The Big Picture
Rugrats in Paris: The Movie is surprisingly impressive in terms of production value, with sleek animation and a unique visual style that stays true to the original show. The film pays homage to one of the show’s best storylines, focusing on Chuckie’s desire for a new mother figure and his journey to find happiness and move on from grief. The movie features entertaining fight scenes, including a memorable mech battle, adding unexpected but enjoyable elements to the Rugrats universe.
The iconic Rugrats have gotten into plenty of crazy toddler adventures over the years, but none are more ridiculous than Rugrats in Paris: The Movie. We don’t mean that in a negative sense, as to put it bluntly, the second Rugrats feature film has absolutely no right to be as good as it is. That’s not to say that a second Rugrats movie being good is hardly shocking. The Emmy-nominated original series is one of Nickelodeon’s first big iconic shows, and the first Rugrats film from 1998 isn’t half bad either (even though that part where Spike almost dies is pretty traumatizing).
That being said, Rugrats in Paris may just be the best thing to ever come out of the franchise. Much like The Spongebob Squarepants Movie and The Wild Thornberrys Movie, Nickelodeon has consistently shown they’re rather adept at bringing their classic cartoons to the big screen. Not only is Rugrats in Paris: The Movie a film that can be enjoyed entirely independent of the show, but it also comes with an engaging story, surprisingly impressive production value, and a solid emotional core.
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What is ‘Rugrats in Paris: The Movie’ About?
Image via Nickelodeon
Rugrats in Paris: The Movie opens with Angelica (Cheryl Chase) playing a game with the rest of the babies, portraying a parody of Marlon Brando from The Godfather. Less than a minute in, and we’re already off to a good start. The kids are there for a special occasion — Grandpa Pickles (Joe Alaskey) is getting married and all the friends of the Pickles family are celebrating. Not everything is all happy though, as shy and nervous Chuckie (Christine Cavanaugh) can’t help but feel left out. While he watches his friends dancing with their moms, Chuckie wishes he had a mother of his own to spend time with.
Meanwhile, about several thousand miles away, the abrasive theme park head Coco LaBouche (Susan Sarandon) oversees the rehearsals for a new attraction in Euro Reptarland. The attraction is an opera-style show that features a several-foot-tall animatronic Reptar (the fictional popular Godzilla-like dinosaur from the show), but the robot does not appear to be working. LaBouche demands that the machine’s inventor, Stu Pickles (Jack Riley) fly out to France immediately to fix it. Stu decides to bring along his close family and friends along with him, including the kids.
While Stu works on fixing the attraction, the Rugrats explore the impressive amusement park, and Chuckie finds himself becoming fascinated with the park’s princess mascot. Not realizing that the princess is another simple animatronic, Chuckie thinks she could be his new mom. However, Chuckie is in for a rude awakening when the villainous Coco LaBouche comes up with a harebrained scheme to become head of the company. Her boss says that he wants someone with a family and experience with children to run the parks fully, causing LaBouche to try to seduce Chuckie’s dad, Chaz (Michael Bell).
LaBouche almost succeeds, but the Rugrats aren’t going to go down without a fight. To stop the wedding, our heroes… wait for it… steal the Reptar mech and go on a rampage through Paris to get to Notre Dame on time. Oh, and the kids are also being pursued by LaBouche’s henchman Jean-Claude (John Lithgow) who is piloting a robotic snail mech of his own. After a weirdly well-done and entertaining giant robot battle, Chuckie and his friends are able to stop his dad from marrying the vile woman. The only apparent downside of this is that Chuckie won’t be getting a new mom after all… or will he? Turns out, LaBouche’s kind and gentle assistant Kira (Julia Kato) has a lot in common with Chaz. The film ends with a flash forward of Chaz and Kira getting married, as Chuckie and his new family live happily ever after.
The Production Value of ‘Rugrats in Paris: The Movie’ Is Surprisingly Impressive
Image via Nickelodeon
Visually and technically speaking, Rugrats in Paris is by far the most impressive installment in the franchise. The animation is sleek and holds up very well. It’s working with a noticeably higher budget, but still manages to keep the unique visual style and artistic spirit of the original show intact. Production design and art style-wise the film is also impressive. Granted, we will admit that the film doesn’t really make use of its titular location in Paris. Despite brief appearances from iconic Paris landmarks in the Eiffel Tower, the Arc du Triumph, and Notre Dame, most of the movie takes place in Reptarland which is almost 100% Japanese-themed. Why not just set the movie in Japan? Who knows, but Euro Reptarland is still a super creative and well-designed theme park. If you were a kid who grew up watching this movie, the first thing you’d want to do is go to Reptarland.
A lot of the directorial decisions made here are solid as well. Even though one doesn’t typically think of fight scenes in a Rugrats movie, they’re here, and they’re weirdly excellent. One sequence where Chuckie is having a dream about becoming “Chuckie-Chan” and fighting a horde of ninjas is a rock solid and visually enjoyable sequence. The real setpiece is that bonkers mech fight, which is just too ridiculous to not enjoy.
Chuckie’s Story in ‘Rugrats in Paris: The Movie’ Pays Homage to One of the Show’s Best Storylines
Image via Nickelodeon
By far one of the most infamously sad episodes of Rugrats and maybe even cartoon history is the infamous “Mother’s Day” episode. In Season 4, Episode 2, the series finally reveals why Chuckie’s mother has never appeared in the show. In a heartbreaking turn of events, it turns out Chuckie’s mother passed away from a terminal illness when Chuckie was even younger than he is now. Though Chuckie may still be too young to grasp the concept fully, this moment introduces the uncomfortable yet inevitable concept of death not just to Chuckie, but the young target audience who watches the show.
Rugrats in Paris could almost be considered a sequel to that infamous arc. This time, both Chaz and Chuckie are looking to move on from grief and potentially find new happiness. Chaz would like a new relationship and Chuckie would love a new mother. The Rugrats series typically depicts Tommy (Elizabeth Daily) as the main character, but Rugrats in Paris really is Chuckie’s story. We get to see him grow and find true happiness, with a new wonderful person he can call a mother figure.
Rugrats in Paris: The Movie is currently available to stream on Paramount+.
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