Directed by Tuck Tucker and written by series creator Craig Bartlett (who also produced the film) and Steve Viksten, with music by series composer Jim Lang, the film stars Spencer Klein, Francesca Smith, Jamil Walker Smith, Dan Castellaneta, Tress MacNeille, Paul Sorvino, and Jennifer Jason Leigh, and follows Arnold, Gerald, and Helga on a quest to save their neighborhood from a greedy developer who plans on converting it into a huge shopping mall.
Arriving home from being defeated by fifth-graders in a basketball game, Arnold Shortman and his best friend Gerald Johanssen learn from butcher Marty Green that Alphonse Perrier du von Scheck, the CEO of real estate company FutureTech Industries (FTI), has announced plans to redevelop the entire neighborhood of Hillwood as a luxurious high-rise shopping mall.
That night, Helga Pataki finds that her father, Big Bob, is working with FTI to build a new super-sized branch of his beeper store in the proposed mall.
Just as the neighborhood's fate appears to be sealed, Arnold's grandfather Phil explains the "Tomato Incident," a major Revolutionary War battle fought in the city, revealing that it occurred at the site of the Sunset Arms boarding house.
Meanwhile, Phil and the other residents of Sunset Arms devise a backup plan to stop the bulldozers from destroying the neighborhood, wiring the storm drain tunnels beneath their street with dynamite to intercept FTI's construction equipment.
Aided by agent Bridget, Arnold and Gerald infiltrate the FTI headquarters, only for them to discover that Scheck has the document in his hand.
They escape, but believe they have failed, until "Deep Voice" advises Arnold to obtain the FTI's security-camera footage of Scheck burning the document.
The pair escape the building and meet Gerald on a city bus, convincing the driver Murray to accelerate at maximum speed when he learns that his former girlfriend Mona lives in the same neighborhood.
Scheck arrives, demanding to know why demolition has not begun, but then notices the footage of himself burning the document on the monitor, and realizes he has been caught and will likely be facing prison time.
Arnold's neighbor Harold Berman sits on the detonator, inadvertently igniting Phil's explosives and causing the jumbotron monitor to be destroyed.
[5] As work on the fifth season was completing, in 2001, Bartlett and company engaged in the production of the first film, titled Arnold Saves the Neighborhood.
The Neighborhood project was originally produced for television and home video as the last 3 episodes of season 5,[4][5] but eventually became Hey Arnold!
They showed segments on Nickelodeon called "Backyard Players" where kids would play Arnold, Gerald, and Helga and act out scenes from the film.
: The Movie was Nickelodeon's first animated feature to receive a PG rating from the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) for thematic elements.