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Rugrats In Paris: The Movie
List Price: Unknown [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Movie:
Of all of the junk that's currently offered to children, there's few productions that are smartly written and even fewer that can appeal both to parents and children equally. "Rugrats" stands out in that rare group. I mean, what other cartoon movie would start out with an extremely funny parody of "The Godfather"?
For those who are not familiar with the "Rugrats" series, it involves several little toddlers who chat with each other and have adventures that their parents aren't aware of. A couple of years ago there was a "Rugrats" movie that was entertaining and proved to be quite successful - the sequel is even better, though. Loaded with sharper, funnier jokes, the film is 80 minutes of entertainment that I'll freely admit that I laughed at frequently.
The film revolves around little Chuckie, whose father is searching for a new wife (in Chuckie's terms, though, he is concerned about what a new mother will be like). Chuckie's father makes "reptars", or giant mechanical dinosaurs. When one of these creatures malfunctions in a French theme park, the whole Rugrats group, including Chuckie, Tommy, brat Angelica and the parental figures.
Coco La Bouche(a hilarious vocal performance by Susan Sarandon) has plans for Chuckie's dad - she runs the theme park and needs to get married to please her family-values theme park bosses. John Lithgow, who is so funny in "3rd Rock From The Sun", also proves to have good comic timing as Coco's assistant. The vocal talents for the main characters though really do a fantastic job at selling some of the lines and making them even more amusing then they'd otherwise be.
I sit through a lot of children's films to review on DVD (I mean, I even sat through those "Air Bud" films), but rarely do I find something that's genuinely entertaining. The first "Rugrats" movie was amusing, but this second one is particularly hilarious and occasionally sweet. If you've got children and are looking for something to watch together, you should definitely get "Rugrats In Paris", a solid *** children's picture.
The DVD
VIDEO: Paramount did a wonderful job on this 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer for "Rugrats: In Paris". Sharpness and detail are excellent, and every last detail of the animation is easily visible.
What really is stunning though, are the colors of the film. The film uses a wide variety of bright colors that not only look visually appealing on this beautiful transfer, but should appeal to the younger crowd who's the intended audience for this film. I hardly noticed any flaws with the image, either. Aside from one or two slight instances of shimmering, the picture remained pleasantly clear and clean - there wasn't even a single print flaw that I noticed - not even a minor speckle or mark.
Paramount has been mostly improving with their releases, but they've really done a wonderful job with the image quality for this "Rugrats" sequel - it helps that the film has enjoyable animation and great use of color, but Paramount puts the visual world of the film on display superbly.
SOUND: "Rugrats In Paris" is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 and although it doesn't quite make good on all of the audio opportunities it could have gone for, it still provides more activity than one would expect from a children's picture. Although a good deal of the film's audio comes from the front, occasionally the action involves the surrounds. Surround use isn't agressive, but it's noticeable and occasionally effective when either used for the music or for sound effects.
Audio quality seemed fine but not outstanding. Dialogue was generally clear and easily understood with no problems, and a few scenes brought in a bit more bass, but there wasn't (nor was I really expecting) much power behind the presentation. Music sounded clear and warm, and comfortable to listen to. An entertaining presentation which doesn't quite go as far as it could, but still remained satisfying.
MENUS:: Although Paramount ususally does do much with the menu presentations, they've done fine work with the menus for "Rugrats In Paris", as the main menu contains not only slight background animation, but characters saying things like "this should be good."
EXTRAS:
Making Of: This is a 17 minute making of documentary for "Rugrats In Paris" that, between discussion of the story and interviews about the the plot, gives the viewer a solid behind-the-scenes look at the process for both the voice recording and the animation.
Trailer/Ads: The DVD offers both the theatrical trailer and two promo spots.
Alternate Endings: Two alternate endings involving what happens to the Coco character are offered.
Sound Effects: This allows the viewer to watch the "Chuckie Chan" dream sequence with only the sound effects(Dolby 5.0) or the actual scene.
Music Video: The music video for "Who Let The Dogs Out?".
DVD-ROM: Two interactive games - Chuckie Chan and Mom-o-matic.
Final Thoughts: Although not without a few minor flaws, I was suprised by how entertaining this sequel to the "Rugrats" film was. Some very funny moments and good performances make this a film both children and adults can enjoy. Paramount's DVD provides excellent picture quality, enjoyable sound quality and a handful of special features both adults and children can watch. Recommended.
