Rugrats Go Wild is a crossover Nickelodeon animated family comedy film, based off two television cartoon shows Rugrats and The Wild Thornberrys. It was the third and last Rugrats film and is a sequel to The Rugrats Movie and Rugrats in Paris: The Movie. The film received mixed to negative reviews and grossed $55 million worldwide, making the lowest grossing Rugrats-related film.
Plot[]
The Rugrats and their parents are on a ramshackle boat that Tommy's father, Stu, has rented in the South China Seas. The boat shipwrecks, leaving them deserted on a small island. On the same island, but on the other side, are the famous globe-trotting family, the Thornberry's are out to film a Clouded Leopard. The little babies set off to find them, for they suspect they are somewhere on the island (as it happens, Tommy treats Nigel like an idol). Somewhere along the way, Chuckie gets lost and runs into Thornberry's Tarzan-like child, Donnie, and the two switch clothes. Meanwhile, Eliza is tramping around the jungle and runs into Spike, the Rugrats dog. Since Eliza can talk to animals, Spike tells her that the little babies are lost somewhere in the island.Her father, Nigel, spots them. But after a fall down a cliff and a bonk on the head with a coconut Nigel gets amnesia. Angelica runs into Debbie, the teenage Thornberry, and she takes off with Debbie in the Thornberry all-purpose Comvee. While not paying attention, the bumbling twosome sink the Comvee and generally cause havoc. Meanwhile, pop culture references to just about anything about castaways on an island (in particular, Gilligan's Island, Survivor, and Lord of the Flies) ensue. Also, unlike the previous movies, Susie tags along with a Polaroid-like camera in hand, and doesn't have her parents traveling with her.
Production[]
The Rugrats Meet the Wild Thornberrys was originally made by Klasky Csupo's television unit, (directed by Mark Risley and written by Kate Boutilier) but after wildly successful screenings, Paramount decided it should be shelved and remade into a feature film. The television version, a 90 minute special, still exists somewhere in the Klasky Csupo/ Nickelodeon vaults.
Among the biggest hype this movie received was Bruce Willis voicing Spike, and the use of "Odorama" cards to enhance the viewing experience, Burger King and Blockbuster released a scratch and sniff piece of cardboard that was to be scratched and sniffed during the run of the movie.
Criticism of the "Odorama"[]
There were many complaints, however, that the only thing that the "Odorama" cards smelled like was cardboard. The Odorama card was some what of an homage to John Waters' film Polyester. Despite the homage, Waters felt he was ripped off and realized that New Line Cinema, the studio that released Polyester, didn't renew the copyright for Odorama. He later said that "a check would have been an homage".
