Latest `Rugrats’ tiptoes fine line to success

loading...

In Theaters

RUGRATS IN PARIS 80 minutes. G; directed by Stig Bergqvist and Paul Demeyer; written by J. David Stem, David Weiss, Jill Gorey, Barbara Herndon and Kate Boutilier.

Just as in the old Saturday morning Warner Brothers cartoons, where Chuck Jones and his crew brilliantly walked the fine line between entertainment for children and entertainment for adults, the creators of Nickelodeon’s “Rugrats” know exactly how to please each camp.

That’s a major key to their success. On one level, they’re titillating youngsters with the ribald antics of Tommy Pickles and his high-strung toddler friends, but on another level, they’re winking broadly at adults – you know, those people who have the cash to move Rugrats merchandise and to turn Rugrats movies into $100 million-plus hits.

If that’s a calculated move on the part of the producers, at least the end result doesn’t feel disingenuous. Indeed, while watching “Rugrats” on television or seeing the movies – “Rugrats in Paris” being the second after 1998’s smash success “The Rugrats Movie” – there’s a real sense that the series wasn’t manufactured only in an effort to cash in. Indeed, this series is so unique, it more often feels as if it just happened to get lucky in striking a cultural vein.

“Rugrats in Paris” mirrors the first film in that it’s a study in pop culture references. As the story unfolds, adults will note clear references to “The Godfather,” “Godzilla,” “King Kong” and “Little Indian, Big City,” while some children might join their parents in noting references to “Lady and the Tramp,” “101 Dalmatians” and Disney’s Paris-based theme park, EuroDisneyland.

Here, in one of the film’s more inspired moments of cultural roughhousing, it lampoons EuroDisneyland and its initial, well-publicized spate of problems with the creation of EuroReptarland.

There, as the story goes, the head of the park, Coco La Bouche (voice of Susan Sarandon), a child-hating witch reminiscent of Cruella De Vil, demands Tommy Pickles’ father, Stu (Jack Riley), come immediately to the park to fix a giant, animatronic T-Rex that’s literally on its last leg.

Stu, not exactly the brightest engineer to loosen a lug nut, mistakenly believes Coco has asked that he bring his entire family with him on the trip – as well as all of their friends, a convenient plot device that neatly gets everyone in Paris to be part of the fun.

This is not to mention the mayhem, part of which swirls around the sweet redheaded boy, Chuckie Finster (Christine Cavanaugh). His widower father is tricked into falling for the scheming La Bouche, a woman who knows she will further her position at the park if she can land a husband – and do it soon.

For all of its crude, toilet humor – and there’s much of it in “Rugrats in Paris,” perhaps too much for a film that snagged a G rating – the film has heart. The scenes between Chuckie and his father, both of whom deeply miss the mother and wife, are genuinely touching and moving. These moments help balance the film, lifting it out of its flurry of potty and vomit jokes while giving it a much-needed soul.

Grade: B+

On Video

GLADIATOR 150 minutes. R; directed by Ridley Scott; written by David Franzoni, John Logan and William Nicholson.

Beefcake! Blood! Body slams! Boring!

Boring? Well, not quite, but at 150 minutes, Ridley Scott’s “Gladiator” isn’t entirely the thrilling, action-packed Roman epic some fans of the genre were hoping for when the film was released in May.

Too long by a third, the film features a terrific opening in its vicious, well-staged battle against Germania, but quickly dissolves into 90 minutes of dull chatter before getting on with what audiences want – gore, political upheavals and fantastic betrayals.

Here’s a tip: Before renting the film, first arm yourself with its three main source films: Fred Niblo’s 1926 silent film, “Ben Hur,” William Wyler’s 1959 remake, “Ben Hur,” and Stanley Kubrick’s 1960 spectacle, “Spartacus.”

Those films not only showcase how well the Roman epic can be pulled off, but also how far Scott came from creating a gripping epic of his own.

Above all, “Gladiator” exists to be an epic. Fueled with a $100 million budget, the film boasts big sets, a big story, a computer-generated recreation of the Roman Colosseum, a terrific cast, literally thousands of extras, and a good director. Those are its strengths.

Its problem is that its characters aren’t especially interesting. As Maximus, a general from Spain who loses everything – his freedom, his wife, his son – after the actions of his arch nemesis, Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix), Russell Crowe (“L.A. Confidential,” “The Insider”) has presence, but no core.

His character is an enigma, the suffering hero we never truly get to know. That’s no fault of Crowe’s – his passion holds the movie together in spite of his character’s two dimensions – but more a fault of the screenwriters, who made the timeworn mistake of focusing their attention almost entirely on the film’s plot.

“Gladiator” isn’t entirely beaten down by its moments of tedium. Once the stage is set for Maximus to overthrow Commodus, the film comes to life in its terrific last hour, which is so rousing, it seems as if somebody else is at the helm.

With Connie Nielsen as Commodus’ sister and the late Oliver Reed, who died during production, nicely conniving as Proximo, the film ultimately is clouded with historical inaccuracies. The worst of these is Crowe’s thick Australian accent, which proves some-thing of a problem since Australia wasn’t discovered until 1,800 years after “Gladiator” is set.

Grade: B-

Christopher Smith is the Bangor Daily News film critic. His reviews appear Mondays in Style and Thursdays in the scene.

THE VIDEO CORNER

Renting a video? NEWS film critic Christopher Smith can help. Below are his grades of recent releases in video stores.

Chicken Run A

Gladiator B-

X-Men C

Big Momma’s House B

Boys and Girls C-

Fantasia 2000 A-

The Perfect Storm A

Mission: Impossible 2 B+

Titan A.E. B-

Frequency B

Return to Me B+

Center Stage D+

The Patriot B+

Toy Story 2 A

Keeping the Faith B+

Rules of Engagement C-

Shanghai Noon C

Pitch Black B+

East-West A-

The Skulls D-

Snow Day F

U-571 C-

Black and White B-

Final Destination D-

A Map of the World A-

High Fidelity A-

Ready to Rumble D

28 Days C-

East is East A

Mission to Mars D-

American Psycho B+