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Arnold is what he is
[Paramount Pictures]
Bridget, left, offers Gerald and Arnold access to her high-tech gadgets in Hey Arnold! The Movie. |
By PHILIP BOOTH, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published June 27, 2002
The movie version of Nickelodeon's Hey Arnold! doesn't have much depth, but that's okay. It's a fine story for kids.
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Neither as visually appealing as a Disney production nor as pop-culture savvy as the Rugrats movies, Hey, Arnold! The Movie works fine as a consolation prize for children and their adult chaperones. That is meant as a compliment.
Seen Lilo & Stitch but don't want to subject your kids to the inanities and mild frights of the lame Scooby-Doo? Hey Arnold! The Movie isn't a bad second choice.
The comic adventure, a big-screen version of the popular Nickelodeon animated series, boasts a likable lead character: a kid with a football-shaped head (as others point out all too frequently), a guilty smirk and a mop of unruly blond hair split into two equal portions by a tiny blue baseball cap.
His features are worth noting because series creator Craig Bartlett and Tuck Tucker, director of 100 episodes of the show, offer minimal character development. What we see is what we get.
Arnold does possess at least two qualities worth emulating. He is kind to his quirky grandparents, with whom he lives in a ramshackle boarding house. And he has a social conscience: When his inner-city neighborhood is threatened with destruction in the name of progress, he leads his African-American friend Gerald (Jamil Smith) and their little pals in an all-out effort to save the place from the bulldozers.
Nickelodeon’s Hey Arnold! The Movie is a fine alternative for kids.
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The odds are against "Short Man," Grandpa's (Dan Castellaneta) nickname for Arnold. The chief obstacle is a developer/business magnate named Scheck (Paul Sorvino), head of the monopolistic Future Tech Industries.
"Change is good," the handsome, well-dressed force of evil says about his project. "This plan represents the end of urban decay."
Helga (Francesca Marie Smith), although secretly in love with Arnold, is critical of his cause. Arnold has a little help from friends in high places, though. Bridget (Jennifer Jason Leigh), the svelte, agile local superspy, offers the kids access to her treasure trove of high-tech gadgets; Arnold and Gerald leave her headquarters looking like the duo out of Men in Black. A one-legged bus driver spills his woes but provides speedy transportation and a few maneuvers straight out of Speed at a crucial moment. An offbeat coroner (Christopher Lloyd) with access to the city's deepest, darkest secrets, is key, too.
In a reference sure to fly right over the heads of the intended audience, a shadowy, trench coat-wearing character named Deep Voice constantly supplies Arnold with inside information about Scheck's plans. The greedhead, as it turns out, is brought down in part due to the machinations of a bratty little girl with pigtails and a pink bow. Who knew?
Hey Arnold! The Movie
- Grade: B-
- Director: Tuck Tucker
- Cast: Voices of Jennifer Jason Leigh, Christopher Lloyd, Paul Sorvino, Spencer Klein, Jamil Smith, Francesca Marie Smith and Dan Castellaneta
- Screenplay: Craig Bartlett and Steve Viksten
- Rating: PG
- Running time: 76 minutes
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