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Rugrats in Paris: The Movie
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Wikipedia article
{{Infobox film
| name = Rugrats in Paris: The Movie
| image = Rugrats in Paris The Movie poster.jpg
| alt =
| caption = Theatrical release poster
| director =
| writer =
| based_on =
| producer =
| starring =
| editing = John Bryant
| music = Mark Mothersbaugh
| studio =
| distributor =
| released =
| runtime = 78 minutes
| country =
| language = English
| budget = $30 million
| gross = $103.3 million
}}
'Rugrats in Paris: The Movie' is a 2000 animated comedy film based on the Nickelodeon animated television series 'Rugrats' and the second film in the series. This film marks the first appearance of Kimi Watanabe and her mother, Kira. The film also marks the appearance of the first significant villains in the 'Rugrats' franchise, the child-hating Coco LaBouche and her accomplice, Jean-Claude. The events of the film take place before the series' seventh season.
The film was released in the United States on November 17, 2000, almost two years after the release of 'The Rugrats Movie' in 1998. 'Rugrats in Paris: The Movie' was more well-received than its predecessor and grossed over $103 million worldwide against a production budget of $30 million.
Plot
At the wedding reception of Lou Pickles and his new wife Lulu, a mother-child dance saddens Chuckie Finster with memories of his mother, who died shortly after he was born. Realizing that he and his son miss that presence in their lives, Chas Finster starts thinking of finding a new wife. The following night, Tommy Pickles' father Stu is summoned to EuroReptarland, a Japanese amusement park in Paris, to fix a malfunctioning Reptar robot he designed for the park's stage show.
The entire Pickles, Finster and DeVille families travel to EuroReptarland, where Angelica overhears a videophone conversation between the park's head the ill tempered and child-hating Coco LaBouche and Mr. Yamaguchi, the president of the Reptar corporation. Coco wants to be the next president, but when Yamaguchi tells her his successor must love children, she lies and tells him she is engaged to a man with a child. Angelica is then discovered and saves herself by telling Coco about Chas and how is considering re-marrying.
Coco begins pursuing Chas with the help of her put-upon but kindhearted assistant, Kira Watanabe, who tells the babies the origin of Reptar that he was a feared monster until his gentler side was revealed by a princess. Hearing this, Chuckie decides he wants the park's princess to be his mother and goes in search of her with the babies and Kira's own daughter, Kimi, when spending the day in the park with Chas and Coco. Meanwhile, the Pickles' dog Spike gets lost in the streets of Paris in pursuit of a stray poodle named Fifi. While Coco wins over Chas, Chuckie remains deeply distrustful of her. At the Reptar show's premiere, Angelica informs Coco of Chuckie's wish to have the princess for his mother, prompting Coco to infiltrate the show disguised as the princess. She lures Chuckie into her arms, where he is horrified to discover her true identity, but seeing his son embrace Coco convinces Chas that she is right one for his family and decides to marry her straight away.
On the day of the wedding, Coco orders her accomplice, Jean-Claude, to keep the babies and Angelica from intervening. Kira learns of Coco's plot and threatens to tell Chas but is left on the streets of Paris en route to the ceremony. Jean-Claude locks the children in the warehouse where the show's robots are kept, where Chuckie begins to despair of his dad marrying a woman who doesn't like him. Angelica, in a rare display of guilt, reveals Coco's plan and her part in it and apologizes to Chuckie. Now knowing the truth, Chuckie rallies the others to hurry to Notre Dame and stop the wedding in the Reptar robot, picking up Kimi along the way. Jean-Claude follows piloting Reptar's nemesis, Robosnail, but is defeated when Reptar knocks him into the Seine River.
The babies arrive in time to interrupt the wedding, with Chuckie bursting in screaming his first word, "No". Jean-Claude follows, unintentionally reveals Coco's true nature, and Chas calls off the wedding in disgust. Mr. Yamaguchi, who is in attendance, fires Coco after Angelica informs him about Cocos plan. After Coco is prevented from storming off by the babies, she knocks then down and Angelica retaliates by stepping on Coco's wedding train, ripping her dress and exposing her underwear to everyone. Coco leaves the cathedral humiliated and defeated while Spike chases Jean-Claude away.
As Chas apologizes to Chuckie for everything Coco put them both through, Kira returns Chuckie's teddy bear which Coco had taken from him, and apologizes to Chas for not speaking up sooner. There, Chas and Kira realize they have feelings for one another and she, Kimi and Fifi (who they adopt) leave Paris for America, where Chas and Kira eventually marry. During the new family's first dance together, the entire reception erupts into an all-out crazy food fight instigated by the babies.
