• Oh Those Kids in Paris: The Movie surprisingly impressive in terms of production value, with smooth animation and a unique visual style that stays true to the original show.
  • The film pays homage to one of the show’s best storylines, focusing on Chucky’s desire for a new mother figure and his journey to find happiness and overcome grief.
  • The film features entertaining action scenes, including a memorable mech battle that adds unexpected yet enjoyable elements to the Rugrats Universe.

The Iconic Oh These Babies have gone through a lot of crazy toddler adventures over the years, but none is more ridiculous than Oh Those Kids in Paris: The Movie. We do not mean that in a negative sense, to put it bluntly, the second Rugrats a feature film has absolutely no right to be as good as it is. It doesn’t mean a second Rugrats a good film is hardly shocking. The Emmy-nominated original series is one of Nickelodeon’s first major cult shows and the first Rugrats the 1998 film is also quite good (although the part where Spike almost dies is quite traumatic).

What, as they say, Oh those kids in Paris might just be the best thing to ever come out of a franchise. As well as Movie SpongeBob SquarePants And Film The Wild Thornberries, Nickelodeon has consistently demonstrated that they are quite adept at bringing their classic cartoons to the big screen. Not only Oh Those Kids in Paris: The Movie a movie that can be enjoyed completely independently of the show, but also has a compelling story, surprisingly impressive production value, and a solid emotional foundation.

What is the movie “Oh, Those Kids in Paris” about?

Image via Nickelodeon

Oh Those Kids in Paris: The Movie opens with Angelica (Cheryl Chase) plays a game with the rest of the kids, depicting a parody of Marlon Brando from Godfather. It’s been less than a minute and we’re off to a good start. The kids are here for a special occasion - Grandpa PicklesJoe Alaskey) gets married, and all the friends of the Pickles family celebrate. Not everything is as rosy as the shy and nervous Chucky (Christine Cavanaugh) can’t help but feel left out. While he watches his friends dance with their moms, Chucky dreams that he could have his own mother to spend time with.

Meanwhile, about a few thousand miles away, violent theme park head Coco LaBouche (Susan Sarandon) is watching rehearsals for a new attraction at Euro Reptarland. The attraction is an opera-style show that features a several-foot tall animatronic Reptar (a fictional popular dinosaur similar to Godzilla from the show), but the robot does not appear to be working. Labouche demands that the inventor of the machine, Stu Pickles (Jack Riley) fly to France immediately to fix it. Stu decides to bring his close family and friends along, including the kids.

As Stu works on fixing the attraction, Oh Those Kids explores an impressive amusement park, and Chucky finds himself fascinated by the park’s princess mascot. Not realizing that the princess is just another simple animatronic, Chucky thinks she could be his new mom. However, a rude awakening awaits Chucky when the villainess Coco LaBouche comes up with a reckless plan to become the head of the company. Her boss says he wants someone with a family and childcare experience to run the parks entirely, resulting in Labouche trying to seduce Chucky’s father, Chaz (Michael Bell).

Labush almost succeeds, but Oh, these kids are not going to give up without a fight. To stop the wedding, our heroes… wait… steal the Reptar robot and go on a rampage through Paris to get to Notre Dame in time. Oh, and the kids are being stalked by Labouche’s henchman Jean-Claude (John Lithgow), who pilots his own snail robot. After a surprisingly well orchestrated and entertaining battle of giant robots, Chucky and his friends are able to stop his father from marrying a vile woman. The only obvious downside to this is that Chucky won’t have a new mom after all…or will he? It turns out that the kind and gentle assistant Labush Kira (Julia Kato) has a lot in common with Chaz. The film ends with a flash forward in which Chaz and Kira get married and Chucky and his new family live happily ever after.

The Production Value of ‘The Kids in Paris: The Movie’ is Surprisingly Impressive

Reptar in Oh Those Kids in Paris
Image via Nickelodeon

Visually and technically speaking, Oh those kids in Paris by far the most impressive part of the franchise. The animation is smooth and holds up very well. It runs on a noticeably higher budget, but still manages to retain the unique visual style and artistic spirit of the original show. The production design and art style of the film is also impressive. Of course, we acknowledge that the film doesn’t actually use its title location in Paris. Despite brief appearances of such iconic Paris landmarks as the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe and Notre Dame, most of the film takes place in the Reptarland, which is almost 100% Japanese in style. Why not just film in Japan? Who knows, Euro Reptarland is still a very creative and well designed theme park. If you were a kid who grew up watching this movie, the first thing you would want to do is head to Reptarland.

Many of the directorial decisions made here are also correct. Although usually no one thinks about the action scenes in Rugrats movie, they’re here, and they’re oddly excellent. One episode in which Chucky dreams of becoming “Chucky-chan” and taking on a horde of ninjas is a very solid and visually pleasing episode. The real decoration is that the mech freak fights, which is too ridiculous not to enjoy.

Chucky’s story in Rugrats in Paris: The Movie pays homage to one of the show’s best storylines

Chucky in Oh Those Kids in Paris
Image via Nickelodeon

Definitely one of the most infamous episodes Rugrats and perhaps even cartoon history is the infamous “Mother’s Day” episode. In Season 4 Episode 2, the show finally reveals why Chucky’s mother never appeared on the show. In a heartbreaking turn of events, it is revealed that Chucky’s mother passed away from a terminal illness when Chucky was even younger than she is now. While Chucky may still be too young to fully understand the concept, this moment introduces the uncomfortable but inevitable concept of death not only to Chucky, but also to the young target audience that watches the show.

Oh those kids in Paris could be considered a continuation of this infamous arc. This time, both Chaz and Chucky want to get rid of their grief and maybe find new happiness. Chaz would like a new relationship and Chucky would like a new mother. Rugrats the series usually portrays Tommy (Elizabeth Daly) as the main character, but Oh those kids in Paris this is really Chucky’s story. We see how he grows and finds true happiness with a new wonderful person, whom he can call a mother figure.

Oh Those Kids in Paris: The Movie currently available to stream on Paramount+.