Rugrats Go Wild (review)

I can’t pretend to appreciate for myself the eww-gross humor of Rugrats and their dirty-diaper jokes, but it delights me to see that kids today do appreciate such an imaginative crew of enthusiastic youngsters as Tommy Pickles and his pals. And ya gotta love The Wild Thornberrys with its pro-environment undercurrent and its snarky depiction of sibling rivalry. They’re all together here — the Rugrats gang, kids and adults together, take a vacation cruise that ends in disaster when they land on the otherwise deserted island where the Thornberrys are filming a nature documentary. Many silly references to everything from Gilligan’s Island to The Poseidon Adventure to Titanic will tickle the grownups, but this one is mostly for the kids. It’s an overgrown Saturday morning cartoon with an admittedly clever big-screen, group-moviegoing bonus: Pick up a scratch-and-sniff card when you enter the theater, and scratch and sniff at the appropriate moment during the film (big numbers flashing onscreen tell you when and which section to scratch and sniff), and ewwwww and ahhhh all together to the aroma of smelly feet, cupcakes, flowers, and more. Be warned: Bruce Willis (Tears of the Sun), as the voice of Spike the Rugrats’ dog, sings. I confess to actually owning (at one time) and actually liking The Return of Bruno. Your mileage may vary.