"Rugrats: the Movie" is a fun ride for fans and their folks

When the Rugrats TV show began several years ago, I was childless and didn’t see the humor in referring to toddlers as rugrats. Needless to say, I was not a fan. Then I had a rugrat of my own, and the show became a charming look at the realities of life for a hidden faction of humanity. I was ecstatic when my kids became fans.

The movie continues the tradition of the Pickles clan and the children who play with Tommy; it also introduces a new character – Tommy’s brother, Dylan (or Dil). Yeah, Dil Pickles is the new character’s name!

As the movie begins, Tommy’s Mommy is pregnant and attending her co-ed baby shower when she goes into labor. The confused adults gather the children and, as is tradition and mandatory for this show to work, lose them in the hospital. The Rugrats discuss the upcoming birth of what all believe to be Tommy’s new little sister, and Tommy pays a nurse to bring his new baby, believing, of course, that he had to pay.

The doctor was wrong, and the disappointment is briefly evident as the adults try to name the baby boy when they only had girls’ names ready. Then Tommy meets his new baby brother.

Life after the birth is hectic as the adults and the children deal with a colicky baby who takes all the parental attention away from Tommy. The Rugrats decide this baby is not what Tommy paid for – Baby Dil needs to go back to the “store”. They take Daddy Pickle’s new Reptar invention, a car that can actually fit them all, and it leads them on an adventure where they get lost in the woods, find a tribe of lost circus monkeys, escape a wild wolf that threatens them, search for “the wizard” that will help them get home, and Tommy learns “responsibility” and learns to love and respect his new baby brother.

In the end, the gang has accepted Dil as one of their own and counts on him to join their games and quests.

I used to think Rugrats was created by a bunch of adults making fun of kids, but it was actually adults who still remember what it was like to be a kid. When a new child comes into an established family, old lessons must be relearned and established expectations are destroyed. This movie explores the new world through the eyes of the sibling. "Rugrats: The Movie" is a perfect family film, combining issues relevant to toddlers and their parents, with music by the guys who used to be Devo (something Mom and Dad might find interesting).

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