'Blue’s Big City Adventure' Review: You Sure Are Smart

    Before Paw Patrol, and before Dora the Explorer, Blue’s Clues was probably Nick Jr.’s first megahit. When The Rugrats Movie triggered a wave of animated series getting feature films, preschool-aimed series weren’t shut out, but this show didn’t get one. Still, the show that debuted in 1996 ran for six seasons and had 143 episodes across hosts Steve (Steve Burns) and Joe (Donovan Patton) until 2006. In 2017, a revival went into development, and Blue’s Clues & You! premiered in November 2019, with Joshua Dela Cruz as the new host. This film, Blue’s Big City Adventure, was revealed in 2021 and conceived to mark the 25th anniversary of the original series. Ultimately, it, made by Nickelodeon Movies, was released on the Paramount+ streaming service a year and a week after such milestone on November 18, 2022.

    I was big on Blue’s Clues back in the day. Even after having prematurely sworn off all preschool programming, I would still tune in to some of the primetime specials. I haven’t watched much of the revival, but I do know that episodes tend to be built directly from the skeletons of original series episodes, remade, and adapted for continuity. Being a feature film, Blue’s Big City Adventure is its own full story. However, despite the title, this is very much Josh’s film, as he follows his Broadway dreams and tries to get to his audition for Rainbow Puppy’s musical. He has to do it without his handy dandy notebook, which is his smartphone that he left at home and where he had written the venue down. The movie itself is a musical, with about half a dozen or so songs original to the film, and they, including an opening number, an “I want”, and a climax, are all pretty serviceable. Blue tags along, sure, but she’s not given a subplot. Mr. Salt’s aspirations and sense of heroism get the house’s object characters (his wife Mrs. Pepper, Shovel, Pail, Tickety Tock, and Slippery Soap) to head to New York to bring him the notebook. When they get there, they enlist Steve, who despite making several appearances in the revival series, acts in a very standalone manner when he recognizes the viewer, as if he’s seeing them for the first time since he left all those years ago. They quickly get Joe afterward. Both characters’ occupations are consistent with the series, however.

    A common criticism of movies like this is “It’s just an extended episode!”. This movie does have every element of one, if a bit out of order, Mail Time is done while Josh is still home to get a mail delivery, for example. However, the equivalent of a whole episode of runtime passes before the actual game of Blue’s Clues is initiated. Even then, it doesn't last the rest of the runtime. They were certainly sweet and fit well, and some take full advantage of the New York City locations. The random kids that get involved minorly at points bring a dynamic that while some preschool shows have it, isn’t typical for Blue’s Clues, so it was a bit refreshing.

There are some celebrity appearances that are rather odd, like Taboo from the Black Eyed Peas of all people. BD Wong is the director of Rainbow Puppy’s musical, so a majority of his screen time is in the theater with her holding auditions. One appearance however is an excellent one that might strengthen the case to pair it for a double feature with Sponge on the Run, and it’s great seeing him jam to the series theme song the three reunited hosts. It's a silly moment that's really really fun and you know they're having fun too While Steve and Joe were not with Josh for most of the movie despite their being together being something of a selling point of the movie, it certainly works to be focused on the story rather than the gimmick, much like Spider-Man: No Way Home, which also had three iterations coming together. Josh’s charisma shines through and is a great showcase of why he was hired in the first place. Whether you’re nostalgic or not, childless or not, it’s worth checking out. Everybody's looking for Blue's clues and you.