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Rugrats Go Wild

The Rugrats team up with the Thornberrys for a wild adventure.

FILM FACTS

Starring: Voices by Bruce Willis, E.G. Daily and Cheryl Chase
Directors: Norton Virgien and John Eng
Rating: PG for mild, crude humor
Genre: Family, Animated

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Discuss this film | Official movie site

See showtimes (PG) 81 minutes

Grade: B

Verdict: Wild in a good way, not like those teens-gone-wild earlier this spring in that "Real Cancun" movie.

By Jane Horwitz
Washington Post Writers Group

Yes, they're hyping it to a fare-thee-well, but on its own merits "Rugrats Go Wild" is a hooty, riotous adventure, packed with humor and interesting factoids in keeping with the TV shows it's based on.

Most kids 6 and older will delight in the happy mingling of characters from Nickelodeon's "Rugrats" and "The Wild Thornberrys." Parents will appreciate the second layer of wit -- ironies, satiric homages to movies.

The hand-drawn look makes for a nice contrast to the great computer-animated "Finding Nemo." There's even a low tech "odorama" scratch-and-sniff card handed out at the movie.

Little ones could get spooked at certain moments in "Rugrats Go Wild." The babies are stalked by a leopard (singer Chrissie Hynde). They and their parents survive a violent ocean storm and a shipwreck. Chuckie gets separated from the group at one point and becomes very scared. They're all stranded in a bathosphere with Sir Nigel Thornberry (Tim Curry) as air runs out. On the gross-out meter, there are diaper and seasick jokes and Phil can't quite give up eating bugs (some kids might imitate -- yech).

The movie hinges on a neat premise. The Rugrat families miss their cruise ship and wind up on a rustbucket that capsizes. They wash up on a seemingly deserted Pacific island, but Tommy Pickles recognizes the place from the Thornberrys' nature documentaries. While their parents bicker over how to get rescued, the babies wander off to find the adventurers they call the "Strawberrys." Their pooch Spike (a hip hound voiced by Bruce Willis) talks to Eliza Thornberry, who speaks animal. Soon it's a Rugrat-Thornberry swap meet.