Hey Arnold! The Movie

No bells or whistles, no shiny moviemagic, no nothing. In the way Xfiles movie was perceived as an elongated episode of the show, so is this. Problem is, it looks grotty. The actual look is so identical to the show it does not translate well to being introduced to 'blown-up-o'vision'. The animation is utterly identical to the show, everything is.

Fact is this: if you like Hey Arnold!, then you'll probably enjoy this as a decent episode. But no way does this deserve to be a movie. It looks not even as good as a rushed job, and the plot is as shabby as anything *I* could come up with in 2 minutes.

It's a kid's movie, with some half-decent gags to be fair, but it's a rip off.

My friend and I had said before "Hey Arnold!" came out that it'll probably be a pretty bad movie, because of the excessive advertising Nickelodeon put together before the release. With that in mind, I was pleasantly surprised at how wonderfully entertaining it was. Now, I've been a relatively big fan of the t.v. show since it first came out, so this is a biased review, but for anyone who's a fan of the show (and as one critic pointed out, who else would want to see this?), this is well worth watching. There's a few good pieces of comedy (mostly from Grandma and Grandpa), and the parents (who'll probably be a least a little amused by it) will notice a whole bunch of cliches from other movies, which is the style in the which many of the episodes are based upon. So the bottom line of this movie is: if you're a fan of the show, this is well worth seeing. If you're not a fan (I then don't know why you're even reading this), you might be entertained, but it's up to you.

Hey Arnold! The Movie is harmless, cute, and eventful. Never being a huge fan of the show, but always liking it, I was pleased with the movie adaptation, but found it hard to accept. It's a longer episode of the show, but doesn't do anything daring or very memorable. The Simpsons got sealed into a dome, South Park started a war with Canadians, and even Spongebob set foot on land. Arnold didn't accomplish something as monumental as all the others.

For what it is, it's nothing but an extended episode of the show. Arnold and his pals Gerald and Helga try to stop Mr. Sheck, a giant businessman, from taking over their small neighborhood and replacing it with a huge, revolutionary mall. This means destroying Arnold's block and possibly losing all of his friends in the mix.

Its entertainment stems from its simplicity and the character's desire to achieve their goal. They try and buy secret agent gear to sneak into Sheck's office. Arguably my favorite scene in the movie is the broken hearted bus driver complaining about his failed relationship. The scene mirrors the film Speed, and is pretty much one of the best homages to the film I've seen.

But like I said, if you're going to bring it to the big screen, do something bigger than the series. This could've been an hour long special on Nickelodeon. A seventy-five minute film based on a Nickelodeon's series doesn't say much other than "we thought we'd make you see it a different way." Arnold is likable to a degree, but he's just another perky kid who wants a seemingly impossible thing done. Every character we've seen before. The one character I absolutely loved in the show was Oskar Kokoshka, a con artist who lived in Arnold's apartment. He has a brief appearance in the film, and does his signature voice I've loved since my childhood. Sadly, his presence is far too short. He he he.

Hey Arnold! The Movie isn't bad, but not consistently funny. The voice acting is good, the characters are still charming, the only thing that fails is its ability to stay inside the lines and not venture out to explore a bigger range in storytelling. At this point in time, the future of the series looked grim, and it seems the movie just serves as a piece of the show's history.

Voiced by: Spencer Klein, Francesca Smith, Jamil Walker Smith, Dan Castellaneta, Tress MacNeille, Paul Sorvino, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Christopher Lloyd. Directed by: Tuck Tucker.

I've been a fan of Hey Arnold ever since I watched it growing up as a kid and it still remains one of my favorite nicktoons till this day. I remember seeing the movie when it came out in theaters and finally got around to revisiting it. I have to say while it's enjoyable, it really does feel more like the t.v special it was intended to be and not a movie. The plot is pretty weak and the length of the movie feels forced at even it's short 70 min runtime. The animation also isn't that great for a theatrical film (some of the later episodes of the show actually had better animation). But, it's flaws don't keep it from being enjoyable. The film still sticks to the shows humor and characters well and keeps itself going at a good pace which makes it so the film never really slows down. Still, I feel like it really didn't a movie and it probably should've just stayed a t.v special. If you're a die hard fan of the show, you'll most likely be disappointed but still enjoy it.

This film's origins as a planned TV movie show quite painfully. The animation is barely better than the TV show and the plotting seems low-key rather than something cinematic. It has a very simple story with the usual cartoon shenanigans of defeating the villain and saving the day. Along the way there are funny moments and characters.