Rugrats - "Wash/Dry Story"

From the people who brought you the episode, "Music," comes another musical episode for "Rugrats," called "Wash/Dry Story," inspired from the ever popular musical "West Side Story." Let's start the review, shall we?

When Stu inadvertently turns off the neighborhood water supply, the gang goes to the laundromat to do the laundry, but the problem is, The McNultys are there too, and Teddy McNulty sees Cynthia, and he wants to play with the Cynthia doll. The thing is Jonathan had taken Cynthia alongside with Charlotte's laundry because apparently, Charlotte doesn't do laundry, Jonathan does it for her. That seems kind of lazy. Kimi wants to return Cynthia to Angelica, but Teddy wants to keep her all to himself. That said, two groups of kids get into a standoff. Will they never cease? Stay tuned to find out!

The reason I like this episode is because it's a good satire on a classic musical. I mean you have Timmy McNulty as Riff Lorton, Kimi being Rita Moreno, Teddy being of course Richard Beymer as Tony Wyzek, and of course the music has a lot of good spoofs like for example, "Stray Cat Strut" by the Stray Cats, "Maria," and "There's a Place For Us." Clever parodies, clever plot. Too bad there's no parody of "I Feel Pretty." Come on, guys, Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim would be proud. Also, I should point out that this is the last appearance of the McNultys, good riddance if you ask me.

The only other parody of West Side Story was perhaps the Animatiacs episode with the Goodfeathers, and that episode featured the voice of Ivy Austin from Sesame Street.

Just remember, the moral of the story is always keep your eyes on your prized possessions, if not, they end up in a laundry basket on the way to the laundromat.

Just remember, someplace, there's always a place for all of us to play, it's just not at the laundromat, and that's the moral, folks. Hope you enjoyed my first review on February.

Rugrats - "Hiccups"

Now let's review the season five episode, "Hiccups," which was written by Bill Braunstein. I looked him up and he also worked on Aaahh!!! Real Monsters and Pinky and the Brain. But we're not here to talk about his writing, we're here to review cartoons! Let's go!

After eating some popcorn that Stu dropped, Tommy gets a pretty bad case of the hiccups. Angelica tries scaring Tommy to get rid of his hiccups, but he doesn't scare easily. Good for him, but not good for Chuckie.

Will Angelica, Phil, and Lil scare away Tommy's hiccups? Or will Tommy be sacrificed to the Hiccup gods?

Well, I'm not telling! (raspberry noise) Because you've got to watch and see for yourself!

This episode is pretty funny. With Angelica appearing, you'd think I would hate this episode. Well, nope! She acts in character, and she even lets Phil and Lil in on her curing hiccups game. The problem is the only grown-up who appeared in this episode, doesn't do a whole lot of screen-time. He only appears at the very beginning getting rid of the spider Angelica sees when she was trying to get her cookies. You would think that Stu would hear Tommy's hiccups and try to help him cure them. But nope, he just disappears the rest of the episode! What a waste of a Jack Riley character appearance.

In the end, all nitpicking aside, it doesn't matter if Stu didn't appear in this episode that much, because it's focused on Tommy and Angelica. And in the end, the guilty got what was coming to her, by having her get the hiccups as seen in this picture here. And here's a not-so-fun fact for ya. There is no medically known cure for hiccups. That is ENTIRELY untrue. There are several remedies. For example, drink some water, hold your breath, or for that matter, drink the water upside down. Believe me, I've had the hiccups once in a while. Besides, hiccups are no biggie, it's just an air bubble that has landed into your air lungs.

Rugrats - "All's Well That Pretends Well"

Yep, another Season Six episode review for Rugrats. This time, let's take a look at  "All's Well That Pretends Well"

The Cirque du Dummi Bear is in town, and everyone's getting ready to go see the live show. Angelica however, has a pretty bad cold and goes through extreme lengths to make sure that she does go despite her illness. Can she hide this fact from her parents and the rest of the grown-ups by making them think one of the other babies is sick? Or will she just admit what's going on and just face the consequences?

Well I'm not telling! PBBT! Because you've got watch and see for yourself. Okay? All right. Onto the review.

This is another one of those Angelica Karma Trips episodes. Remember, the reason I call these episodes that is because it's all justified because Angelica was acting like a jerk, and it was satisfying to see her get her comeuppance for her sour attitude. This is a much better episode than "The Big Sneeze," and I'll explain why, this one is focused on Angelica being the one who's sneezing, not Chuckie. I don't know what Cirque du Dummi Bear translates out to, but I think it's French for the Dummi Bear circus. At least, when Angelica got really sick after Spike shook the feather duster onto her, at least her parents didn't punish her, instead, they just care for her like actual parents would.

