Rugrats in Paris-The Movie (2000) |
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Rugrats in Paris-The Movie (2000) |
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| General | Extras | ||
| Category | Childrens |
Menu Animation & Audio Featurette-Rugrats In Paris-Making of documentary Featurette-Sound Effects Showcase Alternate Ending-2 Variations on the theme of 'What happened to Coco' Music Video-Who Let The Dogs Out-Baha Men Theatrical Trailer TV Spots-2 Coupon-Booklet |
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| Rating |
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| Year Of Production | 2000 | ||
| Running Time | 75:17 | ||
| RSDL / Flipper | RSDL (43:35) | Cast & Crew | |
| Start Up | Language Select Then Menu | ||
| Region Coding | 4 | Directed By |
Stig Bergqvist Paul Demeyer |
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Studio
Distributor |
 Paramount Home Entertainment |
Starring |
Christine Cavanaugh Elizabeth Daily Cheryl Chase Kath Soucie Tara Strong Michael Bell Jack Riley II Susan Sarandon John Lithgow Debbie Reynolds Julia Kato Dionne Quan |
| Case | Amaray-Transparent | ||
| RPI | $39.95 | Music | Mark Mothersbaugh |
| Video | Audio | ||
| Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None |
Danish Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) Norwegian Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) Swedish Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) |
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| Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 1.78:1 | ||
| 16x9 Enhancement |
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| Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
| Original Aspect Ratio | 1.85:1 | Miscellaneous | |
| Jacket Pictures | No | ||
| Subtitles |
Danish English Norwegian Swedish English for the Hearing Impaired |
Smoking | No |
| Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
| Action In or After Credits | No | ||
The story revolves around Chucky's request to the "Bobfather" to find a new mommy. When Stu Pickles is urgently summoned to France to fix the robot Reptar (main attraction of the Japanese theme park Euroreptarland), his best mate Chas Finster tags along, with the Rugrat gang, to sample the delights of gay Paris. Initially bedazzled by the gorgeous kimono-clad Kira and her love child Kimi, true romance seems certain to blossom. However, the meddling of the wicked career-set Coco la Bouche, her evil lackey Jean-Claude and the ever-scheming Angelica seem set to chuck the proverbial spanner in the works. As ever, the day is saved by the Rugrats gang and Paris is only half-destroyed in the battle royale between the Rugrat-driven Reptar and the Escargot-robot piloted by the evil Jean-Claude.
Rugrats in Paris combines an involved plot, fun poked at many movies past and contemporary with the pathos of Chucky and Kimi searching for a new Mom and Dad. The film features the guest voice talents of Susan Sarandon, John Lithgow, Debbie Reynolds and Tim Curry. The usual Rugrats cast features Elizabeth Daily (Tommy Pickles) and Christine Cavanaugh (Chuckie Finster) who both played Babe in Babe-Pig in the City and Babe respectively and who latterly feature in The Powerpuff Girls as well as numerous voice parts over the years. It is accompanied by a lively soundtrack including the talents of The Baha Men, T-Boz, Isaac Hayes, Geri Halliwell, Sinead O'Connor and Cyndi Lauper and a score played by the London Metropolitan Orchestra.
The distinct and lovable characterisations of the Rugrats, plenty of action and the subtleties of dialogue ensure that the movie is captivating for the kids and watchable for their more age-enhanced parents. My three year-old sat through the first 4 viewings of the entire film and demanded more, long after I was pleading for mercy! I found the film entertaining and worthy of a place in the home collection.
The animation is of a high standard with sharp, clearly defined animation, smooth panning and occasional tastefully included CGI and photographic scenic effects. There was no level noise and shadow detail was good within the bounds of an animated feature.
The colours were vibrant and rich, only marred by an occasional top-of-frame, low intensity blue bleed into the dark areas of the film at 2:40, 5:00 and 5:49. This was only prominent on widescreen projection and at first I thought it might have been an intentional lighting effect except it also occurs in a few later outdoors scenes. Perhaps it's a mild Macrovision artefact.
There were no MPEG artefacts seen. Aliasing is very rare and very mild when it does occur. Film artefacts are rare and confined to the occasional black flecks (eg 8:06) and white flecks (eg 11:19). These are not distracting.
Students of Scandinavian languages will be thrilled to see subtitles included in Danish, Norwegian, Swedish and English for the Hearing Impaired.
This disc is an RSDL disc, with the layer change placed at 43:35. It occurs at the end of a scene in Chapter 6 and is not disruptive to the flow of the movie.
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All four soundtracks are recorded in Dolby Digital 5.1 in English, Danish, Swedish and Norwegian, accompanied by corresponding subtitles.
The dialogue was clear although a little difficult to interpret occasionally due to the American drawl and frequent background Foley effects and music score. Audio sync was not a problem in this movie.
The musical score was written by Mark Mothersbaugh and played by the London Metropolitan Orchestra. Generally pleasant and unobtrusive it nicely supported the film, accompanying Foley effects and featured songs. The featured songs made pleasant listening and were complimentary to the film but apart from the theme song "Who Let The Dogs Out" by The Baha Men were largely forgettable.
Apart from the showcase Chucky Chan's dream, the surround speakers were used in low-key fashion, as befits a dialogue-rich move.
The subwoofer was infrequently used, mostly to augment aircraft fly-bys and the delicate footsteps of the robot Reptar.
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| Surround Channel Use | |
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Well presented summary of the film's highlights.
Theatrical Promo Spots
2 brief promo spots featuring a parental flashcard quiz of Who's Who in Rugrats and a brief tutorial to essential Francais.
Sound Effects Showcase
Dolby Digital 5.1 showcase of Chuckie Chan's dream with some good use of surround sound.
Alternate Endings
Two brief alternate versions of the sad fate of the wicked Coco La Bouche.
Baha Men Music Video
"Who Let The Dogs Out" - full length music video in Dolby Digital 2.0.
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
| Video | |
| Audio | |
| Extras | |
| Plot | |
| Overall | |
| Review Equipment | |
| DVD | Toshiba SD-900E, using RGB output |
| Display | Pioneer SD-T50W1 (127cm). Calibrated with Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable. |
| Audio Decoder | Built in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials. |
| Amplification | Denon AVC-A1SE |
| Speakers | B&W 602 front/rear. B&W LRC6 Centre / Solid (AKA B&W) 500 SW |