I really, really didn't want to like this movie. I had only seen a couple of the television cartoons and what I saw left me underwhelmed. It seemed to me to be a crude cartoon that relied on jokes about dirty diapers and peeing babies. Not quite crude enough that I was willing to forbid Ashley from watching it, as I have South Park, but tasteless enough, or so I thought, that I didn't like it. So, of course as any parent knows, if there is anything child oriented that you, as a parent, absolutely hate; then it's a given that this wil be the thing your child enjoys above all else. Ashley *loves* the Rugrats. So naturally we went to see the movie. The first time I saw it, I had to admit it was better then I expected. Yes, the bathroom humor was still there with babies peeing in the air, babies throwing up on other babies, babies making loud, obnoxious noises as they pooped and so forth. But even so, much of the humor in it was such that both adults and kids could get a kick out of it. The animation...well, it ain't Disney, but then it isn't meant to be. The movie has it's own look and style which isn't bad. Surprisingly, since the Rugrats creator, Mark Mothersbaugh, is a respected muscician, the music was pretty much second rate except for one catchy number called This World Is Something New To Me. Yet even so the movie wasn't as bad as I'd feared it would be.And, of course, Ashley loved it.
So we went back to see it again and I still didn't hate it, but wasn't crazy over it either. And, of course, Ashley *still* loved it. So we went back to see it again and this time I started looking past the bathroom humor at the characters and the way the movie (and, I was to learn later, the tv show) managed to catch the magical way kids view the world. And once I did that I began to realize just how good the movie really is. Then I began watching the television show with Ashley and found that the bathroom humor I dislike is nowhere as prevalent on the tv show as I thought it was. Now I'm a fan, not as big a one as Ashley, but definitely a fan. After all, it's worth a occassional poop joke to remember just how wonderful and magical a time it was to be a child.
As for Ashley, I strongly suspect if Rugrats: The Movie doesn't win the Oscar for Best Picture she's going to throw rocks at the judges. Or if nothing else, she may just throw up on them. ;-)
Average Grade: A