This episode was really funny. It had joke after joke, and even some of Stu Pickles' lines were funny. I would say that it was a shame that Angelica never went to that Cirque Du Dummi Bear thing, but I won't , mainly due to the fact she got what was getting to her, and the fact that Stu actually bought the entire thing on videotape, not to mention Laserdisc, DVD, HDTV, CD-ROM, Betamax and 8-track, according to Chaz, I must say, Stu Pickles really knows how to solve Angelica's problems. Also, this is one if not the only episode where Tommy tries not to give in to Angelica's antics, like the ice cream for example.

If you're an Angelica fan, or just a regular Rugrats fan and don't know which one is your favorite, go ahead and give it a watch.

Rugrats - "Runaway Angelica"

Okay, now I've completely calmed down and needed a CatDog review before this, I decided now is the right time to review "Runaway Angelica."

After getting into trouble in Drew's office and being sent into her room, Angelica decides to run away. Yeah, we know, she's a troublemaker; it’s part of the territory...but in this episode, it finally starts to add up. Drew as a legitimate scolding to Angelica almost as much as kids who wouldn't behave and get scolded by their parents as well. It turns into your typical Angelica tortures babies as slaves for no good reason episode until it starts to rain, and Angelica decides to go into the dog house, literally. So what, she gives in to her on instincts and her parents get worried and Drew regrets everything he said and everything's okay, right? Actually no, Drew and Charlotte never knew that Angelica ran away, mostly because they were to distracted by the world around them. There’s suddenly something at risk, and something Angelica values is now truly on the line. But in the end, despite her hopes of her parents being worried about her, reality takes its toll.

She hears Drew talking to Didi and Stu and he says "Oh, boy." It is so nice to get away from the responsibilities of parenthood.

And in my opinion, this is the saddest thing I've ever seen on this show.

I identify a lot with this episode. I sometimes got into trouble growing up myself, either, and I can tell you, all the talks, all the pressure, all the fears of not being loved by your parents anymore are properly represented here. In my opinion, this is the most dramatic episode they’ve ever put out. There’s no villain, there’s no one element to play, it’s just a tough slice of life and it still shows that your parents will still always love you even if you do those bad things, which is a hard lesson for anyone to learn, so hard that they don’t even really teach it that much in TV or movies. It’s tough to deal with, and this episode doesn’t sugarcoat it.  Sugarcoating meaning sentimental. It shows just what an impact it has on her and how much it can really hurt. Now, true, there is still a happy ending, but to be fair, I think it kinda works. Her valuable lesson some payoff, and she uses what she learned to her advantage.  But this is the first, and in my opinion, only time “Rugrats” had a perfect mix of good comedy, good storytelling, and surprisingly good drama. I’ve never seen an episode that balanced all three of those so well. You get sucked into Angelica’s dilemma, you feel bad for what she’s going through, and you want to see her come out okay. On top of that, there’s still some good laughs, a lot of heart, and a satisfactory resolution. Although I will say, if her big concern is not doing those bad things ever again, then how come in every single episode, SHE STILL DOES THOSE HORRIBLE THINGS?!

I don’t know, but what I do know is that this is a truly unique episode, and in my opinion, the absolute best of them all. It’s touching, it’s funny, it was near the end of the second season, it's just a gem.

Hey Arnold! The Jungle Movie Review

I didn't cry at the end of Hey Arnold! The Jungle Movie, just saying that right now. I know it's awkward to bring up, but with that in mind, not everybody;'s going to like this movie like I did. I just thought it be important that I bring that up before I say the rest. With that said, Hey Arnold! The Jungle Movie was the final chapter in the Hey Arnold series,. Everybody had waited so long for this movie to happen to see if whether or not Arnold can go find his parents. They said it was emotional, they said it was funny, they said it was dark, they said it was creative, some people didn't like it, the list goes on, yadda, yadda, yadda. They went crazy for it. I think it’s good. Yeah, you know. It’s good, uh...Okay, okay, let’s just go into the story.

Arnold Shortman, now in 5th grade and is in the last day of school has to do an important assignment from Mr. Simmons, voiced by Dan Butler, about doing a montage of all the great things they've done over the years, and the winner, will get a trip to San Lorenzo, and sure enough, Helga steps in and helps the football head win the contest by editing the montage together into one giant thing, and oddly enough, they won the contest, that's right, Arnold and his friends achieved a first-class one way ticket to San Lorenzo!

