[3] The film features the voices of E. G. Daily, Tara Strong, Christine Cavanaugh, Kath Soucie, Cheryl Chase, Cree Summer, Jack Riley, Melanie Chartoff, Michael Bell and Joe Alaskey, along with guest stars David Spade, Whoopi Goldberg, Margaret Cho, Busta Rhymes, and Tim Curry.
The film takes place between the events of the series' fifth and sixth seasons, and it follows Tommy Pickles as he and the rest of the Rugrats along with his new baby brother, Dil, eventually get lost into the deep wilderness after taking a high-speed ride on the Reptar Wagon, and embark on an adventure to find their way home in the forest while being pursued by circus monkeys and a predatory wolf along the way.
Plans for a Rugrats film adaptation, along with Ren and Stimpy and Doug, began when Nickelodeon made a contract with 20th Century Fox to produce them.
With Dil still causing problems at the Pickles' home, Phil and Lil suggest using the Reptar Wagon Stu has built for a toy contest in Japan to take him back to the hospital.
She fights Dil to get the doll back and accidentally kicks the Reptar wagon, which begins to drive away with the babies on board.
Meanwhile, the family discovers the babies are missing and set out to find them in the face of the media sensation that has suddenly generated around their children's disappearance.
After the storm passes, they reunite with Phil, Lil, and Chuckie, who, upon having a change of heart, stop the monkeys from trying to take away Tommy and Dil.
The first revolves around Stu and Didi in a nightmare sequence where Dr. Lipschitz criticizes their parenting through a song called "When the Baby Cries".
The second depicts the Rugrats pushing the Reptar Wagon through the woods, debating what to do about Dil in an army chant style song.
However, the VHS, DVD, Laserdisc, and Blu-ray releases contain a different CatDog short from episode 28 titled "Winslow's Home Videos".
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.
A new track by English rock musician David Bowie, "(Safe in This) Sky Life", was written for the film's soundtrack but was ultimately removed.
[20] 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".
[21] 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".
[26][27] Broderbund also developed and published a video game based on the film: The Rugrats Movie: Activity Challenge.
[35] 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.
[38] 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.
[48] 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.
[50] 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".
[50] 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's having more cultural references, out-of-place CGI scenes, and "[going] into scary territory".
[52] Nell Minow of Common Sense Media gave the film three stars out of five, saying that it was "'90s animated tale has some cartoon violence, peril.