Hey Arnold! The Movie (2002)

Like the 'Doug' animated movie this is purely for fans of the original cartoon. Totally for kids and no one else really, I can't see any adult (or child even) liking this at all unless they know the original series and have followed it.

This was probably my fave 'Nick' toon beating even 'Rugrats', why? because you could relate to it quite well. Many of the stories tend to revolve around real situations that kids deal with in their daily lives, situations many of us will have gone through. The usual stuff like bullies, school, projects, parents, families, snow days, adventures using your imagination etc...

Next to that is the great array of loud quirky characters which fill this world, Dan Castellaneta voicing one of my faves in 'Grandpa Phil'. The oddly shaped designs of the characters is another little series trait and of course the hand drawn style of the cartoon is really rich, colourful and bold. Each toon has their own unique individual artistic style but 'Hey Arnold!' is really one of my favourites, its so pleasing to the eye.

As for this movie, its obviously an extended version of the regular 20min cartoon but as usual it can't quite live up to the original shorter material. The plot is quite a heavy one involving 'Arnold' and 'Gerald' trying to save their neighbourhood from being destroyed by some rich tycoon. This doesn't really work too well in my opinion as it just seems too much of a stretch for the characters to achieve. Some of the ideas by other characters to stop this happening are just daft (yeah I know its a toon but still), blowing a hole in their own street?. All in all it does feel like the writers have had problems trying to think of cute filler to take up the time. Even for a kids film its dreadfully average and predictable.

New characters are also kinda bland and uninteresting unfortunately. They are voiced well by a stellar cast but they just seem uninspired, accept for 'the Coroner' voiced by Chris Lloyd, he was quite cool. All the other regular characters are present and voiced by the regular cast so continuity is good and the film visually looks the same accept for the odd spot of CGI and its generally sharper naturally.

To look at this film is to love it, its Hey Arnold but so much crisper and more delightful. But that's about it really, the plot is heavy handed, it feels terribly stretched, they try to cram all characters in the background and the little amusing touches have disappeared!. All they needed to do was stick to a more kid friendly plot if you ask me or a continuation of the final series perhaps. Something we (the fans) can all relate to, exactly why the series was so successful in the first place.