Rugrats in Paris: The Movie

Rugrats in Paris: The Movie is a 2000 animated comedy film based on the Nickelodeon animated television series Rugrats.[4] This film marks the first appearance of Kimi Watanabe and her mother, Kira. The film also marks the only appearance of two legitimate human villains in the Rugrats franchise, Coco LaBouche, a cruel and tyrannical woman who dislikes children, including babies, and her accomplice, Jean-Claude. The events of the film take place before the seventh season of Rugrats.

For the video game, see Rugrats in Paris: The Movie (video game).

Rugrats in Paris: The Movie
Theatrical release poster
Directed by
  • Stig Bergqvist
  • Paul Demeyer
Produced by
Written by
Based onRugrats
by Arlene Klasky
Gábor Csupó
Paul Germain
Starring
Music byMark Mothersbaugh[1]
Edited byJohn Bryant
Production
company
Distributed by
  • Paramount Pictures[1]
  • Nickelodeon Movies[1]
Release date
  • November 17, 2000 (2000-11-17) (United States)
  • May 31, 2001 (2001-05-31) (Germany)
Running time
78 minutes[3]
Country
LanguageEnglish
Budget$30 million[3]
Box office$103.3 million[3]

The film was released in the United States on November 17, 2000, almost 2 years after the release of The Rugrats Movie in 1998.[3] Rugrats in Paris: The Movie was received to generally positive reviews from critics and fans alike 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 during the reception saddens Chuckie Finster and his father Chas as Chuckie's mother died of a terminal illness shortly after Chuckie was born.

Tommy Pickles' father Stu is summoned to EuroReptarland, a Japanese amusement park in Paris, France, to fix a malfunctioning Reptar robot. Due to Stu being called in the early morning thanks to the time difference, he ultimately brings Tommy, Chuckie, Phil, Lil, Angelica, Dil, their dog Spike, and their parents to Paris to take a vacation at the park.

Coco LaBouche, the greedy, cold-hearted and child-hating head of EuroReptarland, plans to succeed Mr. Yamaguchi as the president of the entire Reptar franchise and its parent company Yamaguchi Industries upon his retirement. However, Yamaguchi says that his successor has to love children to be able to do the job, so Coco lies to him by making him think that she is engaged to a man with a child. Upon the Rugrats' arrival at EuroReptarland, Angelica overhears a conversation between Coco and Yamaguchi before being caught. To save herself, Angelica reveals that Chas is looking for a second wife, prompting a delighted Coco to pound on the idea.

Coco strikes up a relationship with Chas, but her attempts to bond with Chuckie fail. The adults and babies meet Coco's overworked but kind-hearted assistant Kira Watanabe and her daughter Kimi, who hail from Japan, but are now living in France. Kira reluctantly helps LaBouche to win Chas' affections. Meanwhile, Spike gets lost in the streets of Paris and falls in love with a stray poodle named Fifi.

Kira tells the babies the origins of Reptar, explaining he was a feared monster until a princess revealed his gentler side to make the frightened humans like him. Chuckie decides the princess should be his new mother, and is aided by his friends to reach an animatronic replica of the princess in the park that they were unaware of, but they are stopped by Coco's ninja security guards. At the show's premiere, Angelica informs Coco of Chuckie's wish, so Coco sneaks backstage and takes the spotlight as the princess, luring Chuckie into her arms to make her seem wonderful with children. Chas is ecstatic, deciding she would make an excellent mother and decides on the spot to marry her.

On her wedding day, Coco and her accomplice Jean-Claude kidnapped the children (including Angelica) and trapped them in a warehouse. Upon witnessing this, Kira stands up to Coco and threaten to tell Chas the truth, but Coco throws her out of her limo, leaving Kira to race to the wedding herself via bicycle. Chuckie rallies the children to crash his father's wedding at Notre Dame de Paris using the Reptar robot. They are chased by Jean-Claude, who pilots Reptar's nemesis known the Robosnail robot. The chase culminates in a fight on a bridge, and Chuckie knocks Robosnail into the Seine River.

Chuckie interrupts the wedding just in time and Jean-Claude reveals Coco's true nature and her kidnapping plot, prompting an angry Chas to call off the wedding in disgust. Angelica also exposes Coco's plan to Yamaguchi, who dismisses Coco. Angelica rips Coco's wedding dress and Coco disappears out of the church humiliated and defeated while Spike chases Jean-Claude away. Kira arrives at the church and apologizes to Chas for what Coco did to him and Chuckie. However, Chas admits that he was being blinded by the romance in Paris and apologizes to Chuckie for doubting him. But then, Chas and Kira began to fall in love after they spoke the lines from one of Chas' favorite poems, which turns out to be one of Kira's favorite.

Chas and Kira eventually get married sometime later after returning to the United States while Fifi is adopted by the Finster family. As the new family take the first dance together, they are interrupted when the whole dance floor erupts into an all out food fight instigated by the babies.

