Hey Arnold! The Jungle Movie

One of the earliest Nickelodeon shows I have had experience with in childhood was Hey Arnold!, which details the school life of a wise-beyond-his-years, “football-headed” kid named Arnold living in an urban neighborhood. The show ran for five Seasons from 1996 to 2004, during which it had a theatrically-released film in 2002 entitled Hey Arnold! The Movie, which I will admit I had not actually seen for whatever reason. A second movie, Hey Arnold! The Jungle Movie, was supposed to act as a finale for the series, however it was scrapped in part due to the 2002 movie’s failure at the box office, only for the project to get revived in 2015 following fan support and a move from the then-new network head to revive older popular properties. This allowed the movie to finally see the light of day in 2017 on Nickelodeon, providing proper closure to a cliffhanger from the show 15 years later regarding the whereabouts of Arnold’s missing parents. While I did record the movie out of interest when it aired, I didn’t end up actually watching it until recently. The movie does work as a proper finale to the series, though while it was great to see these characters again after so many years, I couldn’t help but feel it come off as impenetrable to a non-fan.

On the last day of school, Arnold’s class is given the opportunity to work on a humanities project for a contest, the winner of which will be given a class trip to San Lorenzo. Though everyone leaves the millisecond the bell rings, Arnold (Mason Vale Cotton) and Gerald (Benjamin Flores, Jr.) decide to participate since winning will help Arnold find his missing parents. Things go awry for them the day before the assignment is due, however Helga (Francesca Marie Smith) decides to help out behind Arnold’s back as per her secret crush on him. With help from other people around the neighborhood, the video is enough to win the contest and set Arnold on his journey.

The story is pretty straightforward and focused, in that it commits to telling a single story from beginning to end, and by the end felt like a proper finale to the show. At least one or two of the twists in the movie ended up being a little predictable for me, however this did not diminish the emotional impact of certain scenes. There is also a nice, minor bit of fanservice towards the second act where, after being nicknamed “short man” by his Grandpa Phil (Dan Castellaneta) during the show’s run, it is confirmed that Arnold’s last name is, in fact, Shortman.

However, while the story is good, it assumes you already have some familiarity with the series, mainly to understand the dynamics and personalities regarding the main characters and some side characters. Story-wise, it also assumes you’ve seen Hey Arnold! The Movie from 2002 as well as the two-part episode “The Journal”, the latter of which sets up the plot point of the journal that motivates Arnold to look for his missing parents. I will admit that, in addition to having not seen the 2002 movie, I have no memory of the specific episode it’s building off of, though I was still able to mostly follow along with the story due to having seen a good amount of the show beforehand. Aside from this requirement of prerequisite knowledge, the movie retains the spirit of the original show without coming off as just an extended episode.

Arnold tries to find his missing parents in San Lorenzo.
From left: Gerald Johanssen (Benjamin Flores, Jr.), Helga Pataki
(Francesca Marie Smith), Arnold Shortman (Mason Vale Cotton)

One very interesting thing of note is the acknowledgement of pagers (aka beepers) in the story, which, for those who don’t know, used to be a form of handheld communication capable of receiving messages in a limited capacity. In the original series, Helga’s father is a pager salesman, however they had since become obsolete in favor of cell phones even as the show was originally running, which gets formally addressed early in the movie. Pagers do, however, become a critical plot point in a very creative way later on, which is something I have a feeling I won’t be able to see again in a similar fashion outside this movie.

The animation is a major step up from the original series, featuring very fluid movements and more dynamic lighting. This is helped by the character designs, outside of costume changes, remaining the same as they did in the Hey Arnold! cartoon, only cleaned up to fit in with modern animation standards. There is some conservative use of CG during the movie, primarily during the third act, though even with how the blending of traditional and CG has advanced, the use of said CG was still fairly obvious.

One thing to note about the voice cast is how several returning characters, of which there are many, receive new voice actors on account of the 15-year time gap leading to a number of complications. Among the primary characters, while Arnold himself has had several voice actors over the show’s lifespan, he gains a new one, Mason Vale Cotton, for this movie, though his performance is so spot on that I couldn’t tell it was a different actor until I looked it up. While Jamil Walker Smith was the original voice of Gerald, his new voice actor, Benjamin Flores, Jr., is similarly spot-on and sounded like a natural extension of the original voice. Francesca Marie Smith, meanwhile, continues to be the voice of Helga here and manages to play off the new voice actors very naturally, with the years of experience with her character shining through.

Hey Arnold! The Jungle Movie is a very engaging and solid movie, though your enjoyment level depends entirely on whether you’re familiar with the original series. That aside, it has amazing animation and voice acting, with the story providing a definitive sense of closure. This movie is an easy recommendation to an existing Hey Arnold! fan, though it is recommended that anyone jumping into this movie do some research first to get a better understanding of the story.