What if the Gumazing Gum Girl debuted in the 1960s/Rico: The Curse of the Franken-Gum-Wad

Rico: The Curse of the Franken-Gum-Wad is a 2004 American direct-to-video animated film, based on the animated television series.

Plot
Gum Girl and Rico are performing at a theme park called Fillmore Movie Studios. While taking a break from their concert, Gum Girl and Rico get lost, and eventually get locked inside the park. They find their way to Franken-Gum-Wad's Castle, where a real Dr. Franken-Gum-Wad is working on her monster. The monster is brought to life, and the doctor sends it in pursuit of Gum Girl and Rico. In their escape, the monster retrieves Rico's dropped teddy bear. However, back in Fillmore Movie Studios, the celebrations are interrupted by a masked man known as the Evil Masked Figure who steals two costumes using the reanimated Pterodactyl Ghost. Gum Girl and Rico are ridiculed by Ravi Rodriguez. Concluding an old enemy is the mastermind, the gang revisit old cases, dismissing the Pterodactyl Ghost, due to his death during a failed prison escape, they guess that Black Knight and Pterodactyl's cell mate in prison, is the culprit.

Going to the mansion, Gum Girl, Rico, Ninja-Rina, and Natalie fall through a trapdoor and into a cage targeting unwelcome callers, but escape with the aid of Gum Girl's cosmetics. Inside, the gang find a book that serves as an instruction manual on how to create monsters. Gum Girl and Rico find a note inviting Black Knight to visit the Dragonland. They are attacked by the Black Knight, but escape when Gum Girl fights him off while Ninja-Rina discovers its weak spot and disables it. Before fleeing, the rest of the gang had previously discovered through the book found in Knights' mansion that the key ingredient to creating the monsters was a substance called "randomonium", which can be found at the old silver mining town.

Gum Girl, Rico, and Ravi go to the museum accompanied by the curator Patrick Wisely, but discover that the rest of the costumes have been stolen. Franken-Gum-Wad turns the city against them. The gang go to the mines, finding Black Knight's plans to turn it into an amusement park. As they confront Black Knights, he states that he and Pterodactyl were cell mates who hated each other and that he has no connection to the museum robberies.

Gum Girl and Rico, after overhearing the rest of the gang criticizing their tendency to bumble every operation, and especially their most recent offense in failing to secure the Pterodactyl at the fair, resolve to better themselves and become real detectives. Following the lead from Black Night's note, their first clue ever, they sneak into the Dragonland wearing disguises to try and solve the mystery. After speaking to Black Knight, they hear how he has mended his evil ways. Gum Girl causes a scene and his disguise falls off, and the two must escape through a trash chute. On their way out, they spot Miner uncharacteristically assaulting someone who appears to be a member of his staff, ordering him to find answers to who vandalized his museum. Escaping an awkward interaction with Miner, Gum Girl and Rico spot the Knight leaving the club and follow him.

The gang then find the Monster Hive where the costumes are brought to life as real monsters. Gum Girl and Rico play around with the machine's control panel, bringing several costumes to life, and the gang flees with the panel as the Evil Masked Figure terrorizes the city. Escaping to their old high school clubhouse, the gang realizes they can reverse the control panel's power by altering its wiring. The Diver emerges from the lake, forcing the gang to head back to the mines, encountering the various monsters along the way. Ninja-Rina sees Miner in the mines, finding a shrine dedicated to Pterodactyl built by Miner, but Miner proves his innocence by helping Ninja-Rina after a catwalk unexpectedly gives way under her.

The gang confront the Evil Masked Figure as the Tar Monster captures all of them but Gum Girl, who uses a fire extinguisher to freeze the Tar Monster's body. He reactivates the control panel, transforming the costumes back to normal. The gang takes the Evil Masked Figure to the authorities, unmasking him as Heather. When asked why Heather did what she did, Ninja-Rina suddenly pulls and peels Heather's face off, revealing she is actually Pterodactyl in disguise; Pterodactyl had survived the fall from the prison wall, and sought to get revenge on the sleuths by discrediting them. Pterodactyl's cameraman Ned is also arrested as an accomplice.

