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 Angelica: The Rugrat we love to hate
Friday, November 17, 2000 By Scott Mervis, Weekend Editor, Post-Gazette
She's a baby's nightmare -- a 3-year-old with a sugar high and a bad attitude. She's Angelica Pickles, Tommy's tyrannical cousin, who rules over the Rugrats, calling them "stupid babies!" and putting them to work for her own selfish ends.
And yet, in some strange way, kids love Angelica, even while they hate her. Wait till they see "Rugrats in Paris." Angelica, covered in chocolate, helps set the plot in motion by cutting a deal with the Cruellaesque Coca La Bouche to entrap Chuckie's dad. Eventually, though, she comes around in a way that kids will find heroic.
Perhaps more than anyone, Cheryl Chase was happy to see Angelica's transformation. She's the one who has to live with her every day. Chase, a New Jersey native with a degree in child development, has been doing the voice of Angelica since the show's inception on Nickelodeon in 1991.
In addition to "Rugrats," Chase, an actress who started off-Broadway, has done voiceovers for "The Ren & Stimpy Show" and will be featured in the Fox Family Channel series "Pigs Next Door" with John Goodman and Jennifer Tilly. This week, though, "Rugrats in Paris" is her focus and she's at home in Los Angeles living on East Coast time. By 7:30 Pacific time on Wednesday, she had already done three interviews, but still sounded fresh and perky, speaking in an adult voice that's not at all unlike Angelica's.
So, what did you think of the movie?
I really think this is so much better than the first. I'm really proud to be a part of it, because on every level, I think it's going to be a classic. Little kids will understand it and think it's funny on their level. But they also take care into catering to the audience, they know the adults are going to be there. If you go to "Pokemon" or some of the other kids movies, oh my gosh, it's so boring to sit through. Parents say they just can't stomach it.
When you read the script, what did you think of what Angelica does in this film?
I'm excited about what she does. She does something in this movie that she's never done before. In the cartoon, she always has to have someone else make her do right, make her right her wrong. Now, in this movie, she sees Chuckie's world coming to an end, he's crying, he's upset, and she realizes she was the one who caused it. She comes to the realization that she has to say she's sorry and she has that wonderful tender moment with Chuckie.
One of the criticisms of the movie will be that you don't tour Paris enough, you don't really use the setting.
The babies do their own little touring. They go to Ooey-Gooey World. Rugrats would rather go to Ooey-Gooey World than the Louvre Museum.
Do you get pretty excited reactions from kids when they find out you're Angelica?
Yeah, the little ones don't get it, they hide behind their moms. But the older ones do. I had a lunch a few years ago in New York with a little fan. She was 6 and she was asking me all these questions and I thought "Hmm, she understands that I do the voice." Then halfway through the lunch, she goes, "But Cheryl, where is your costume?" I thought that was pretty funny.
Why do you think people are so drawn to Angelica?
A lot of adult women like Angelica because she's very savvy, she's very confident, she sees something, she goes after it. At the premiere, Sherry Lansing [studio chief at Paramount Pictures] was saying, "I'm so happy to meet you. When I was little, I was you." And I said, "You know, there's a little Angelica in every powerful woman."
Kids like her, too, even though she's tough on the babies.
I guess it's because everybody knows an Angelica. They always tell me they love to hate her. That's good. I would hate it if they just hated her, period. She has admirable attributes. Little kids, maybe they don't have the courage sometimes to just do what they want to do, and they see Angelica doing that. That's why "Rugrats" is so successful. There's a little bit of Tommy, Chuckie, Phil and Lil in every kid. "Rugrats" is a very good stress reliever for kids. I really feel like going to school, being a little kid these days, it's stressful. I think it's a comfort for them to know when they get home from school, they can just get a snack and sit in front of the TV and all their troubles will just blow away because they're watching their heroes on screen.
Do you think the show, because it keeps evolving and adding new characters, can go on indefinitely?
Steven Spielberg did say that "Rugrats is the 'Peanuts' of our time." They make new "Peanuts" now. And I think "Rugrats" will keep going that way, because it's kind of like Tommy is Charlie Brown, and Chuckie is like Linus and then Lucy is Angelica. I see little parallels there. It's an evergreen property. New little kids are being born and discovering the Rugrats every few years.
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