Rugrats in Paris: The Movie
Rugrats in Paris: The Movie is a 2000 animated comedy film based on the Nickelodeon animated television series "Rugrats" and the second film in the series. This film marks the first appearance of Kimi Watanabe and her mother, Kira. The film also marks the appearance of the first significant villains in the "Rugrats" franchise, the child-hating Coco LaBouche and her accomplice, Jean-Claude. The events of the film take place before the series' seventh season. The film was released in the United States on November 17, 2000, almost two years after the release of  The Rugrats Movie in 1998. "Rugrats in Paris: The Movie" was the best-reviewed film in the series from critics and fans alike and grossed over $103 million worldwide against a production budget of $30 million. Plot. At the wedding reception of Lou Pickles and his new wife Lulu, a mother-child dance saddens Chuckie Finster and his father Chas with memories of Chuckie's mother and Chas's wife, who died shortly after he was born. The following night Tommy Pickles' father Stu is summoned to EuroReptarland, a Japanese amusement park in Paris, to fix a malfunctioning  Reptar robot he built for the park's stage show. The entire Pickles, Finster and DeVille families travel to EuroReptarland, where Angelica overhears a phone conversation between the park's head - bad tempered and child-hating Coco LaBouche - and Mr. Yamaguchi, the president of the Reptar corporation. Coco wants to be the next president but when Yamaguchi tells her his successor must love children, she lies and tells him she is engaged to a man with a child. Angelica is then discovered and saves herself by telling Coco about Chas and how he is considering re-marrying. Coco begins pursuing  Chas with the help of her put-upon but kindhearted assistant, Kira Watanabe, who tells the babies the origin of Reptar - that he was a feared monster until his gentler side was revealed by a princess. Hearing this, Chuckie decides he wants the park's princess to be his mother and goes in search of her with the babies and Kira's daughter, Kimi, when spending the day in the park with Chas and Coco. Meanwhile, the Pickles' dog Spike gets lost in the streets of Paris in pursuit of a stray poodle named Fifi. While Coco wins over Chas , Chuckie remains deeply distrustful of her. At the Reptar show's premiere Angelica informs Coco of Chuckie's wish to have the princess for his mother, prompting Coco to infiltrate the show disguised as the princess. She lures Chuckie on stage and into her arms, where he is horrified to discover the truth, but seeing his son embrace Coco confirms to Chas that she is right one for his family and decides to marry her immediately. On the day of the wedding Coco has her accomplice, Jean-Claude, kidnap the babies and Angelica to keep them from intervening and Kira , threatening to reveal Coco's plan, is left on the streets of Paris en route to the ceremony. Jean-Claude locks the babies in the warehouse where the show's robots are kept, where Chuckie laments what has happened, leaving a guilt-ridden Angelica to reveal Coco's plan and her part in it. Enraged, Chuckie rallies the others to hurry to Notre Dame and stop the wedding in the Reptar robot, picking up Kimi along the way. Jean-Claude follows piloting Reptar's nemesis, Robosnail, but is defeated when Reptar knocks him into the Seine River. The babies arrive  in time to interrupt the wedding, followed by Jean-Claude who reveals Coco's true colours, leading Chas to call off the wedding in disgust. Mr. Yamaguchi, who is in attendance, fires Coco after Angelica informs him about Coco’s plan. Then Angelica steps on Coco's wedding dress, causing it to rip to have her underwear shown in front of everyone, including some people with cameras. Coco storms out of the cathedral humiliated and defeated while Spike chases Jean-Claude away. As Chas apologizes to Chuckie for everything Coco has put them both through, Kira returns Chuckie's teddy  bear taken from him by Coco and apologizes to Chas for not speaking up sooner. There Chas and Kira realize they have feelings for one another and she, Kimi and Fifi (who they adopt) leave Paris for America, where Chas and Kira eventually marry. During the new family's first dance together, the entire reception erupts into an all-out food fight instigated by the babies. Soundtrack. A soundtrack album for the film, titled "Rugrats in Paris: The Movie: Music from the Paramount Motion Picture", was released on November 7, 2000, on Maverick Records and features new music from Jessica  Simpson, Baha Men, Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins of TLC, Amanda and Aaron Carter. 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, by Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies. Home media. Paramount Home Entertainment released the film on VHS and DVD on March 27, 2001. In 2009, Paramount released the film via iTunes and the PlayStation Store. On August 29, 2017, "Rugrats in Paris" was re-released on DVD. On March 8, 2022, along with "The Rugrats Movie" and  Rugrats Go Wild, the film was released on Blu-ray as part of the trilogy movie collection. Reception. Critical reception. On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds an approval rating of based on reviews and an average rating of . The site's critical consensus read: "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 gave a film a weighted average score of 62 out of 100 based, on 25 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an  average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F scale. Roger Ebert gave the film three out of four stars, stating, "The point is, adults can attend this movie with a fair degree of pleasure. That's not always the case with movies for kids, as no parent needs to be reminded. There may even be some moms who insist that the kids need to see this movie. You know who you are." Common Sense Media gave the film a three out of five stars, stating, "Eighty minutes of visual surprises, clever comedy." Empire gave the film a three out  of five stars, stating, "Just as good as the last outing, this is great kiddie fare with some filmic references for the adults." Plugged In wrote, "If parents are wanting more of what they see on the "Rugrats" TV show (plenty of potty humor, disrespectful language and zero discipline), then this movie lives up to expectations. Never is a child scolded for making a mess or reprimanded for being rude (of course, some of this is due to the fact that many of the characters aren’t old enough to talk and only communicate with each other). The movie is  cleverly written—it actually has the ability to hold adults’ attention for longer than three minutes—but it's not funny that chaos is the norm and children get to do whatever they want whenever they want. Neither is it appropriate for a children's film to tip its hat to such R-rated flicks as "The Godfather" and "A Few Good Men"." Box office. The film grossed $76.5 million in North America and $26.8 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $103.3 million, against a $30 million budget. In the United States, it  opened at #2, grossing $22.7 million in its opening weekend for an average of $7,743 from 2,934 venues. In the United Kingdom, it opened at #3, behind "Bridget Jones's Diary" and "Spy Kids". Sequel. A third and final installment, entitled "Rugrats Go Wild", was released on June 13, 2003, featuring the characters from "The Wild Thornberrys".