Hey Arnold: The Jungle Movie- after all these years an ending to the show with a resolution for Arnold on his missing parents. The hype around this TV movie was understandably huge. I tried to stay cautiously optimistic. Especially so after seeing the initial teaser with the new voices and character designs. After seeing the movie in it's entirety I'll say that the heart of the show is present in this movie as is the weight of the unresolved conclusion to the series from "The Journal." While I greatly appreciate and admire Craig Bartlett and the people that made this movie possible, that didn't stop me from taking a few notes about things that I felt were off about the movie. Who am I and why does my opinion matter? It doesn't, really. It's an opinion. I have a background in 2D animation and am an avid fan of the show. I guess I'm doing this to process my feelings after this epic conclusion to one of my favorite Nicktoons. If you're still with me then here we go.
Things I liked
The music: The familiar jazzy sounds from Jim Lang are of course present in this movie and are a nice blast from the past.
The backgrounds: The background art in the movie is great to look at and true to the series' background paintings- right down to the colored pencil textures.
The characters: For the most part, this movie stayed true to the character traits of the series and thank goodness for original voice actors returning such as Francesca Marie Smith as Helga and Dan Castellaneta as Grandpa.
Things I felt were off- Here's my time to be picky.
* Voices: Like I said, returning cast members contributed greatly to the nostalgia in this. Understandably so the voices of many of the kids (minus Helga, Harold, Phoebe, and Mr. Simmons to name a few) were different. Arnold's actor did an alright job except some of the whisper-talking was a little too much (although we can thank our lucky stars that Alex D Linz was too grown for the job. No offense to Mr. Linz but I can barely watch those last few episodes with that cracky Max Keeble voice). Helga sounded like helga, and the aforementioned sounded great too. Gerald's actor was also an okay comparison to Jamil Walker Smith.
* Character Designs: The new "updated" character designs- albeit expected and necessary, came with some weirdness. Pupil size has a weird inconsistency and often they're big like old episodes of The Simpsons. Also aging Mr. Simmons often looked creepy to me- "Eh very creehpeyy," as Mr. Hyughn says.
* Pacing: At 81 minutes plus commercials, the movie finds minor pacing issues from me. If Craig and the crew had it their way I'm sure the movie could have been a full two hours but that's TV. We don't need to dwell on the city setting and talk about the forthcoming adventure for an hour before it starts- but it only took about 15 minutes for Arnold and the gang to end up in South America.
* Smartphones. Or iPods? What year does this take place again?
* Helga's almost-confession on the boat was really weird and out of nowhere. And then she tears up the locket photo. Is the other movie not canon as far as Helga's confession of love?
* Arnold's parent wake up after how long? 13 years? And their first response to seeing their son feels lackluster. Not even a hug is exchanged. And not to get too real, but how did they survive? Shouldn't they have starved? Suspension of disbelief...Suspension of disbelief...
* The ending flashes forward to after Arnold gets home and for some reason he forgets he traveled home from San Lorenzo with his parents because of a nightmare? At least this is insinuated by a line from his dad. His folks walk with him to school and the doors of PS 118 close behind with a white heavenly glow behind Miles and Stella as the series comes to a literal close- at long last.
If you're still with me thanks for reading my thoughts on this. Please remove any trash you may have left behind and exit out the doors to your right. Thanks to Craig Bartlett, thanks to Nickelodeon, and thanks to us loyal fans for being vocal about our love for this great show.
Things I liked
The music: The familiar jazzy sounds from Jim Lang are of course present in this movie and are a nice blast from the past.
The backgrounds: The background art in the movie is great to look at and true to the series' background paintings- right down to the colored pencil textures.
The characters: For the most part, this movie stayed true to the character traits of the series and thank goodness for original voice actors returning such as Francesca Marie Smith as Helga and Dan Castellaneta as Grandpa.
Things I felt were off- Here's my time to be picky.
* Voices: Like I said, returning cast members contributed greatly to the nostalgia in this. Understandably so the voices of many of the kids (minus Helga, Harold, Phoebe, and Mr. Simmons to name a few) were different. Arnold's actor did an alright job except some of the whisper-talking was a little too much (although we can thank our lucky stars that Alex D Linz was too grown for the job. No offense to Mr. Linz but I can barely watch those last few episodes with that cracky Max Keeble voice). Helga sounded like helga, and the aforementioned sounded great too. Gerald's actor was also an okay comparison to Jamil Walker Smith.
* Character Designs: The new "updated" character designs- albeit expected and necessary, came with some weirdness. Pupil size has a weird inconsistency and often they're big like old episodes of The Simpsons. Also aging Mr. Simmons often looked creepy to me- "Eh very creehpeyy," as Mr. Hyughn says.
* Pacing: At 81 minutes plus commercials, the movie finds minor pacing issues from me. If Craig and the crew had it their way I'm sure the movie could have been a full two hours but that's TV. We don't need to dwell on the city setting and talk about the forthcoming adventure for an hour before it starts- but it only took about 15 minutes for Arnold and the gang to end up in South America.
* Smartphones. Or iPods? What year does this take place again?
* Helga's almost-confession on the boat was really weird and out of nowhere. And then she tears up the locket photo. Is the other movie not canon as far as Helga's confession of love?
* Arnold's parent wake up after how long? 13 years? And their first response to seeing their son feels lackluster. Not even a hug is exchanged. And not to get too real, but how did they survive? Shouldn't they have starved? Suspension of disbelief...Suspension of disbelief...
* The ending flashes forward to after Arnold gets home and for some reason he forgets he traveled home from San Lorenzo with his parents because of a nightmare? At least this is insinuated by a line from his dad. His folks walk with him to school and the doors of PS 118 close behind with a white heavenly glow behind Miles and Stella as the series comes to a literal close- at long last.
If you're still with me thanks for reading my thoughts on this. Please remove any trash you may have left behind and exit out the doors to your right. Thanks to Craig Bartlett, thanks to Nickelodeon, and thanks to us loyal fans for being vocal about our love for this great show.