Cast
Main article: List of Rugrats characters

Main

Supporting

Guest stars

Soundtrack
Rugrats in Paris: The Movie: Music from the Motion Picture
Soundtrack album by
Various Artists
ReleasedNovember 7, 2000 (2000-11-07)
Recorded1999-2000
Genre
Length50:55
Label
Rugrats soundtrack chronology
The Rugrats Movie: Music from the Motion Picture
(1998)		 Rugrats in Paris: The Movie: Music from the Motion Picture
(2000)		 Rugrats Go Wild: Music from the Motion Picture
(2003)
Singles from Rugrats in Paris: The Movie: Music From the Motion Picture
  1. "Who Let the Dogs Out?"
    Released: July 25, 2000
  2. "My Getaway"
    Released: November 5, 2000
  3. "L'Histoire d'une fée, c'est..."
    Released: February 27, 2001
Soundtrack
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[5]

A soundtrack for the film, titled Rugrats in Paris: The Movie: Music From the Motion Picture was released on November 7, 2000 on Maverick Records.[6] Like the last soundtrack, it also contains an enhanced part: the theme song to the film "Jazzy Rugrat Love" by Teena Marie.

No.TitleArtist(s)Length
1."My Getaway"T-Boz3:50
2."You Don't Stand a Chance"Amanda3:44
3."Life Is a Party"Aaron Carter3:26
4."Who Let the Dogs Out?"Baha Men3:18
5."Final Heartbreak"Jessica Simpson3:42
6."When You Love"Sinéad O'Connor5:18
7."I'm Telling You This"No Authority4:08
8."These Boots Are Made for Walkin'"Geri Halliwell (from Spice Girls)3:03
9."Chuckie Chan (Martial Arts Expert of Reptarland)"Isaac Hayes & Alex Brown4:19
10."L'Histoire d'une fée, c'est..."Mylène Farmer5:12
11."I Want a Mom That Will Last Forever"Cyndi Lauper3:47
12."Excuse My French"2Be33:03
13."Bad Girls"Cheryl Chase with Tim Curry, Kevin Michael Richardson and Billy West4:05
Bonus enhanced track on enhanced CD
No.TitleArtist(s)Length
14."Jazzy Rugrat Love" (Theme from Rugrats in Paris)Teena Marie5:07
Total length:50:55

Release

The film was released on November 17, 2000 by Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies.

Rugrats in Paris: The Movie was released in the United Kingdom on May 20, 2001 by Xilam.

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.[7][8][9]

On August 29, 2017, Rugrats in Paris was re-released on DVD.

Reception

Critical reception

On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds an approval rating of 76% based on 74 reviews and an average rating of 6.29/10. 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."[10] Metacritic gave a film a weighted average score of 62 out of 100 based, on 25 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[11] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F scale.[12]

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."[13] Common Sense Media gave the film a three out of five stars, stating, "Eighty minutes of visual surprises, clever comedy."[14] 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."[15]

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 aren’t old enough to talk and only communicate with each other). The movie is cleverly written—it actually has the ability to hold adults’ attention for longer than three minutes—but 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."[16]

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.[17][18] In the United Kingdom, it opened at #3, behind Bridget Jones's Diary and Spy Kids.[19]

Sequel

A third and last installment, entitled Rugrats Go Wild, was released on June 13, 2003, featuring the characters from The Wild Thornberrys.

References
  1. "Rugrats in Paris: The Movie (2000)". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. Retrieved January 17, 2021.
  2. "Rugrats in Paris: The Movie (2000)". AllMovie. Retrieved January 17, 2021.
  3. "Rugrats in Paris: The Movie (2000)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved June 17, 2014.
  4. Rauzi, Robin (November 17, 2000). "Those Little Rugrats Are in Paris? Oui, Wee". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 24, 2010.
  5. "allmusic.com review".
  6. Liana Jonas. "Rugrats in Paris: The Movie - Original Soundtrack - Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards - AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved May 16, 2015.
  7. Mitchell, Elvis (November 17, 2000). "FILM REVIEW; So Where Is Madeline When You Need Her?". The New York Times. Archived from the original on July 20, 2012. Retrieved August 24, 2010.
  8. Willdorf, Nina (November 16, 2000). "Rugrats in Paris". The Boston Phoenix. Archived from the original on July 8, 2011. Retrieved August 24, 2010.
  9. "Rugrats in Paris: The Movie". BBC. Retrieved August 25, 2010.
  10. "Rugrats in Paris: The Movie (2000)". rottentomatoes.com. Retrieved October 30, 2020.
  11. "Rugrats in Paris: The Movie Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved October 30, 2020.
  12. "Find CinemaScore" (Type "Rugrats" in the search box). CinemaScore. Retrieved November 16, 2020.
  13. Ebert, Roger. "Rugrats In Paris Movie Review (2000) | Roger Ebert". www.rogerebert.com. Retrieved May 24, 2019.
  14. "Rugrats in Paris - Movie Review". www.commonsensemedia.org. June 25, 2003. Retrieved May 24, 2019.
  15. Hughes, David (January 1, 2000). "Rugrats in Paris: The Movie". Empire. Retrieved May 24, 2019.
  16. "Rugrats in Paris: The Movie | Movie Review". Plugged In. Retrieved May 24, 2019.
  17. "Box Office: Grinch Steals Holiday Hearts". ABC. Retrieved November 13, 2010.
  18. Welkos, Robert W. (November 28, 2000). "Grinch Leads Record Holiday Box Office". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 13, 2010.
  19. "Bridget wins Easter chart battle". news.bbc.co.uk. April 18, 2001. Retrieved January 23, 2017.
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