When they arrive in San Lorenzo, they meet up with the bad guy, Lasombra, voiced by Alfred Molina, disguising himself as Eduardo, Miles and Stella's Indiana Jones like friend, to lure them into his trap to find the precious corazon from the Green-Eyed People. Alfred Molina has been in numerous films, including the first Indiana Jones movie, Raiders of the Lost Ark, starring Harrison Ford. So, Arnold, Gerald, and Helga have to avoid Lasombra to find the Green-Eyed People and break them out of the sleeping sickness curse.

The funny thing about Hey Arnold! The Jungle Movie is that really, this should be my favorite. It goes everywhere that I wanted Arnold to go to get to San Lorenzo, after the TV movie episode, "The Journal," aired on Nickelodeon, I said to myself, "The next part should be about what happens when Arnold finally comes to San Lorenzo to find his long lost parents and what happens when Helga reveals her true love for Arnold." And that’s exactly what happens. Moving on. And once again, we have a legitimate threat that does have a backstory that makes him sort of credible. So why don’t I like this one as much as The Lion King or MLP: The Movie, especially when everyone else in the world seems to regard it as a masterpiece? I don’t know. Maybe there’s too much focus on them trying to get out, maybe it's focused more on Arnold, Gerald, and Helga trying to find the green-eyed people, maybe we didn't get to see what happened to the other kids after the grown-ups stepped in to save them, but I digress. I'll address the Elephant in the Room, Lasombra! I never enjoyed the villain all that much, he just looked like Eduardo's doppelganger, and Alfred Molina? Why?! Why couldn't they cast someone legitimate like Mr. Lawrence or Jeremy Irons. I mean, look at Lasombra, he looks like a character Jeremy Irons would play. I get that Alfred Molina was Craig Bartlett's only choice for the voice of the villain, and I don't blame Alfred for this, it's just, it wasn't the right casting. So, if you had someone who was looking for corazon, you’d probably keep him away from your kids, too.

So, there, I've stated my complaint about the villain which I'm sure will get me a lot of hate for that, so, of course, you must think I don’t like this film. Well, no. I still think it’s a very, very good film. In fact, I actually do think it’s a great way to end the Hey Arnold franchise. It has my favorite characters, including Olga as seen in this picture here, as well as Rhonda, who spends most of the film having quite a bad hair day it still has a lot of good laughs, it has, surprisingly, a lot of suspense, and, hey, it's still Hey Arnold! And for a lot of people, this represents something that they grew up with as children, and maybe that’s why so many people do react the way they do at the very end.

A lot of kids who didn't know who their parents are were Arnold's age when the show first aired on Nickelodeon, so to watch themselves grow up and to watch the show actually grow up with them as well probably mirrors a lot of developments that a lot of people in the audience have gone through. Maybe in the end, this was the film's secret. It knew just when to come out and it knew just when to stop. It reached just the right age bracket and decided to grow up with us. And for those who didn’t grow up around the same age, maybe this film brought it back to them,..Maybe they hit something that not only do we all remember, but we all hold so precious and close to us. Whatever this film did, it did it right, the hopes of seeing Arnold finally finding his parents in San Lorenzo had finally come to pass. I'm afraid I have no other choice but to here by decree that Arnold is henceforth no longer parentless, which I suppose is what henceforth means, but no matter, Arnold, go on! Give all your parents the lost time to make up!

Let the world know, near and far, including but not limited to, my mom and dad, that this is not the end of Arnold's hopes and dreams! No! Quite the contrary, Arnold's life with his family has just begun!

But please don't reboot the series, please?

This review is dedicated with respect and admiration to the memory of Jack Riley.

The star of Rugrats and The Bob Newhart Show. we will miss you all.

Rest in peace: 1935-2016

Rugrats - "He Saw, She Saw"

And now, a Rugrats review of an episode that doesn't feature Angelica. Here's one episode I like from 1997, it's called, "He Saw, She Saw."

The story is that while at the park with his friends, Chuckie Finster befriends a girl named Emma, no relation to the actress who was in a rehash of a certain Disney Classic, Emma Watson, no relation to her, okay? And they find a lot in common, being afraid of ants, and heck, being afraid of everything! Much like Cradle Attraction, it's your typical, Chuckie falls in love with a cute and one-shot character./ Unbeknownst to Chuckie, Emma is the younger sister of the bully, Big Binky (voiced by Joanna Rubiner) who is over-protective of his younger sister, so Chuckie has to do all he can to keep Emma away from her big brother.

