The Rugrats Movie

Larry's Favorite Stories: The Rugrats Movie
November 20, 1998 Movie Poster
Directed by:	Igor Kovalyov Norton Virgien
Produced by:	Arlene Klasky Gabor Csupo
Written by:	David N. Weiss J. David Stem
Based On:	Rugrats

The Rugrats Movie is a 1998 American animated film, produced by Klasky Csupo and Nickelodeon Movies. The eleventh film was distributed by Paramount Pictures and eleventh released in theaters in the United States on November 20, 1998. It was released on VHS and DVD on March 30, 1999.

Based on the popular 1990s animated Nickelodeon series, Rugrats, this film introduced Tommy's baby brother Dil Pickles, who was named after Didi Pickles' cousin, and appeared on the original series the next year. The film was released in theatres with a CatDog short titled "Fetch", in which Cat wins a radio contest and attempts to answer the phone as Dog chases down his tennis ball. (This short was later broadcast during a CatDog marathon and was also occasionally shown between programs on Nicktoons TV in the 2002-03 season.) However, the video release contained a different CatDog short, "Winslow's Home Videos". The film marks the first film made by Nickelodeon Movies to be based on a Nicktoon, to be animated, and to receive a G rating from the MPAA. This was also the last Nickelodeon film to be released in the 1990s, and to be credited as Nickelodeon on the film's Nickelodeon Movies logo. Many longtime Rugrats fans believe this movie to be the point in which Rugrats jumped the shark. Slap T. Pooch from Nickelodeon's animation showcase Oh Yeah! Cartoons appeared in the Nickelodeon Movies logo sequence to this film.

The film features the voices of Elizabeth Daily, Christine Cavanaugh, Kath Soucie, Cheryl Chase, Cree Summer, Tara Strong, and Charlie Adler, along with guest stars David Spade, Whoopi Goldberg, Margaret Cho, and Busta Rhymes.

Plot

The film starts with a parody of the 1981 action film Raiders of the Lost Ark. Afterwards, the babies are chased out of the temple by a boulder but the boulder and the imagination was Didi Pickles who is at the baby shower at the Pickles' house, where Didi is pregnant with her and Stu's second child, which everyone believes will be a girl. Tommy is at first enthusiastic about having a younger sibling, although Angelica warns him that once the sibling is born, Stu and Didi will forget him. Eventually, the baby is born, and it is a boy, who they name Dil, after Didi's cousin. Unfortunately, Angelica's words appear to be true when Dil quickly becomes a very selfish baby, crying non-stop for attention, keeping all of the babies' toys for himself, and refusing to share with Tommy. He also takes the attention of Didi and Stu, leading Tommy to feel ignored.

When Dil pushes the babies too far, they decide to take him back to the hospital and end up driving recklessly through the streets in a Reptar Wagon (voice of Busta Rhymes) Stu had built until they crash in the woods. As Dil had secretly pinched Angelica's Cynthia doll, Angelica and Spike embark on a mission to find the babies - but Angelica only wants to get back her Cynthia doll. Around the same time, a circus train suffers an accident in the same woods and a group of wild monkeys escape from the wreckage, while the monkeys' owners, the Banana Brothers, attempt to search for them. The parents soon discover their children's absence, and call the police and rangers for help, and the news leaks out and reporters come to interview them.

As the babies attempt to find their way back home, the Reptar Wagon goes into the river and enters its water mode, and for a time, Tommy and the Babies pretend to be pirates sailing the open seas. Since Dil is not very well liked, Chuckie, Phil and Lil disguise a smaller monkey as Dil, but Tommy sees through their farce and gets angry, vowing to find his brother himself. Eventually Tommy finds Dil and they find shelter underneath a tree. Tommy tries to look after Dil, but finally reaches his breaking point when Dil selfishly drinks all of their milk and refuses to share the big blanket with Tommy in the cold weather. Tommy snaps at Dil and decides to abandon him for the monkeys to take him away, but a bad storm combined with Tommy's furious face finally frightens Dil. Tommy realizes what he is doing and stops. Feeling guilty, Tommy apologizes to his brother and takes him back under the tree. Dil, who turns over a new leaf, willingly shares the torn blanket with Tommy. After the thunderstorm is over, Phil, Lil and Chuckie catch up with Tommy and Dil and save them from the monkeys, and are eventually reunited with Angelica and Spike.

Tommy leads them to the bridge where they will supposedly be able to contact the legendary Lizard (Wizard) Man and wish to be sent back home, but once they reach the bridge, so did the monkeys. To make things worse, they both get attacked by a stray wolf who has been stalking them throughout the film. The children start to panic while the monkeys run away in fear of the wolf, but Spike bravely engages in a fight with the wolf, ending with the two dogs fall off the bridge to their apparent deaths. Just then, Stu, searching for the babies on his "Dactar" glider, spots the babies on the bridge and accidentally crashes into the rangers' hut. Tommy believes his father in the wrecked glider to be the Lizard Man, and nobly wishes for Spike to be brought back to life. Stu falls through the bridge, where he finds Spike alive and well. The other parents suddenly arrive and are reunited with their children just as the Banana Brothers find their monkeys and take them back. Stu is commended as a hero for finding the kids.

Back home, the babies have another imaginary adventure, only this time with Dil, now having accepted him as one of their group.