Gabor Csupo: Hey dear. We need something to get us some more money.

Arlene Klasky: What do you mean dear? Don't we have enough coming from all the Rugrat merchandise, the Wild Thornberrys movie and the new Rocket Power clothing. Plus As Told by Ginger is beginning to get big.

Gabor: But I have a need for more. Plus if we make more -- I can give you more alimony.

Arlene: Alimony. I love that word. I knew there was a reason we got divorced.

Gabor: How about more toys?

Arlene: Nah, we've got too many out there now. Unless we want to do As Told by Ginger maxipads.

Gabor: YUCK! YOU ARE SICK!

Arlene: Typical guy. Okay, Summer movies are a great way to get money. We can have a tie in with Burger King, ticket sales and later put it out on video.

Gabor: That's a great idea. But what can we do that's new and different?

Arlene: What about a cross over -- characters of one of our shows can meet characters for another of shows. You know like they do with all the Star Trek shows.

Gabor: That's great! How about Ginger and friends compete in a skateboarding contest on Rocket Power.

Arlene rolls her eyes.

Gabor: Okay, What if Ginger and her friends babysit the Rugrats?

Arlene: Rugrats. That's good. They always make money. But not Ginger... how about........

Together: THE WILD THORNBERRYS.

Gabor: That's perfect. They could meet. We can show how Chuckie and Donnie are alike. We can put Debbie and Angelica together.

Arlene: Won't we have to use an awful lot of white ink?

Gabor: We'll let Suzi go to balance things out.

Arlene: Plot. We need a plot.

Gabor: Why?

Arlene: Because reviewers on epinions and other places like to mention the plots in their reviews.

Gabor: If we put them in lots of scary and funny situations we wouldn't need much of a plot?

Arlene: That's true. Especially if we make it into a musical. And have them suddenly break out in song.

Gabor: But only the Rugrats, the Thornberries never sing.

Arlene: Morals. Movies go better with morals.

Gabor: That's true. How about the good old standby -- "Parents-- kids are more important than work"

Arlene: I like it. It's much better than "Parents, let your kids experience life. Don't shelter them too much."

Gabor: That's horrible. Who would be silly enough to use a message like that?

Arlene: Not us. Don't forget topical humor. We need something to pull the adults in.

Gabor: That's easy. I learned my English from Gilligan's Island. What more do we need for a plot? Plus we can throw in Titanic, The Perfect Storm, and Survivor.

Arlene: Works for me. I wonder what the reviews will look like.

Gabor: I can see it now. My first Oscar.

Arlene: Dream on Gabor. Dream on.

I don't know if the producers of Rugrats Go Wild ever had the above conversation; however, after viewing the movie on a warm Father's Day I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't have something simular. I'm not saying it's a horrible movie. I'm not saying it's a great movie. What I'm trying to say is it is an extended episode of a TV show that could have been done better.

Plot

Tommy Pickles's hero is no longer Reptar. It's now Sir Nigel Thornberry. Tommy wants to be like him when he grows up.

The Rugrats are going to go on a cruise. But Stu decides to rent a rickity ship and take them on a cruise. Why? He wants them to be together.

It doesn't take long for Stu to get the blame for ruining everyone's vacation and for the tiny ship to get tossed onto an inhabited island.

Who is on the island but the Wild Thornberrys?

Will the babies find Nigel "Strawberry" in the rain forest and get home? Will Angelica get training on how to be a brat? Will the adults work together to find the comvee? Will Stu ever be loved again? What will Phil and Lil think of a bug eating plant?

My Take

It was good. I laughed. But not as much as I did at Finding Nemo.

It just seemed that things were missing. We are told that Spike lost his scent in one scene; however, it is never addressed in the movie again. As much press that was done with "Spike Speaks", they didn't have Spike say anything great. At least Bruce Willis does have a good singing voice when Spike gets to sing a song.

That was another odd thing, characters were breaking out in song. But only Rugrats -- the Thornberrys don't sing.

Nigel hits his head and becomes a three-year-old. That has been done before on the Rugrats.

Chuckie and Donnie do the "strangers" in mirror that has been done in countless movies from Abbot and Costello and Danny Kaye to Big Business.

Out of all of the Thornberrys Eliza had the least amount of screentime and she's my favorite. The Rugrat adults were also missing for the middle section of the movie.

The first Thornberry movie had some great animation of animals and insight into the characters. This one had neither.

The first two Rugrats movies introduced major changes in the family and tugged at heartstrings. This one had neither.

It just seemed as if the writers were thrown into seperate rooms to come up with short skits and then they tried to combine them all for a movie. It just didn't flow.



Monkey's Take

"That was great movie. I thought it was so cool. I loved it when Spike said "I can't smell my own butt." The Rugrats were so funny. They kept calling him "Nigel Strawberry". I also liked the scratch and sniff. I think all kids and grown-ups should see it."

Odorama

Yes, we did go to Buger King before and got the scratch and sniff card. At six points in the movie, a red number would appear and that would be the cue to scratch. When the number turned green, it was time to smell.

If you don't have the card, it would be distracting to see the numbers.

Monkey was convinced that she could smell everything; but hubby and I could only smell cardboard.

Final recommendation

If you are a fan of Rugrats or Wild Thornberrys, I'd recommend getting the card and going to the movie (at a cheap showing).

If you have no clue what I was talking about for the vast majority of this review, I'd skip this one and go to Finding Nemo instead.

Recommended: Yes