 | ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids. |
 | OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | NOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age. |
Hey Arnold: The Movie
- Review Date: May 3, 2004
- PG
- Genre: Family and Kids
- 2002
Common Sense Media says
Not inspired. What did you expect?
Parents say
Kids say
QUALITY
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that this movie is just violent enough to get a PG rating, but there's really nothing that most kids over six can't handle. More disturbing are the stereotyped characters, from Arnold's best friend/token black kid Gerald to Arnold's grandparents to a one-legged bus driver.
What's the story?
HEY ARNOLD!: THE MOVIE finds its football-headed hero with a heart of gold in a save-the-neighborhood situation. A big bad wolf industrialist named Scheck (voiced by Paul Sorvino) wants to turn Arnold's happy suburb into a "mall-plex." Most of the adults reluctantly sell their homes, but Arnold arranges benefits and does research on how to save the town, undiscouraged by Scheck's constant attempts to crush him and the pessimism of everyone else. He eventually finds out about a Boston Tea Party-esque event that occurred in his town during the revolutionary war and works to get the town saved as a historical landmark.
Is it any good?
Hey Arnold! The Movie is as unimaginative as its title and far too long at 74 minutes. Hard core fans of the television series will enjoy seeing the characters on the big screen, but most everyone else will be bored with the characters, the animation, and the utterly predictable chain of events.
There's nothing remotely new or exiting about the plot, and nearly all of the situations are annoyingly dumb. Kids may enjoy seeing Arnold save the day, but adults will snooze through it, due to a storyline everyone's seen before, animation that is below the Fat Albert level, and characters that range from uninteresting to unappealing. There are some amusing voice cameos from Jennifer Jason Leigh and Christopher Lloyd, as well as timely references to Men in Black II and The Hulk. And if anyone these days comes close to being Mel Blanc, it's Dan Castellaneta (The Simpsons), who gives wildly different characters such genuine personality that one would never guess that they come from the same guy. If only those voices had a better script.
What families can talk about
Families can talk about what exactly it is that keeps Arnold so positive during such stressful times, and why his neighbor Helga (who looks and acts almost exactly like Rugrats? Angelica) feels the need to hide her crush on Arnold by being mean to him.
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Kid, 11 years old
May 20, 2011
AGE
hey Arnold : the movie
love it
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AGE
Too awsome
What 'commonsense' bonehead rated this. It's so great! Rated G.
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AGE
Couple of things to say about this movie
I did not like this film at all. I didn't laugh, I didn't enjoy it. It is a stupid movie. The kisses were not appropriate, the humor was poor, although it had a positive message, it was just not a good movie. I don't like it. I don't think it is a film other kids would enjoy either.
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AGE
The biggest disappointment
This movie was overhyped by Nickelodeon in 2002 and for nothing. This movie was Nick's worst movie ever. But how can Common Sense Media give this movie a "pause" when social behavior is "on" and there's nothing objectionable in it? That makes no sense at all.
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AGE
hey arnold
based on a cartoon, not much more to tell than that
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| Studio: | Paramount Pictures |
| Director: | Tuck Tucker |
| Cast: | Christopher Lloyd, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Spencer Klein |
| Genre: | Family and Kids |
| Run time: | 76 minutes |
| Theatrical release date: | June 28, 2002 |
| DVD release date: | December 31, 2002 |
| MPAA rating: | PG |
| MPAA explanation: | mild violence |
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