Blue’s Big City Adventure
by Austen Terry, Contributing Writer
When I was little, one TV show captured my heart early, and that show was Blue’s Clues. Younger me loved this show so much that when I started third grade at a new school, I wanted to wear my Steve shirt from the show. When I saw Paramount+ and Nickelodeon were making a movie where all three hosts returned, I was immediately on board. Blue’s Clues hasremained a part of my life, even though it’s been about 22 years since I have seen the show. In the last few years, Steve Burns returned, and has even made videos for Nick Jr., along with his own TikTok, where he is interacting with his now-grown-up audience. Blue’s Clues has also talked about Pride, LGBTQ+ elements, and families in the most recent seasons, and does so in a very educational and respectful way. My only question going into this preschool age movie was, what will it do for me as a 30 year old?
Blue’s Big City Adventure tells the story of new host, Josh (Joshua Dela Cruz), who travels to NYC along with Blue (Traci Paige Johnson) to audition for a part in Rainbow Puppy’s (Brianna Bryan) musical on Broadway. When Josh forgets his Handy Dandy Notebook and gets lost in the big city, it’s up to Mr. Salt (Nick Balaban), Tickety Tock (Ava Augustin), Slippery Soap (Jacob Soley), Steve, and Joe (Donovan Patton) to find Josh and Blue, and get them to the audition. Now Blue’s Clues always had live actors interacting with the animated world of Storybook World, but in this new movie, Josh travels to the real New York City, and although Blue’s animation upgrade looks fantastic, the animation doesn’t blend well with the live action. Honestly, with this movie being geared largely towards the preschool age audience, it is something only adults would notice. Although, adults will have fun if you are a fan of the show, or have kids in this age range — it’s not just a good Sunday afternoon film to plop your kids down in front of while you do other things. This movie has moments that will pull adults in, and will have you talking to the hosts along with your kids.
Steve was my host. I either stopped watching altogether because of Steve leaving, or because of other reasons, but I still remember all the rumors surrounding Steve’s departure. From death to drugs to anything you could think of, he finally announced that he left due to losing his hair at a young age. It does feel nice to see him back in this world again. When he first shows up in the movie, it definitely pulls on my heartstrings, and yes, I did tear up. Burns has changed — though he is still goofy like he always was, on the show, it does seem like older Steve (show character, not actor) has lost his mind a bit. He does some goofier things that seem beyond just trying to entertain kids, and it definitely gets old. I would definitely watch a documentary about Burns and the things he went through with this show.
Patton returns as Joe, and I really don’t have a whole lot to say about him. The movie kind of treats him as, “Oh look, here’s Joe! You remember him!” Joe arrived when I was probably too old to still be watching this show, so I never really saw much of him, but I do remember him as a more calm, compassionate host. Burns was compassionate too, but was more wacky and goofy than I remember Joe being. Joe also doesn’t do much in the movie; he could have easily not been there and the movie would not have changed that much. I kind of wish this movie was more about the three hosts joining together to find Blue, which would allow each one to shine through for their respective generation of kids. Sadly, this is not that movie.
Josh is a good combination of both Joe and Steve: he can be wacky and goofy, then compassionate. Cruz is really putting in some work with this role, and you can see it. I have’t seen much of him hosting outside of clips and this movie. Unfortunately, both my nieces were too old when the show was revived with Josh becoming the new host. If I had small children, even if I wasn’t a fan of the show, I would be now, because Cruz does such a good job as host I wouldn’t think twice letting my kids watch it for hours. It’s still educational and can speak to my inner child.
Along with bringing back Burns and Patton, the original voice cast for some of the characters returns too. The movie also brings in BD Wong has the director for Rainbow Puppy’s Musical, and Alex Winter makes a surprising cameo for reasons I can’t explain. Writer Angela Santomero does a really good job of writing a story to get these guys together, and director Matt Stawski takes on the challenge of bringing them to life on screen. With this movie being a musical, his background in music videos probably really helped. Did I forget to mention this is a musical as well? Well, yes, it is. Unfortunately, none of the songs really stuck with me — they all had good beats, but I was singing songs from the last musical I watched instead of paying attention to the songs from this one.
Between this and Better Nate Than Ever, if I had a nickel for every musical I have covered this year where the protagonist goes to audition for Broadway, I would have two nickels, which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice. I wish this movie was a story where all three hosts were looking for a lost Blue but I understand that this is just a movie for toddlers, and not to fit my nostalgia buzz. Maybe Paramount and Nickelodeon will see how many Blue’s Clues adult fans would love to see more movies with the three hosts, or those who just want to see Steve, and make one. This is a decent flick to sit down with your kids and enjoy, because “Life is all about the adventure.”
Score: 7/10
Blue’s Big City Adventure is currently streaming on Paramount +
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