This episode is quite cute. I especially find it cute when both Chuckie and Emma get ants stuck on them and they scatter until they fell off of the sandbox, it was funny as well. Interesting fact: Emma was voiced by none other than Philece Sampler, if you don't know who that is, well, it's obviously Mimi herself from Digimon, so, it goes to show you that Mimi does voices for Rugrats, that shows how cute the character of Emma is. One thing that grinds my gears is what is the origins of Big Binky? Where did he come from? Why are the kids so afraid of him more than his sister? Is he like Angelica's doppelganger? So many questions, that I'm afraid we'll never know.

Final verdict? Aside from those problems, this episode is pretty cute and funny. The parts with Didi and Stu are kind of interesting too, I felt bad for Stu because he got a black eye from one of the activities they've played. And it has a few nice morals, like don't be so overprotective of your younger brother or sister, as well as the one Stu says at the end saying, "Sometimes it's difficult being a kid," which sadly is quite true.

Fun fact: A clip of this episode can be seen in the Nickelodeon 5 to 8 promo from 1998, look for it here.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ponYisBDEHM

Rugrats - "Angelica Breaks a Leg"

Yeah, I needed to make a review on an Angelica sooner or later. This one, where going to review Angelica Breaks a Leg, my favorite episode of the third season of Rugrats, and this was WAY before those Squidward Torture episodes came into fruition. It was written by the late Steve Viksten, the same guy who wrote "Monkey Business" on Hey Arnold! and as usual, it was directed by Jim Duffy.

The episode starts with Drew and Charlotte dropping off Angelica at Tommy's residence, with a reason this time. Drew and Charlotte decided to go power rafting with their cell phones. Drew says that it's great for networking. As Angelica's parents leave, Angelica wants to go to the zoo, but Stu and Didi are quite too busy just minding their own business. Even Grandpa Lou Pickles has been declared busy at the moment, but he does invite Angelica to watch his fishing programs. When she wants to play with Tommy, Tommy decides to just take a nap because he always takes a nap after watching Captain Blasto, much to Angelica's disappointment.

As Grandpa Lou falls asleep, Angelica beings channel surfing to find something good on while complaining about how everybody's too busy and tired doing what she wants to do. She comes across a soap opera that has a man's fiance in a cast, obviously with a broken leg. At first, Angelica complains about how the soap actor is doing everything the woman tells him to do, after a little thinking, she figured that would be a terrific opportunity to get attention. Meanwhile, Stu has trouble getting his Hippo Copter to work, when all of a sudden, he and Didi hear Angelica screaming "Ow!" falling down the stairs with a bowling ball hitting  the vase of a plant and Angelica holding on for dear life on her left leg, telling Stu and Didi that she thinks she broke her leg. Without a break, they take Angelica tot he hospital.

Stu and Didi come across Hoagie Doozer, voiced by Scott Menville, he's obviously a take on Neil Patrick Harris' Doogie Howser, MD, and yes apparently Doozer, that phrase Fraggle Rock is a thing in the Rugrats universe. Meanwhile in the operating room, Bob, voiced by Jim Turner, takes pictures of Angelica, or in this case, X-ray pictures. A few minutes later, Dr. Doozer states that Angelica has sustained a massive fracture of the left fibula, and suggests that they put her in a leg cast. While Didi is unsure about this, Dr. Doozer may be young, but he knows a broken leg when he seeks one and he's a highly trained professional, that, and he also does have a decree. And the nurse brings him his chocolate milk.

That night, they put Angelica in the guest bedroom, and Stu rigged up a call buzzer for her just in case if she needs anything, and then says "What a trooper." Tommy, confused wonders if Angelica's leg is really broken, and Angelica tells him no, and she shows Tommy using the call buzzer into action, where Didi comes in and Angelica requests that Tommy leaves, it was past Tommy's bedtime anyway. By the way, that was the last we see of Tommy in this episode. Too bad. Anyways, Angelica devilishly says "This is gonna great."

Day 1: Angelica requests the easiest request she could think of from Didi. A cold drink, maybe it was grape juice? Next, she calls for Stu, and she requests she wants to watch TV, the problem is, there's only one TV in the house, I guess this was back when there would be enough money to buy multiple television sets. What follows is a montage of Angelica making request after request from Stu or Didi, mostly Stu, like fluffing pillows, opening and closing the window, asking for a tissue, hour in and hour out, they keep giving in to her ridiculous requests, exhausting the two quite greatly.

