I found out about this movie a little after it initially came out. At the time I loved the concept of crossovers and when I saw this on television, I figured this would be great. I never caught much of it beyond a majority of the first half and part of the end. I would look further into it and... yeah it's not good. I wanted this to be good, or at the very least serviceable, I forgave The Rugrats Movie, Hey Arnold!: The Movie, even the earlier live-action Nick flicks, but this was the movie that finally broke me.
Aspects of the crossover are surface level, to say the least. Some of the interactions seem predictable, like Chuckie and Donnie, the rest range from decent to just passable. One aspect that seemed neat was that we got to hear Spike talk and we get a sense of his commitment to the babies, his babies. My problem is that I go for what seems like a good idea and pay little mind to how it's executed.
It's also a musical, it seems. Yes The Rugrats Movie had some songs, but even those were better, far and in-between even, some were also cut from the film. The premise itself is predictable, I don't know how they could've handled a crossover like this beyond what was obvious. Also, Susie plays a bigger role here than the previous two films, so if you were not a fan of the rivalry between them in the show it's a rude welcoming.
By this point Nickelodeon had made Klasky-Csupo their personal cash cow, shows up the wazoo and a loss of any steam with what had been going on for over a decade at this point. I try to go into movies like that with an open mind, but when you turn me away you know it's gonna be a terrible movie. About the only thing I'll ever argue about this film is that it's not better than the first Rugrats movie, trust me, it's way better than this.
Perhaps Nickelodeon just has a hard time working with trilogies. Case in point, look at what happened to Sponge On the Run. It's clear that and this were made as money jobs, cash in on the properties they own in order to make more out of them. Familiar faces, a basic story, you get the picture.
