History YMMV / HeyArnoldTheJungleMovie

* AcceptableProfessionalTargets: In addition to river piracy, Lasombra appears to maintain sidelines in what are generally agreed to be two of the world's most despicable vocations, poaching and tomb-robbing, as evidenced by the large cache of exotic animals and native treasures he intends to sell on the black market.

* ContinuityLockout: The movie ''requires'' you remember the episode "The Journal" in its entirety, along with the LoveConfession in ''Hey Arnold! The Movie''. It also contains callbacks to several previous episodes of the series, which would confuse new viewers who lack proper knowledge on the show, especially since by this point, the series only aired in late-night reruns on Creator/TeenNick. This deep need for familiarity is assumed to be the reason for the film's lackluster ratings, and why the following two throwback specials (''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLifeStaticCling'' and ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZimEnterTheFlorpus'') got released on Creator/{{Netflix}} rather than see television airings.

* FansPreferTheNewHer: Most of the new character designs were well-received (it helps that they aren't too different than what they looked like before, just slight wardrobe updates and aged up a bit) but some, like Phoebe, are actually considered a vast improvement.

* AuthorsSavingThrow:
** In the rooftop scene, Tucker Wittenberg and Mai Hyunh appear. Those two characters had suffered from ChuckCunninghamSyndrome in the original series, never appearing after their debut.
** Sid is considerably nicer in ''The Jungle Movie'' than he was in the series post-Season 2. Such as stopping Harold and Stinky from ruining the contest entry, helping Eugene with his allergic reaction, and comforting Harold during his meltdown.
** A major complaint with the 2002 movie is how the supporting cast doesn't get to do much. It's just Arnold, Gerald, Helga, and the adults (Big Bob, Gertie, and Phil and the boarders), who get a minor subplot each. While the former three do have much of the screen time in the climax, every supporting character still makes a contribution of some sort, no matter how minor. Phoebe in particular (long regarded among fans as a main character alongside Arnold, Helga, and Gerald) gets a pretty substantial role in this movie (though not quite up to the level of the other three) whereas she had only ''one line'' in the first movie.
** After Creator/AlexDLinz's portrayal of Arnold in "April Fool's Day" and "The Journal" was criticized by many fans, (mostly because his voice was too high-pitched and he was seen as a ReplacementScrappy to fan-favorite Spencer Klein), they cast Mason Vale Cotton as Arnold this time, who sounds closer to [[Creator/LaneToran Toran Caudell]], Phillip Van Dyke and Spencer Klein (who all had similar-sounding voices) and wrote ''The Jungle Movie's'' Arnold as less of a deliberate rejection of Klein's take like Linz's was, and more of a distillation of all of his previous actors' portrayals.

* CultClassic: While it wasn't a big success, the vast majority of the fan base is receptive to the movie in a VERY positive manner to the point that even if there is not an overall consensus on the first movie—be it positive or negative—this movie definitely has a way more universal admiration toward it.

** Arnold flat-out admitting to Helga that he suspected her feelings and was giving himself an out on the boat by disrupting her LoveConfession also immediately harkens back to the first movie where Helga admits it and there and they both feel awkward about it, so Arnold suggests that she had an emotional reaction to allow her to basically press the ResetButton and take it back.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids: Aside from the usual crap being slung past the radar, there are multiple on-screen deaths in the film.

** Benjamin Flores Jr. as Gerald is also a surprisingly effective successor too.