'Hey Arnold' may be year's most subversive film

By Marshall Fine
The (Westchester, N.Y.) Journal News

HEY ARNOLD! THE MOVIE (Rated PG for violence) Three Stars. A boy tries to stop a developer from bulldozing his urban neighborhood to make way for a mall in this animated feature based on a Nickelodeon cartoon. Some amusement for parents but mostly for fans of the TV show. Featuring the voices of Spencer Klein, Paul Sorvino. Directed by Tuck Tucker. Paramount Pictures, 80 minutes.

Produced by Nickelodeon Movies, "Hey Arnold! The Movie" is based on the popular cartoon series on the kid's network. The series is notable for the sometimes prickly relations between a diverse urban cast of characters led by Arnold, a blond kid whose head routinely is described as football-shaped by all who know or meet him.

The aging inner-city neighborhood where Arnold lives at his grandparents' boarding house is being threatened.

A developer named Scheck, mouthing slogans like "Change is good," has been approved by the city to tear down the whole area and replace it with a mega mall.

The pre-teen Arnold rallies his neighbors in a campaign to stop the destruction of their homes and businesses. Nothing seems to work — not petitions or marches or publicity stunts. Then Arnold discovers that, in fact, the block where he lives was the site of a pre-Revolutionary War uprising that earned it status as a historic landmark. The resourceful and optimistic youth must track down the documentation that will save his neighborhood.

Arnold is guided in his quest by a mysterious informant calling himself "Deep Voice," who knows where to point the pint-sized sleuth. It won't come as a surprise to anyone with affection for the TV series (and, really, who else wants to see this film?) that Deep Voice has a connection to Helga, Arnold's classmate and constant nemesis (who secretly worships the ground on which he walks).

For parents, "Hey Arnold!" offers few of the witty pleasures of the "Rugrats" movies, another Nickelodeon offshoot, but it has its moments nonetheless. There are spoofs on a variety of other films, including "Men in Black," "Mission: Impossible" and "Speed." For those seeking more grown-up jokes, well, some might say that the slick Scheck, with his soothingly whispery manner, bears a resemblance to Ronald Reagan.

The drawing in this cartoon feature has a rudimentary look, as though made up of illustrations that were never meant to be enlarged beyond the size of a TV screen. The film has the broad simplicity of a 10-year-old's vision of the world — which is exactly what "Hey Arnold! The Movie" is meant to evoke.

Rated PG for violence.