Voice cast
Main
* Christine Cavanaugh as Chuckie Finster* E. G. Daily as Tommy Pickles
* Cheryl Chase as Angelica Pickles
* Kath Soucie as Phil DeVille, Lil DeVille and Betty DeVille
* Tara Strong as Dil Pickles
* Dionne Quan as Kimi Watanabe
* Jack Riley as Stu Pickles
* Melanie Chartoff as Didi Pickles
* Michael Bell as Chas Finster and Drew Pickles
* Julia Kato as Kira Watanabe
* Tress MacNeille as Charlotte Pickles
* Phil Proctor as Howard DeVille
Supporting
* Susan Sarandon as Coco LaBouche* John Lithgow as Jean-Claude
Guest
* Joe Alaskey as Grandpa Lou Pickles* Debbie Reynolds as Lulu Pickles
* Cree Summer as Susie Carmichael
* Mako Iwamatsu as Mr. Yamaguchi
* Marlene Mituko, Darrel Kunitomi and Goh Misawa as the villagers of the "Princess Spectacular" show
* Tim Curry as a sumo singer
* Billy West as a sumo singer
* Kevin Michael Richardson as a sumo singer
* Paul DeMeyer as the street cleaner and dog catcher
* Phillip Simon as the animatronic bus driver
* Richard Michel as the French worker
* Charlie Adler as the inspector
* Phillipe Benichou as the ninja
* Dan Castellaneta as the priest
* Lisa McClowry as the princess
* Casey Kasem as the wedding DJ
* Roger Rose as the Finster wedding DJ
* Margaret Smith as the stewardess
Soundtrack
{{Album ratings|title=Soundtrack
| rev1 = Allmusic
| rev1Score = }}
A soundtrack album for the film, titled 'Rugrats in Paris: The Movie: Music from the Motion Picture', was released on November 7, 2000 on Maverick Records and features new music from Jessica Simpson, Baha Men, Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins of TLC, Amanda and Aaron Carter. Like the last soundtrack, it also contains an enhanced part: the theme song to the film "Jazzy Rugrat Love" by Teena Marie.
Release
The film was released on November 17, 2000, by Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies.
Home media
Paramount Home Entertainment released the film on VHS and DVD on March 27, 2001. In 2009, Paramount released the film via iTunes and the PlayStation Store.On August 29, 2017, 'Rugrats in Paris' was re-released on DVD.
On March 8, 2022, along with 'The Rugrats Movie' and 'Rugrats Go Wild', the film was released on Blu-ray as part of the trilogy movie collection.
Reception
Critical reception
On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds an approval rating of based on reviews and an average rating of . The site's critical consensus read: "When the 'Rugrats' go to Paris, the result is Nickelodeon-style fun. The plot is effectively character-driven, and features catchy songs and great celebrity voice-acting." Metacritic gave a film a weighted average score of 62 out of 100 based, on 25 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.Roger Ebert gave the film three out of four stars, stating, "The point is, adults can attend this movie with a fair degree of pleasure. That's not always the case with movies for kids, as no parent needs to be reminded. There may even be some moms who insist that the kids need to see this movie. You know who you are." Common Sense Media gave the film a three out of five stars, stating, "Eighty minutes of visual surprises, clever comedy." Empire gave the film a three out of five stars, stating, "Just as good as the last outing, this is great kiddie fare with some filmic references for the adults."
Plugged In wrote, "If parents are wanting more of what they see on the 'Rugrats' TV show (plenty of potty humor, disrespectful language and zero discipline), then this movie lives up to expectations. Never is a child scolded for making a mess or reprimanded for being rude (of course, some of this is due to the fact that many of the characters arent old enough to talk and only communicate with each other). The movie is cleverly writtenit actually has the ability to hold adults attention for longer than three minutesbut it's not funny that chaos is the norm and children get to do whatever they want whenever they want. Neither is it appropriate for a children's film to tip its hat to such R-rated flicks as 'The Godfather' and 'A Few Good Men'."
Box office
The film grossed $76.5 million in North America and $26.8 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $103.3 million, against a $30 million budget.In the United States, it opened at #2, grossing $22.7 million in its opening weekend for an average of $7,743 from 2,934 venues. In the United Kingdom, it opened at #3, behind 'Bridget Jones's Diary' and 'Spy Kids'.
Sequel
A third and final installment, entitled 'Rugrats Go Wild', was released on June 13, 2003, featuring the characters from 'The Wild Thornberrys'.
References
Buy Rugrats in Paris: The Movie now from Amazon
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