In the Dragonland, the gang celebrates their victory with the reformed criminals. Before the concert begins, Franken-Gum-Wad is thwarted by Pterodactyl, which leads to an explosion. After the smoke clears, Rico introduces Pterodactyl to the public, promising that Pterodactyl will bring no harm if treated kindly.

In the mid-credits scene, Franken-Gum-Wad failed to make a new monster.

In the post-credits scene, Rico breaks the fourth wall playing the GBA game based on this film.

Characters

 * Audrey Wasilewski as Rico Gomez
 * Nazanin Afshin-Jam as Rebecca Gomez, a gender-bent Rico Gomez
 * Janice Kawaye as Gabby Gomez/Gum Girl and Franken-Gum-Wad
 * Cree Summer as Natalie Gooch
 * J.P. Manoux as Natalie Brainiac
 * Mila Kunis as Ninja-Rina
 * Scott McNeil as Evil Masked Figure
 * Dee Bradley Baker as Pterodactyl, the Zombie, and the Red-eyed Skeleton
 * Bob Papenbrook as Black Night
 * C. Ernst Harth as the Miner
 * Wally Wingert as the Green-eyed Skeleton
 * Terrence Stone as the 1,000 Volt Ghost
 * Michael J. Sorich as the Cotton Candy Glob and the Tar Monster

Cameos

 * Pat O'Brien
 * The Tasmanian Devil (voiced by Cree Summer)
 * Ruben Studdard
 * Kester Moorhouse
 * Big Brovaz

Production
In March 2003, it was announced that would reprise their roles in this film. In April 2003, the next month, filming for the sequel began.

Box office
The film opened March 26, 2004, and grossed $29.4 million (over 3,312 theaters, $8,888 average) during its opening weekend, ranking No. 1. It grossed a total of $84.2 million in North America, and went on to earn $181.5 million worldwide, more than $90 million less than the $275.7 million worldwide A Gum Girl Movie grossed two years earlier. It was the twenty eighth most successful film of 2004, and ranks as the sixth highest grossing film featuring Gabby's brother, Rico as a major character. The film was released in the United Kingdom on April 2, 2004, and topped the country's box office for the next three weekends, before being dethroned by Kill Bill Volume 2.

Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a rating of 22% based on 117 reviews and an average rating of 4.3/10. The site's consensus reads, "Only the very young will get the most out of this silly trifle." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 34 out of 100 based on 28 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale, an improvement over the previous film's "B+"

The film won the Razzie Award for Worst Remake or Sequel.

Home Media Release
Walt Disney Home Entertainment released the film on DVD and VHS on September 14, 2004, in both full-screen and widescreen editions. The DVD included deleted scenes from the film's production and other special features, such as two music videos, a "making of" and trailers. On November 9, 2010, the Walt Disney animation released this film and The Curse of the Were-Ninja and its predecessor as a double feature Blu-ray.

Video Games
Two video games loosely following the plot of the film were released in 2004 to coincide with the film's release; a 3D point and click adventure on the PC and a 2D beat-em-up platformer on the GBA game. In both games, one ending could only be seen by entering a code displayed at the end of the film.

Soundtrack
A soundtrack was released on March 23, 2004 on Audio CD and Compact Cassette.
 * 1) "Don't Wanna Think About You" by Simple Plan (Simple Plan had also performed the titular theme song)
 * 2) "You Get What You Give" by New Radicals
 * 3) "Boom Shack-A-Lak" by Apache Indian
 * 4) "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)" by Big Brovaz
 * 5) "The Rockafeller Skank" by Fatboy Slim
 * 6) "Wooly Bully" by Bad Manners
 * 7) "Shining Star" by Ruben Studdard
 * 8) "Flagpole Sitta" by Harvey Danger
 * 9) "Get Ready for This" by 2 Unlimited
 * 10) "Play That Funky Music" by Wild Cherry
 * 11) "Here We Go" by Bowling for Soup
 * 12) "Love Shack" by The B-52's
 * 13) "Friends Forever" by Puffy AmiYumi
 * 14) "Wanted Dead or Alive" by Bon Jovi