|
Review by Dustin Putman
1 star out of 4
Although I had not been a viewer of the "Rugrats" television series, I
went into their first animated feature film, "The Rugrats Movie," with a
positive attitude. The trailer looked cute enough, after all. After
seeing it, I think the words in my recent "Antz" review, in which I
stated that it was the worst film of its type since 1995's "The Pebble
and the Penguin," were a bit premature. "The Rugrats Movie," is
bottom-of-the-barrel children's fare at its worst, and starts to make,
"Antz" look good in comparison.
As in the show, "The Rugrats Movie," is about a group of very little
friends, ranging from babies to a three-year-old. The head of the group,
Tommy Pickles (E.G. Daily), becomes distraught when his mother has a
newborn baby named Dill (get it? Dill Pickles?...hardee-har-har!) and is
informed by his three-year-old cousin, Anjelica (Cheryl Chase), that the
new babies always take all of the attention away from the other
children. When the other children, Chuckie, and twins Lil and Phil,
suggest taking Dill back to the hospital, Tommy goes along with it, but
on their way there, they crash in the forest, and become lost, running
into wolves and circus monkeys, among other things.
"The Rugrats Movie," judging from the idea of being lost in the woods,
could have been a potentially fun family film, and there were many
different things that could have been done with the story. So what did
the writers choose to do? Why, they set up a protracted, cliched scene
where the children almost go over a waterfall, of course!
For the youngest of children (ages 3-7), "The Rugrats Movie," may very
well entertain them, judging from the audience I saw this with. Of
course, if you looked around at all of the older kids and their parents,
they were all desperately struggling to stay awake, and that included
me. For an adult, "The Rugrats Movie," is a piece of garbage. The
plotline is unoriginal and the writing has absolutely no wit or charm.
There isn't one laugh to be had in the film, nor is there any
excitement.
If anything is even marginally good in the picture, it is the bright
animation style, so it is especially unfortunate that it wasn't to
service a more quality film.
"The Rugrats Movie" is DOA from the start. I am all for a worthwhile
family movie, but sometimes an animated film comes along that is simply
awful. As said before, young children may like it, but even they deserve
better than this. For adults, it is a nearly unbearable, excruciating
chore to sit through. As for me, "The Rugrats Movie," is not the worst
of the year, nor is it the most deeply hated, but it is the most boring.
Parents: do yourselves a favor and take your kids to see the rerelease
of, "The Wizard of Oz." That is a picture that contains a great deal of
magic and wonder, two things of which, "The Rugrats Movie," is
completely missing.
Copyright © 2000 Dustin Putman
|
out of 4
