Rugrats in Paris: The Movie

Plot

The film opens with a parody of Paramount's 1972 film The Godfather at the wedding reception of Lou Pickles and his new wife, Lulu. A mother-child dance during the reception saddens Chuckie Finster, who realizes that he has lived over two years of his life without his mother, who died of an unspecified illness shortly after he was born. His father, Chas, shares Chuckie's loneliness.

Tommy Pickles' father, Stu, is summoned to EuroReptarland, a Japanese amusement park in Paris, France, to fix a malfunctioning Reptar robot. Tommy, Chuckie, Phil, Lil, Angelica, Dil, their dog Spike, and all their parents travel to Paris to take a vacation at the park.

Coco LaBouche, the cold-hearted, child-hating head of EuroReptarland, yearns to be the president of the entire Reptar franchise and its parent company, Yamaguchi Industries, after her employer, Mr. Yamaguchi, reveals his plans to retire as president. Yamaguchi says that his successor has to love children to be able to do the job, so LaBouche lies to him by claiming to be engaged to a man with a child. Upon the Rugrats' arrival at EuroReptarland, Angelica overhears a conversation between Coco and Yamaguchi before being caught. To save herself, Angelica reveals that Chas is looking for a wife and suggests that Coco marry him.

Coco strikes up a relationship with Chas, but her attempts to bond with Chuckie fail. The adults and babies meet Coco's overworked assistant Kira Watanabe and her daughter, Kimi, who hail from Japan, but are now living in France. Kira helps LaBouche to win Chas' affections. Meanwhile, Spike gets lost in the streets of Paris and falls in love with a stray poodle named Fifi.

Kira tells the babies the origins of Reptar, explaining he was a feared monster until a princess revealed his gentler side to make the frightened humans like him. Chuckie decides the princess should be his new mother, and is aided by his friends to reach an animatronic replica of the princess in the park, but they are stopped by Coco's ninja security guards. At the show's premiere, Angelica informs Coco of Chuckie's wish, so Coco sneaks backstage and takes the spotlight as the princess, luring Chuckie into her arms to make her seem wonderful with children. Chas is ecstatic, deciding she would make an excellent mother and decides on the spot to marry her.

On her wedding day, Coco, aided by her accomplice Jean-Claude, kidnaps the children and traps them in a warehouse, including Angelica. Chuckie rallies the children to crash his father's wedding at the Notre Dame cathedral using the Reptar robot. They are chased by Jean-Claude, who pilots Reptar's nemesis, the Robosnail robot. The chase culminates in a fight on a bridge, and Chuckie knocks Robosnail into the Seine River.

Chuckie crashes the wedding, and Coco pretends to be happy to see Chuckie, but Jean-Claude bursts in and accidentally reveals Coco's true nature by announcing that her kidnapping plot had failed. Chas, seeing Coco for the evil liar she truly is, angrily calls the wedding off. Angelica divulges Coco's plans to Yamaguchi, who is also in attendance, and the former president fires Coco from EuroReptarland for her treachery and deceit. When Coco tries to leave, she realizes the babies are on her wedding train and angrily yanks them off in front of everyone.

Angelica angrily tells Coco that only she can do that and, as Coco leaves the church, Angelica stomps on the wedding dress and rips it, revealing her underwear. Spike chases the humiliated and defeated Coco from the church with Jean-Claude in tow. Kira arrives at the church after having been thrown out of the wedding car earlier and apologizes to Chas for what Coco did to him and Chuckie. Chas and Kira eventually fall in love with each other and got married upon returning to America. Spike's new girlfriend, Fifi, is adopted by the Finster family. Chuckie gets Kira as a new mother, and Kimi as a new sister.

Soundtrack

A soundtrack for the film, titled Rugrats in Paris: The Movie: Music From the Motion Picture was released on November 7, 2000 on Maverick Records. Like the last soundtrack, it also contains an enhanced part: the theme song to the film "Jazzy Rugrat Love" by Teena Marie.

Release

The film was released on November 17, 2000, and grossed $103,291,131 worldwide from a $30 million budget. In the United States, it grossed $22,718,184 in its opening weekend for an average of $7,743 from 2,934 venues. In the United Kingdom, Bridget Jones's Diary dethroned Rugrats in Paris to #3, thus placing it behind Bridget Jones and Spy Kids.

Home media

Paramount Home Video released the film on VHS and DVD on March 27, 2001. In 2009, Paramount released the film via iTunes and the PlayStation Store.

On March 15, 2011, Rugrats in Paris, as well as The Rugrats Movie and Rugrats Go Wild, were re released on a three disc trilogy collection.

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a 75% approval rating from critics based on 73 reviews. The critical consensus reads: "When the Rugrats go to Paris, the result is Nickelodeon-style fun. The plot is effectively character-driven, and features catchy songs and great celebrity voice-acting." Metacritic gives a film a 62/100 based on 25 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". This is the most critically acclaimed Rugrats film to date.

Sequel

A third installment, entitled Rugrats Go Wild, was released on June 13, 2003, featuring the characters from The Wild Thornberrys.