "The Rugrats Movie Review". Empire. Retrieved June 20, 2020.
- ^ a b Schwarzbaum, Lisa (November 27, 1998). "The Rugrats Movie (1998)". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved December 24, 2009.
- ^ a b Burr, Ty (April 2, 1999). "The Rugrats Movie (1999)". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on June 23, 2011. Retrieved December 24, 2009.
- ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: "The Legacy of Rugrats with Paul Germain". YouTube.
- ^ Minow, Nell. "The Rugrats Movie". Common Sense Media. Retrieved April 4, 2024.