Review of Rugrats in Paris: The Movie (2000) by Harry W — 09 Feb 2014

Rugrats in Paris: The Movie works on very many levels, with one of the key ones being that it succeeds in capturing the same spirit of the children's TV series while taking a step up in various areas.

Rugrats was always an entertaining TV series as a kid, simply because of its range of funny little characters, its beautiful colour and for the silly fun it supplies. And Rugrats in Paris: The Movie is no exception to this, as it captures the same colourful childish energy from the original series as well as some refreshing humour which appeals to children and is likely to please the adult crowds in parts too.

Rugrats in Paris: The Movie is the best of the Rugrats films for many reasons. The predominant ones are that the story is great and the animation is excellent.

The story in Rugrats in Paris: The Movie is great because it's a truly meaningful one. It has a lot of heart to it as it is built on the development of Chuckie Finster as a person in the world that changes around him, and even audiences that may have found his whining in the original Rugrats series to be annoying should see Rugrats in Paris: The Movie because it zeroes in on him as the main character and makes it easy to really sympathise for and care about him, hoping for the best. In that story element, its easy for certain viewers to have their heartstrings tugged by Rugrats in Paris: The Movie, as I know that mine were. So without going overboard, Rugrats in Paris: The Movie has touching drama to it.

But the most important element of the film is that Rugrats in Paris: The Movie is very funny. The 5 writers of the film fill the script with a lot of charming childish jokes which are even clever without descending into crude formulaic territory. The humour is a step up from the series and introduces many clever new anecdotes to the characters which makes it a refreshing animated comedy for children and adults alike, unless your standard for childish is very strict and close minded.

Luckily enough, the voice acting is as good as ever with the cast all putting in an extremely excellent quantity of effort to capture the charm of the characters and deliver the jokes. And newcomers Susan Sarandon and John Lithgow are just full of surprises.

And one of the main sources of praise in Rugrats in Paris: The Movie goes straight to the quality of thew animation. It has the same vibrant colour as the Rugrats TV series, but it combines that with some thrilling 3D animated sequences which are a massive step up and are of impressive quality, making the scale of the story much more exciting. And since the film captures many of the beautiful tourist attractions of Paris, it serves as an excellent animated visual experience.

Lastly, Rugrats in Paris: The Movie also maintains a great soundtrack, as well as being the film that originated the famous Baha Men cover of "Who Let the Dogs Out?", a catchy tune for anyone who grew up in the 2000's.

So Rugrats in Paris: The Movie is more impressive than you would expect, dealing beautiful animation, clever writing and many jokes to children and adults alike to please and entertain.