The Rugrats Movie
The first theatrical film from the popular Nickelodeon TV series became the surprise hit of the 1998 holiday box-office crunch, trouncing the highly competitive kids' market. The key ingredient to the Rugrats' success is the writing. Venturing into their first theatrical movie, the pals--including the intrepid diaper-wearing Tommy Pickles, the nervous Chuckie, the twins Lil and Phil, and the wonderfully prissy Angelica--garble English into funny prose ("I want those fugitives back in custard-y!") and use movie references in their fantasy life.

The big news for the movie is that Tommy gets a new baby brother, named Dylan (or Dil for short). The rest of the film has no real plot but is a series of adventures as the clan gets lost in the forest riding an inventive Reptar wagon that is the '90s equivalent of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Parents search for the kids, the kids learn new lessons, and everyone goes home happy. The Rugrats Movie is not as wildly appealing as A Bug's Life but is far goofier and wackier with its animation. There's also a tremendous sense of joy that is often missing from cartoons these days, and the songs used in the film--from such diverse musicians as Busta Rhymes, Iggy Pop, Lisa Loeb, Lou Rawls, Beck, and Devo--add to the fun. It's an acquired taste, but the creators' first efforts to take the 10-minute TV sketches into an 80-minute feature pay off.

Rugrats in Paris: The Movie
The second theatrical film from the popular TV show is better than the original surprise hit. Instead of delving into their rich fantasy life, the Rugrats gang goes on a real adventure when their families visit Paris together. Mr. Pickles is brought over to fix his giant Reptar robot, the centerpiece of EuroReptarland (a biting version of the trouble-plagued EuroDisney). The underlying story has Chuckie (the one with the square glasses) looking for a new mommy, as his dad (who has a square personality) starts to fall for a villainous executive (voiced by Susan Sarandon). Soon Paris takes it on the chin as the diaper gang tries to save Chuckie's dad from the altar. The success of the Rugrats is in the writing, where much thought goes into finding comic gems for the adults (there are wonderful parodies of The Godfather and King Kong that will sail over kids' heads). The garble-mouthed youngsters keep up their joyful ways in this 78-minute feature that feels no different from their Nickelodeon series except in length, some 3-D animation sequences, and an eclectic song score (with Cyndi Lauper's "I Want a Mom That Will Last Forever" the real catch). (Ages 6 and older) --Doug Thomas