After 15 long years, Arnold and the gang are coming back to television for a second season finale, but is this a good thing or a bad thing?

Photo Credit: Hey Arnold/Nickelodeon Image Acquired from Nick Press

If you grew up in the ’90s, chances are you watched your fair share of cartoons, be it from shows on Cartoon Network, The Disney Channel or Nickelodeon. Back then, Cartoons airing on Nick were referred to as Nicktoons and one of their most popular series at the time was a show called Hey Arnold! It was a much different time to be a child back then. An edgier time. A time where it was acceptable to use crude humor in kids shows, a time where sexual innuendos were a lot more frequent and it was OK for shows to be a bit on the depressing side.

Although Arnold (the main character) had a knack for looking at the positives of just about every trial he and/or his friends went through, the show itself was quite depressing a great majority of the time. For starters, Arnold lives in a border home with his grandparents and company. He has yet to find out what happened to his mom and dad until the first season finale, “The Journal,” which aired in the year 2002. Another example is Helga or Helga G. Pataki. If you didn’t know, she has a huge crush on Arnold but masks it by bullying and picking on him. She’s neglected by her Dad, Big Bob Pataki, and her mom, Miriam, who a lot of people consider to be an alcoholic. When her sister Olga visits, Helga’s parents are the polar opposite. Olga gets love and respect, Helga gets zilch.

These two examples might make some reconsidered letting their child every watching a show like this but growing up, there were tons of benefits that came out of watching this show. The storylines weren’t always just for cheap laughs and sunshine. Some episodes taught very valuable and important lessons about life. All the while being a very entertaining, fun and unique cartoon, even if Arnold could get a bit annoying sometimes with his over the top “nice guy” image.

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Which brings me to my point. If you’re a fan of the original Hey Arnold! series, chances are this new movie will not live up to your expectations. Why? Because it’s been well over a decade and the way we view things change over time. The original series was just that: original. You look back at classic episodes like “Pigeon Man” and you can’t help but cry towards the end. You feel nostalgia because of the memories you had as a child and it makes you want to go back in time to live in that moment for an eternity. No matter how good this new movie will be, it won’t give Hey Arnold fans the same feeling they get when watching an old episode from the early 2000s or the late ’90s.

This isn’t to say that a child watching Hey Arnold!: The Jungle Movie won’t be entertained. I just think a great number of people who watch it when it comes out will be fans from the original series and for this reason, I can’t say it’s reviews are going to be all that favorable, to say the very least.