June
28, 2002 | Unless someone sets fire to your living room, there's
no pressing reason to leave home to see Hey Arnold! The Movie
at your friendly neighborhood megaplex. Little more than a typical TV
episode writ large for theatrical consumption, this extremely mild spin-off
from the popular Nickelodeon animated series should be opening soon
at a video store near you.
Even
so, the little ones in your household may demand to see their young
hero on the big screen. If that happens, well, grin and bear it. And
try not to think that, not too long from now, the kids will want to
see R-rated sex comedies instead.
Much
like the TV show, Hey Arnold! The Movie focuses on a title character
with a creative imagination, a sense of fair play - and a football-shaped
noggin. Arnold loves his ethnically and culturally diverse inner-city
neighborhood, which appears to be inspired by movies set in '50s and
'60s Brooklyn. But a ruthlessly greedy land developer - is there any
other kind of land developer, in any kind of movie? - wants to tear
down the decrepit shops and boarding houses, to make way for a spanking
new shopping mall.
So
it's up to Arnold - with a little help from Gerald, his best buddy,
and Helga, a girl who only pretends to hate him - to find a document
that would prove the neighborhood is a federally protected historical
landmark. After many close calls, the good guys prevail. How nice.
Most
grown-ups - and quite a few sharp-eyed children - will be unimpressed
by the dreary and herky-jerky hand-drawn animation, to say nothing of
the formulaic plot and overall charmlessness of Hey Arnold! The Movie.
On the other hand, adults might be mildly amused by the pop-culture
references - the movie alludes to everything from Speed and Men
in Black to The Incredible Hulk and All the President's
Men - and the grown-up notables who provide voices for supporting
characters. Listen closely, and you'll hear Jennifer Jason Leigh as
a well-armed adventuress, and Paul Sorvino as the big, bad land developer.