YMMV / Hey Arnold! The Movie

• Alternative Character Interpretation: What does Arnold actually believe pertaining to Helga's Love Confession? Does he actually think she just gave into a moment of high tension that made her feel like that's what she meant? Was a suspicion Arnold had about Helga having feelings for him confirmed or did he really not realize? Also, by asking Helga if she actually just got exasperated and blurted it out without thinking about it, is Arnold giving her an out and allowing her to take it back until she actually is ready? The Jungle Movie does basically seem to confirm that in both that case—and when Helga tries to confess on the boat—that the former was both Arnold and Helga not being ready to have that discussion while the latter was Arnold himself not being ready for it.
• Awesome Music:
  • Romeo and his father Master P's "2 Way" was used in the end credits and the version of the music video with clips from the movie was in regular circulation on Nickelodeon during summer 2002.
  • The TV ads and trailer for the film heavily utilized two different Aaron Carter songs: his hit single "That's How I Beat Shaq" was one and the other was "Come Follow Me".
• Broken Base:
  • Many fans genuinely like The Movie and think it's criminally underrated or only considered bad because of Executive Meddling and how it affected the series after it flopped. But many either find it okay, but nothing spectacular or think it sucks/could have been better. Aside from the obvious complaint of being a TV movie put on the big screen, some claim that the more action-oriented nature of the movie clashed with the down-to-earth tone of the show. (The James Bond-like teaser trailer didn't help matters either.) Another common complaint is the lack of focus on secondary characters.
  • Before its release, Nickelodeon invoked this trope. The network ran an ad series for the movie that had kids acting out scenes, and then reacting to them. One ad was the "controversial" scene in which Helga confesses her love to Arnold, and all the kids said that she'd never admit it to him.
• Cliché Storm: One of the biggest complaints about the film (if not the biggest), even amongst those who like it, is that there's not much originality in the plot and features every Stock Parody of spy/mystery fiction imaginable without presenting them in unique ways.
• Critical Backlash: This film was slammed upon release by fans and critics, with it becoming a scapegoat of fans' fury for causing the series to go doormat after it flopped at theaters. However, many who look back on this film in retrospect don't get all the negative buzz it initially got, with many finding it serviceable at worst. It helps that the movie is now seen more as a Made-for-TV Movie forced into a theatrical film (thus explaining a lot of negative aspects of the film like the pacing), as well as the initially-canned Jungle Movie coming out in the years since, which solves the Will They or Won't They? plot between Arnold and Helga that this film started, as well as satisfying fans who wanted a conclusion to the series for years.
• Cult Classic: The movie is still adored by many fans today despite its infamous Box Office Bomb status thanks to not only still being viewed as a fun story, but having other things like higher stakes and of course Helga's Love Confession.
• He Really Can Act: Spencer Klein's voicework for Arnold was often monotonous in the series, but in the movie, he brings out his A-game and went all out in what would be his final time voicing the football head.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: Big Bob being tricked into signing over 51% of his beeper business to Sheck is this when the Jungle Movie shows that, thanks to the advent of smartphones, beepers became obsolete.
• It Was His Sled: Helga confesses her love to Arnold. The trailer even spoiled it.
• Just Here for Godzilla: Nick tried to invoke this trope. Basically, Helga's Love Confession was supposed to be the big thing that would attract fans to watch the movie. Unfortunately, the trailer revealed a little too much.
• Moral Event Horizon: When Scheck attempts to stop Arnold, Helga, and Gerald's bus by blowing up the overpass. Even Nick Vermicelli is reluctant to do this. If that wasn't enough, Scheck later attempts to run over Arnold and Gerald with his car, only to discover Grandma Gertie stripped his car of its tires.
• So Okay, It's Average: This most common opinion of the movie. While many think the movie is perfectly adequate with some great animation some awesome moments (especially in the context of it being a Made-for-TV Movie), it doesn't do much to stand out among the rest of the series or the later Jungle Movie, and is pretty derivative of previous episodes and spy parodies.
• Special Effect Failure: When the movie was retooled for theatrical release, one of the things done to spruce it up was applying shading and fully colored outlines to the characters. Unfortunately, it was only consistently applied to Arnold, Gerald and Helga, meaning the three often look severely out of place when put in scenes with other flat-colored, black-outlined characters.
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: Big Bob gets two awesome moments. First, he turned on Nick Vermicelli after discovering that Nick tricked Bob into selling his business to Scheck and beats him up for it. Secondly, he joins Grandpa (who he sometimes had a rivalry with in the show) and the other boarders in their attempts to save the neighborhood.
• Vindicated by History: The opinions surrounding Hey Arnold! The Movie have softened over the years. Though there still is a mixed opinion surrounding it, it's nowhere near as negative as the initial reception.^note Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 29%, but it's rated 5.9/10 on IMDb. While pretty much everyone agrees that it should've stayed as a TV movie, many fans say the movie is pretty decent on its own right, and is enough to please fans of the show. The fact that the long awaited Jungle Movie that ties up this movie's main loose end was Saved from Development Hell might also have helped soften the blow. What likewise helped was that the film was more a standalone adventure than The Jungle Movie was, so it didn't require much knowledge of the show to get into. Some fans even cited that the movie was actually their gateway into the series despite it ironically coming out near the tail end of the series.