Of all of the junk that's currently offered to children, there's few productions that are smartly written and even fewer that can appeal both to parents and children equally. "Rugrats" stands out in that rare group. I mean, what other cartoon movie would start out with an extremely funny parody of "The Godfather"?
For those who are not familiar with the "Rugrats" series, it involves several little toddlers who chat with each other and have adventures that their parents aren't aware of. A couple of years ago there was a "Rugrats" movie that was entertaining and proved to be quite successful - the sequel is even better, though. Loaded with sharper, funnier jokes, the film is 80 minutes of entertainment that I'll freely admit that I laughed at frequently.
The film revolves around little Chuckie, whose father is searching for a new wife (in Chuckie's terms, though, he is concerned about what a new mother will be like). Chuckie's father makes "reptars", or giant mechanical dinosaurs. When one of these creatures malfunctions in a French theme park, the whole Rugrats group, including Chuckie, Tommy, brat Angelica and the parental figures.
Coco La Bouche(a hilarious vocal performance by Susan Sarandon) has plans for Chuckie's dad - she runs the theme park and needs to get married to please her family-values theme park bosses. John Lithgow, who is so funny in "3rd Rock From The Sun", also proves to have good comic timing as Coco's assistant. The vocal talents for the main characters though really do a fantastic job at selling some of the lines and making them even more amusing then they'd otherwise be.
I sit through a lot of children's films to review on DVD (I mean, I even sat through those "Air Bud" films), but rarely do I find something that's genuinely entertaining. The first "Rugrats" movie was amusing, but this second one is particularly hilarious and occasionally sweet. If you've got children and are looking for something to watch together, you should definitely get "Rugrats In Paris", a solid *** children's picture.
The DVD
VIDEO: Paramount did a wonderful job on this 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer for "Rugrats: In Paris". Sharpness and detail are excellent, and every last detail of the animation is easily visible.
What really is stunning though, are the colors of the film. The film uses a wide variety of bright colors that not only look visually appealing on this beautiful transfer, but should appeal to the younger crowd who's the intended audience for this film. I hardly noticed any flaws with the image, either. Aside from one or two slight instances of shimmering, the picture remained pleasantly clear and clean - there wasn't even a single print flaw that I noticed - not even a minor speckle or mark.
Paramount has been mostly improving with their releases, but they've really done a wonderful job with the image quality for this "Rugrats" sequel - it helps that the film has enjoyable animation and great use of color, but Paramount puts the visual world of the film on display superbly.
SOUND: "Rugrats In Paris" is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 and although it doesn't quite make good on all of the audio opportunities it could have gone for, it still provides more activity than one would expect from a children's picture. Although a good deal of the film's audio comes from the front, occasionally the action involves the surrounds. Surround use isn't agressive, but it's noticeable and occasionally effective when either used for the music or for sound effects.
Audio quality seemed fine but not outstanding. Dialogue was generally clear and easily understood with no problems, and a few scenes brought in a bit more bass, but there wasn't (nor was I really expecting) much power behind the presentation. Music sounded clear and warm, and comfortable to listen to. An entertaining presentation which doesn't quite go as far as it could, but still remained satisfying.
MENUS:: Although Paramount ususally does do much with the menu presentations, they've done fine work with the menus for "Rugrats In Paris", as the main menu contains not only slight background animation, but characters saying things like "this should be good."
EXTRAS:
Making Of: This is a 17 minute making of documentary for "Rugrats In Paris" that, between discussion of the story and interviews about the the plot, gives the viewer a solid behind-the-scenes look at the process for both the voice recording and the animation.
Trailer/Ads: The DVD offers both the theatrical trailer and two promo spots.
Alternate Endings: Two alternate endings involving what happens to the Coco character are offered.
Sound Effects: This allows the viewer to watch the "Chuckie Chan" dream sequence with only the sound effects(Dolby 5.0) or the actual scene.
Music Video: The music video for "Who Let The Dogs Out?".
DVD-ROM: Two interactive games - Chuckie Chan and Mom-o-matic.
Final Thoughts: Although not without a few minor flaws, I was suprised by how entertaining this sequel to the "Rugrats" film was. Some very funny moments and good performances make this a film both children and adults can enjoy. Paramount's DVD provides excellent picture quality, enjoyable sound quality and a handful of special features both adults and children can watch. Recommended.
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