There're a lot of reasons to see this colourful caper featuring the ankle-biters of television fame, not least to hear Bruce Willis belting out Lust For Life.

The adventure starts when Tommy Pickles' dad Stu (voiced by Jack Riley) takes everyone on a family cruise...only for them to wash up on a desert island.

"We've lost a cell phone, a sun visor and any respect for Uncle Stu," complains one mouthy castaway.

So they're deserted - that is, apart from cartoon adventurers The Wild Thornberrys, who are hunting down a rare white leopard (voiced by pernickety vegan Hynde).

The rugrats soon escape the watchful eyes of their parents and are heading off into a jungle full of dangerous things, some of which may eat them.

The third big screen outing of Rugrats sees them joining forces with another animated family...which could mean an over-population of cartoon characters.

However, the individual styling is strong, from Curry's datedly kind Nigel Thornberry (or Strawberry, as the rugrats have it) to his animal-conversing daughter Eliza.

Indeed, her chats with rugrats hound Spike (Willis) are some of the highlights of a film that is happy to spoof the likes of Titanic and Perfect Storm.

Anyone who has (or suffers) kids will recognise their propensity to devour bugs, while older parents enduring teens will want to brain the tyranical Angelica (Chase).

It's an ideal example of two being better than one as the families, with all their emotional baggage, link up to provide above-par kids' fare.

"We're part of TV stunt designed to humiliate us," explains a rugrat mum. Got it in one.

Tim Evans