YMMV / Rugrats (2021)

• Broken Base:
  • The CG animation. Some love it, thinking it looks like clay animation. Others despise it, thinking it looks cheap, lacks the charm of the original 2D animation, and doesn't mesh well with Klasky-Csupo's art style.
  • Of all the changes the show made, the one that caused the most debates was Betty being reimagined as a lesbian and, subsequently, the removal of Howard. Some weren’t a fan of these changes due to finding it stereotypical to write the most masculine and outwardly feminist mother of the group as a Butch Lesbian, while others welcomed the change for adding more diversity to the cast. Some also think that removing Howard is wasting a character who could have been expanded upon in ways the original didn’t, while others argue that he never had much prominence in the original series anyway, so his absence is not a major loss to the show’s overall structure.
  • The series itself. While many wanted a reboot of Rugrats, some say the reboot treatment should've been given to a Nicktoon that deserved better such as The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius or My Life as a Teenage Robot, since Rugrats was an Adored by the Network Long Runner and got several movies (one being a Crossover with The Wild Thornberrys), two spin-offs, and the Tales from the Crib direct-to-video series.
• Funny Moments:
  • In "The Big Diff", Tommy and Chuckie try unsuccessfully to dress and act like each other to remain best friends when Angelica tells them they're too different from each other, with the former dressing in a blue shirt and green pants and ditching his diaper, and the latter dressing in a blue shirt and diaper and ditching his glasses. When the two decide to go their separate ways, it's meant to be a sad moment, but things end up going wrong for them. First, Chuckie accidentally says good-bye to Phil, then when he stumbles back, his diaper gets caught on the leg of a toy cat, which pulls it off and leaves him naked from the waist down in front of Susie, Phil, and Lil. Finally, when Stu tries to console a crying Tommy, he freaks out upon discovering he doesn't have his diaper on and issues a code yellow.
  • In "The Chop", Angelica gets gum in her hair when she chews it against Gabi's wishes, so the babies pretend to be hairdressers in an attempt to get the gum out. While looking for a barber chair, Tommy finds his potty chair, saying that it may not spin, but it does say "Good job!" every time you use it. At first, Angelica refuses to sit on it, saying that she has her limits, but when Susie asks her if she wants the gum out or not, Angelica reluctantly sits on the potty, which says "Good job!". Tommy claps his hands as he hears this.
  • From "Reptar Day":
    • A 24-hour Reptar marathon is announced for Earth Day, leading the babies to believe it's Reptar Day. If one looks closely at the fine print, it says "All 1 1/2 seasons played over and over until your brain turns to mush, COMMERCIAL FREE!!!"
    • Angelica, for once, is NOT lying about a holiday or purposely telling the babies lies about it. She is flat out telling them it is Earth Day. Tommy and Co though, used to her lies, believe this to be another one and are convinced Earth Day is about Reptar Day.
• I Knew It!: Some fans of the original show had long suspected that Betty was a lesbian due to her being a tomboy and a vocal feminist, so it didn't come as much of a surprise when she was made a lesbian in the reboot.
• It's the Same, So It Sucks: One of the shorts produced is a line-for-line recreation of a scene from the original series, which many fans have seen as looking worse than the original.
• Nightmare Fuel:
  • The image of Tommy transformed into a giant rattle that must forever shake for Dil's amusement.
  • Because Dil is much younger in the series, with us seeing him as a newborn who can barely move, the babies picking him up and moving him becomes terrifying due to how easily they could have killed him.
• So Okay, It's Average: The general opinion of the show is that it is okay at best, but fails to live up to the standard of the original series, due to its contested CG animation, inferior writing/humor, and incredibly poor casting choices for many of the adult characters.
• Questionable Casting: While the voice actors for Didi and Stu Pickles are actually well cast, many fans can't say the same for the voice actors for the other adult characters:
  • Tony Hale replacing Michael Bell as Chas. Some fans have said that Tony Hale's higher-pitched whine makes Chas sounds more like a grown up Carl Wheezer.
  • Michael McKean's take on Lou Pickles has him actually sounding younger than he's supposed to, which is really ironic, given that McKean is currently in his seventies. This contrasts to the raspier voices David Doyle and Joe Alaskey gave Lou when they voiced him.
  • Natalie Morales replacing Kath Soucie as Betty. While a replacement was necessary due to Soucie no longer being able to pitch her voice low enough to do Betty, some fans felt like a more convincing sound-alike VA could've been chosen.
• Slow-Paced Beginning: Some critics such as PhantomStrider felt like the first episode gave off a bad first impression overall due to it opening with an overlong extended fantasy sequence and afterwards the first jokes we get are predictable ones about Phil and Lil loving mud, though subsequent episodes are considerably better paced.
• Tear Jerker:
  • Tommy becoming utterly terrified when Boris and Minka show up, as he is used to them being on his tablet. It is very jarring to see the normally brave Tommy begin to whimper and cry because he's so confused and scared.
  • In "The Big Diff", Angelica tells Tommy and Chuckie that they're too different to be best friends and that best friends have to be exactly like each other, so Tommy and Chuckie decide to dress and act like each other. Tommy dresses in a blue shirt, green pants, and Lou's glasses and ditches his diaper while Chuckie dresses in a blue shirt and diaper and ditches his glasses. Angelica sees this and tells them that they can't be alike even when they try, and are unfit to be friends with each other, so they decide that all they can do is go their separate ways, leaving each other in tears. While there are a few funny moments, such as Chuckie accidentally saying goodbye to Phil, Chuckie accidentally losing his diaper when the leg of a toy cat pulls it off, and Stu freaking out upon finding out that Tommy isn't wearing his diaper when he tries to console him, it's otherwise played very seriously. Fortunately, when Tommy and Chuckie uncover a time capsule that their own fathers, Stu and Chas buried when they were kids, they discover that Stu and Chas were best friends despite all their differences and that Angelica was wrong.
  • "Baby Talk" crosses this with a heartwarming moment. It is revealed in this episode that children lose the ability to understand babies when they turn five. Edwin, having just turned that age, finds that he can't understand his cousin Susie anymore. We are given a flashback to the last time the two ever spoke to each other before this, going on one last adventure. Edwin soon realizes that even though he can't understand his cousin anymore, it doesn't mean they can't still be friends and play together.
  • "Surviving Dil" sees Tommy trying to help Dil go on his first adventure when all his friends don't want him to. When Dil's antics cause Tommy to nearly get bitten by a snake (in his imagination, at least), as well as destroy their shelter and lose their food and water, Tommy begins to yell at Dil. This causes his brother to tear but but what truly upsets him is when Tommy, after catching himself, just sadly states Dil can't go on adventures with them anymore. Dil can only suck back tears as Tommy walks away defeated, for the first time no defending him.
  • "Reptar's Mama" reveals that, just like in the original series, Melinda Finster, Chas' wife and Chuckie's mother, is deceased. However, unlike in the original series, which did everything short of saying the actual word to indicate it (including showing her gravestone in the cemetery), Chas outright says that Melinda has passed away. When the babies find out about Reptilda, Reptar's mother, Phil says that everyone has a mother, causing Lil to scold him for it out of respect for Chuckie. Near the end of the episode, Chuckie admits to his friends that he misses Melinda, which is the reason why he doesn't want Reptilda to leave Reptar. It's also revealed in a flashback that Chuckie's Reptar doll was given to him by Melinda sometime before she passed away.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: Has its own page.
• Unexpected Character: It's safe to say that no one was expecting Josh, a one-shot character from the original series, to make an appearance here, let alone in more than one episode.

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