Headscratchers / Rugrats in Paris

• Why are their friends invited along with Stu and his family? He gets the call requesting he go to Paris to help with the Reptar robot he built and in the same sentence his friends and family are invited. I can understand why they would automatically invite his wife and kids, they wanted him there fast, and if they were careless enough to say "family" instead of "spouse and children," he could have forced in his brother's family. It makes no sense to invite his friends from a business standpoint with the cost of international plane tickets and housing, only from a lazy writing perspective to have the main cast together in the new setting. While a lot friends like to travel together, it is rather unusual (mainly because of the logistics involved) to go abroad together on a surprise business trip with friends.
  • It's likely that he managed to mishear something. The sentence was cut off before Kira could finish, so we don't actually know what she said. Remember that due to it being 3 in the morning, he misheard "My boss is having a fit" as "Reptar's a hit" and "We need you to come to Paris on the next flight" as "Paris, the city of lights". So that's probably why he thought she wanted to bring his friends.
    • That actually is what happened. Kira says "Madame kindly recommends..." and Stu replies, "Come with my family and friends", so he thought Kira told him to bring his family and friends along.
  • Out of universe it's an excuse to get all the main characters on the holiday, but if Coco is a CEO who's "made millions for this company" then booking four families in a complementary room at the park she runs is likely a drop in the bucket. Must be super generous of her to cover their flights though.
• Just what exactly was Coco planning to do with the Finsters if she succeeded marrying Chaz? Kill them?
  • Coco just wanted to be promoted. She would have just divorced Chaz if she met her goal.
  • Or she could have remained in Paris and let them go back to America, not intending to see them too often.
  • Or maybe she just never thought that through.
• In the scene where we (the audience) are introduced to Coco, Jean-Claude, and Kira, the scene where a recital goes awry due to Robo Reptar's malfunction, are they actually speaking in English or in French that is translated to us? (Much like how the babies babbling is translated)
  • I assumed it was English. Part of the play they're reciting is shown later in the movie, and they're speaking English then.
  • The play could have performances in English and in French, so it could be either.
• For what reason did the villains kidnap the babies?
  • Coco wanted to avoid the kids blabbing to Chaz about why Coco wanted to marry Chaz so Chaz would call the entire wedding off and Coco wouldn't get promoted. However, it happened anyways.
    • But... Angelica was the only one that could talk...
    • Coco knew that, which is why she had her taken as well.
  Coco: And don't forget the big mouth, too.
  • IMHO, I think they had Coco and her gang kidnap the babies (all of 'em) so make the audience see them as evil. If only Angelica were kidnapped, I doubt the majority would care. I mean, she was just a snobby, rude, loud, spoiled brat and she may have caused Didi to enter premature labor in the first movie (After the singing scene where Angelica basically yells at Didi's stomach). Um, okay, it's obvious I don't like Angelica.
    • The babies they were watching climbed into a giant robot and marched to the wedding chapel (not that they shouldn't be there). That's all they meant by it. Karmic bad luck I suppose.
  • Coco just didn't like the babies. She probably thought they would be a disturbance at the wedding or something, or she got really mad at them right before the wedding.
    • She was probably going to allow them to come in the first place but seeing them getting all disruptive right before the wedding was probably a last straw for her.
• I'm only going to ask this because I haven't watched this movie in a long time, but why was Coco so determined to get rid of Chuckie's Tragic Keepsake?
  • If my memory is correct, she wanted to get rid of Wawa because she thought it was disgusting and or because she thought it was threatening to her "relationship" with Chaz.
  • Being a compulsive neat-freak, she thought it was dirty and tattered. She even calls it "moth eaten".
• Was the plotline about Yamaguchi's replacement ever properly resolved? With Coco out of the picture, he should have logically offered Kira to be his replacement since she fit the bill nicely (dilligent, practical, dedicated, and most importantly good with children), but she ends up going to America and marrying into the Finster family… So who replaced Yamaguchi then? Was it someone we didn't meet? I just find it weird that this was one of the main plotlines of the movie (it was Coco's entire motivation for pursuing Chas and Chuckie), and yet it gets dropped like a hot potato.
  • I'm pretty sure he found someone eventually. I think the reason Kira didn't get offered the position was because she was Coco's secretary, and Yamaguchi was looking amongst those that were in charge of his businesses.
    • Yamaguchi said himself that Coco was "one of many under consideration." So yeah, he probably found someone else.
  • If Kira were offered the job, obviously she didn't take it, because she moved to America to be with Chaz.
• Why was there even a mother-child dance at a wedding in the first place? Is that a common cultural thing in America, like the bride dancing with her father?
  • Well why not? It's not a common cultural thing anywhere, but the DJ thought it would be cute since there were so many parents and toddlers at the wedding.
