The Rugrats Movie

• E. G. Daily as Tommy Pickles
• Tara Charendoff as Dil Pickles
• Christine Cavanaugh as Chuckie Finster
• Kath Soucie as Phil, Lil, and Betty DeVille
• Cheryl Chase as Angelica Pickles
• Jack Riley as Stu Pickles
• Melanie Chartoff as Didi Pickles and Grandma Minka
• Michael Bell as Drew Pickles, Chas Finster and Grandpa Boris
• Tress MacNeille as Charlotte Pickles
• Philip Proctor as Howard DeVille, Igor
• Joe Alaskey as Grandpa Lou Pickles

• David Spade as Frank
• Whoopi Goldberg as Margaret
• Tim Curry as Rex Pester
• Hattie Winston as Dr. Lucy Carmichael
• Andrea Martin as Aunt Miriam
• Cree Summer as Susie Carmichael
• Tony Jay as Dr. Lipschitz
• Busta Rhymes as Reptar Wagon
• Roger Clinton, Jr. as Air Crewman
• Margaret Cho as Lt. Klavin
• Edie McClurg as Nurse
• Charlie Adler as United Express Driver
• Gregg Berger as Circus TV Announcer
• Abraham Benrubi as Serge

• Lenny Kravitz
• Iggy Pop
• Lisa Loeb
• Gordon Gano
• B-Real
• Patti Smith
• Jakob Dylan
• Phife Dawg
• Beck
• Lou Rawls
• Dawn Robinson
• Laurie Anderson
• Fred Schneider, Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson of The B-52's without member Keith Strickland

The Rugrats Movie was released on VHS and DVD on March 30, 1999, by Paramount Home Video. The film was also released on Laserdisc on the same day by Pioneer Entertainment. On March 15, 2011, the film was re-released in a three-disc trilogy DVD set alongside its sequels, in honor of Rugrats' 20th anniversary.[10] In addition, it was re-released in some movie sets by Paramount, in 2016 with all the non-sequel Nickelodeon-animated movies up to Barnyard, as well as a separate 2-disc set with Hey Arnold!: The Movie.[11] The film was released on Blu-ray on March 8, 2022, in a trilogy set alongside its sequels.[12][13]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	link
Entertainment Weekly	C link

The Rugrats Movie: Music from the Motion Picture was released by Interscope Records on November 3, 1998.[14] The enhanced soundtrack contained thirteen tracks, bonus CD-ROM demos and commercials.[14] Amazon.com's Richard Gehr praised the CD for "[bridging] demographics as nimbly as the [original] show itself [did]" and for songs "fans of all ages will love".[14]

Entertainment Weekly's David Browne rated the Music From the Motion Picture with a C.[15]

Browne noted that, while the soundtrack is enjoyable for children and does "[make] concessions" for parents, adults may dislike the amount of rap.[15] Allmusic's William Ruhlmann reviewed the soundtrack positively, saying "the result" of the singers and songs "is a romp in keeping with the tone of the show and the film".[16]

The Rugrats Movie: Music from the Motion Picture spent twenty six weeks on Billboard 200, peaking at #19.[17]

Longtime Rugrats composer Mark Mothersbaugh, composed the film's musical score. One song written for the film's soundtrack that was ultimately removed was "(Safe in This) Sky Life", a new track by English rock musician David Bowie; the song marked a reunion with longtime collaborator Tony Visconti, who would go on to produce all of Bowie's material from 2002 up until his death in 2016. The track would later be re-recorded as a B-side for Bowie's 2002 single "Everyone Says 'Hi'", under the shortened title of "Safe".[18] The original 1998 recording remains unreleased and has never been circulated.

In honor of its twentieth anniversary, the film's soundtrack was released on vinyl on November 30, 2018.[19]

A side-scrolling video game titled The Rugrats Movie was released for Game Boy and Game Boy Color in 1998 and 1999 respectively. It was developed by Software Creations and released by THQ.[20][21] Broderbund also developed and published a video game based on the film: The Rugrats Movie: Activity Challenge. It was released in September 1998, as part of the film's marketing campaign.[22][23][24]

Several books were released by Simon & Schuster's Simon Spotlight branch and Nickelodeon inspired by The Rugrats Movie. Tommy's New Playmate and The Rugrats Versus the Monkeys were also released on October 1, 1998, authored by Luke David and illustrated by John Kurtz and Sandrina Kurtz.[25][26]

The Rugrats Movie Storybook, released on the same date and using the same illustrators and publishers, was written by Sarah Wilson.[27] The same date saw the release of The Rugrats Movie: Hang On To Your Diapies, Babies, We're Going In!: Trivia from the Hit Movie!, a trivia book written by Kitty Richards.[28]

A novelization of the film written by Cathy East Dubowski was published on October 1, 1998, by Tandem Library.[29] The following month, a 144-page guidebook, The Making of The Rugrats Movie: Behind the Scenes at Klasky Csupo, was released on November 1, 1998, by MSG.[30] In May 1999, Hal Leonard Publishing Corporation released a book titled The Rugrats Movie.[31]

The film was released on November 20, 1998, and made $27.3 million in its opening weekend,[32] from 2,782 theaters, averaging about $9,821 per venue and ranking number one that weekend, beating Enemy of the State.[33][34] It would be overtaken by A Bug's Life during its second weekend.[35] In total, The Rugrats Movie made $140.9 million; $100.5 million from the domestic market and $40.4 million from its foreign release.[32]

The film was released in the United Kingdom on March 26, 1999, and topped the country's box office for the next three weekends, before being dethroned by The Faculty.[36][37][38][33]

On Rotten Tomatoes, The Rugrats Movie holds an approval rating of 59% based on 51 reviews, with an average rating of 5.8/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "Charming characters; loads of fun for kids and adults."[39] Metacritic gave the film 62% based on the 20 reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.[40]

Roger Ebert gave the film two stars out of four.[41] Ebert wrote that the film's target audience was primarily younger children, and that, while he as an adult disliked it, he "might have" liked it if he were younger and would recommend it for children.[41] The New York Times's Anita Gates reviewed The Rugrats Movie positively, calling it a "delight".[42] Neil Jeffries of Empire gave the film three out of five stars, saying, "Fun for kids, but, despite some adult references, appeal for the over 10s is limited."[43]

Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly graded the film with a B.[44] Schwarzbaum praised the movie for its appeal to both adult and child audiences, "juxtaposing the blithely self-absorbed parallel universes of small, diapered children and their large, Dockered parents".[44] However, other Entertainment Weekly reviewer Ty Burr gave The Rugrats Movie a B−, criticizing that the film's issues sprung from it being "bigger" than the original series, thus it having more cultural references, out-of-place CGI scenes, and "[going] into scary territory".[45] Burr did praise the "escaped circus monkeys" for being "scary in a good way", as well as a joke that was accessible to younger audiences.[45]

Rugrats co-creator and co-writer Paul Germain (who, along with the other original writers, left the series in 1993) has stated that he disliked the film's story. Germain felt that the film's writers did not understand what the series was about, and thought that the scene in which Stu gives a watch to Tommy did not work as the adults were not supposed to recognize the babies' intelligence. In addition, he felt that by giving Tommy a baby brother, Tommy was no longer the baby, which changed the story of the series from what Germain intended it to be.[46]