Day 2: Stu and Didi are exhausted and getting a bit agitated. Stu tries desperately to go upstairs and disconnect the buzzer, but Didi stops him because they need to follow Dr. Doozer's orders. Stu eventually gives in, Didi tried to call Charlotte, but she's too busy. It cuts to a brief scene where Charlotte and Drew are power rafting and they come across a rapid! The buzzer goes off and it was Didi's turn. Angelica requests Didi to make-up story about an angel simply known as Angelica. For some reason, the skipped Day 3, I don't know why the heck they did that. They don't even show the time code for the following scene.

That night, Stu gets ready for bed, when all of a sudden, in the middle of the night, Angelica requests chocolate pudding, at 3:00 in the morning! AT 3:00 IN THE MORNING FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! Stu refuses at first because I think he was starting to suspect that Angelica's leg isn't broken at all, ultimately, he does give in, and he buys pudding mix from a late night grocery store, since they've run out of the already made stuff. Then it cuts to the infamous chocolate pudding scene which has become a meme. Didi asks why Stu is making pudding at 4:00 in the morning, and the reason is because he's lost control of his life. I wonder if it was his deadpan response that caused this to become a meme. We then cut to Angelica watching late night cop shows when Stu brings her her chocolate pudding, until Angelica declares she's not hungry anymore. Stu gets so fed up and so exhausted that he does his over-he-top scream!

Day 4: Stu tries desperately to drink his coffee, but he says to himself, "If I hear that buzzer one more time, I'm about to crack!" Then the phone rings, making Stu jump! Didi reassures that it's just the telephone. Didi answers it, it was Dr. Doozer, calling that they had a mix-up with the x-rays, they've just discovered Angelica's leg isn't broken at all, and that they can bring her down to remove the cast, and says she's sorry for the mistake. He also apologizes to Antonio Peaches, who was the one with the broken leg, you see, I knew it was a mistake all along, I just didn't want to spoil it for everybody. Suddenly, the doorbell rings, and Drew came back to town so early, and there's a good reason, Charlotte had a run-in with a kayak, meaning broken leg.'

See, that's irony for you. Charlotte calls desperately for Drew and Angelica for some help while still talking to Jonathan on the phone. While Angelica would rather do something fun, Drew tells her as punishment for faking a broken leg, they are having her see what it's like, and anything Charlotte wants she gets. Drew then asks Angelica if she has any chocolate pudding, and the episode ends. I can only assume Angelica might've fainted from all the pressure.





Final thoughts: This episode was really funny. The characters reacted accordingly, Angelica never feels out of character, and it was satisfying to see her get comeuppance for her sour attitude, that and I felt pretty bad for Stu in this episode after going through all that torture. At least he can rest fine now.

By the way, there was an episode of the Garfield Show that parodied this in "King Nermal" except not in a good way.

I not only recommend this episode, but I would also like to dedicate this review to the late Jack Riley who voiced Stu Pickles.

Rugrats - "Falling Stars"

Prepare for liftoff, because it's time for me to review "Falling Stars," the best episode of Season 7 of Rugrats! The plot is is that after Grandpa Lou shows Tommy falling stars, Tommy immediately suspects this is a bad thing, and he and the other babies go on a mission to stop the stars from falling, thanks to Angelica's teasing.

If you were to ask me WHY this is my favorite episode in the entire series is because of one thing, it's a spoof on Star Wars! From Angelica as the Big Space Boss (ala Darth Vader,) and Grandpa Lou as Yoda, (Frank Oz, eat your heart out.) And not only that, but it also focuses more on Kimi and Tommy more than the other babies. It even has a parody of "Luke, I am your father." with Angelica saying "I am your cousin!" and Tommy doing a short and over the top "NO!" And they use flashlights as light sabers. Very clever David Rosenberg, writer of the episode. In the end, Angelica does get her comeuppance for her sour attitude of getting rid of the stars. Not even Johnny Bravo could pull this off.

If your into space as much as I am, I recommend this episode to the kids, grown-ups, and even astronauts. My favorite part was Kimi's line when she and Tommy were trapped, "Somebody help us, please!" Amazingly, this aired on 2001, the same year that the Fairly OddParents first aired, and also the very last year the late Christine Cavanaugh was involved with Rugrats.