• Why did 3-year-old Angelica have her own seat in first class on the plane? It didn't look like her parents were nearby.
  • Maybe they were in the lavatory.
  • I think she just snuck into first class.
• So the babies drove a giant dinosaur robot through the streets of Paris, destroyed half the city, climbed up the Eiffel Tower, dueled a giant Robo Snail, and their parents never found out?
  • They probably heard about it but didn't know it was their kids.
  • Only Jean-Claude knew for certain that the babies were in the machine. No one else actually saw who was piloting the Reptar, save for maybe a few people in front of Notre Dame who would have been close enough and at the right angle to see the babies coming out when the head crashed. Even then, people would be more inclined to believe that they just didn't see the actual pilot coming out. Or that the pilot was in the body and not the head. Or that it was just a robot. So, who would believe Jean-Claude that the babies piloted it?
• Chuckie drives a giant robot Reptar. How?
  • If it's worth anything, Stu says earlier that the technology is so simple a child could do it (though he later redacts this to "young adult"). Though it still leaves the question of how they got into the head, considering they are babies, and it's about a bazillion feet off the ground.
  • This, and no thought as to how absolutely no one questions why there was suddenly a mech-Godzilla wannabe stomping around Paris after that scene was over? I would imagine it'd be all over their papers the next morning, and Stu banned from France (as he was the genius who built the thing in the first place.)
  • Fridge Brilliance - the robot was Coco's property. She's the one that commissioned it to be built. And who had the babies banned from the wedding and taken to the place where it was being held? Coco. And let's not forget that Jean Claude was meant to be responsible for them - or that he drove a second giant robot through Paris after a group of babies. Basically the babies and their parents are probably going to fine - but Coco is going to be in big trouble with the law. Hell, the parents could probably sue her for putting their children in such danger. Kira could probably testify against Coco and Jean Claude if the matter went to court. Plus the robot arriving at Coco's wedding just implicates her even further.
• Coco Labouche may be a mean spirited, insulting, thoughtless Child Hater, but she is quite a shrewd and cunning business woman, who has made millions for her company, and managed to run a super successful and world famous Theme Park. However she gets passed over for a promotion for that very reason, a woman who chose her career over having a family. Why is this okay? Sure she's not the most sympathetic person but do people really overlook this discrimination because she is supposedly a villain for being good at her job?
  • The head of the company isn't just in it for the money and doesn't see her as a worthy successor. Remember, he is also the head of the company and chooses his successor based on how he made it. Plus when he saw that she is willing to put kids in danger (basically KIDNAPPING THEM), I doubt he'd want her to get close to any kids again. Plus her theme park has apparently ninja guards and her assistant is all too happy with jabbing his arm down a 4-year-old's throat. She's not a villain because she's good at her job, she's an authoritarian who enjoys scaring her employees and basically working them within an inch of their lives given how dangerous some of the animatronics are.
  • Mr. Yamaguchi specifically says, "The candidate [for the presidency] should not be concerned only with money. They must understand what it means to bring joy to children. They themselves must have the heart of a child." He doesn't even mention the fact that Coco is unmarried and not a parent, implying that being a spouse and/or parent weren't necessary requirements. She's the one who lies and claims that she is marrying a man with a child.
  • The fact remains, she has made hundreds of millions, possibly even billions to a company. Having a so called "heart of a child" is one thing. But being super successful and making giant income for her boss, who most assuredly doesn't mind living off of her contributions, pretty much paints Yamaguchi as a hypocrite. Reaping the profits of his employees, then shaming them for doing exactly what they were hired to do, that's pretty messed up.
  • What happened was the following: a) Coco was told by the boss himself he didn't think she was a suitable successor because she lacked certain qualities he felt she'd need to carry the company's core values after he's gone, b) Coco lies to him and cooks up an extremely convoluted plan to marry a man with a child she has no interest in. Seems like Mr Yamaguchi knew straight away that Coco wouldn't be suited to running the company without someone more moral to offset her more ruthless ideas, but seemed willing to give her a chance when she gave the indication that she was turning over a new leaf. Not to mention that Angelica pretty much outed Coco for trying to fool him solely so she could get said promotion. Coco's options were to a) accept the boss's decision and be happy in the position she's in, b) actively work to improve her flaws and earn the promotion now she knows what's expected of the person who will get it, c) leave the company and go elsewhere if she doesn't see career advancement there, d) lie to the boss, trap Chaz in a loveless marriage and condemn Chuckie to a life with a neglectful stepmother - all hoping she's never found out. Coco is a straight up Bad Boss (and Kira at one point in the series compares her to a fairy tale villain) who likely causes her employees all sorts of emotional damage.

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