Rayman: The Animated Series facts for kids

The series opens with a mobile circus floating in a dark forest. This circus is owned by the sinister and cruel Sir Rigatoni, and his minion Admiral Razorbeard (the main villain of the videogame Rayman 2: The Great Escape). Inside the circus is a group of imprisoned performers: Lac-Mac, a blue rabbit-like humanoid; Betina, who is presumably a fairy but looks more human; Cookie, a pompous humanoid mole (who always questions Rayman's ideas), and Flips, a dragonfly-like little fairy girl. Lac-Mac is then called to perform for the customers, and after the performance, is thrown into a cage with his fellow performers by Razorbeard as Rigatoni laughs maniacally.

Later on, Rigatoni and Razorbeard bring in a new performer, Rayman, who can do many tricks with his limbless hands which he does behind Razorbeard's back. However, Rayman is a rebellious performer, and refuses to perform for Rigatoni, ultimately ending up caged with the other performers.

It is then that Lac-Mac demonstrates his incredible strength by twisting strong metal bar into the shape of a dog. At Rayman's suggestion, Lac-Mac uses his ability to bend the cagebars open for them to escape while Flips flies around the surveillance cameras, preventing Rigatoni from seeing them. They barely manage to escape Razorbeard's grasp by tearing a hole in the circus wall and jumping out while the circus crashes into the ground.

But Rigatoni doesn't give up there, enlisting the help of Inspector Grub to hunt down and capture Rayman and his friends. Meanwhile, on land, Rayman and the gang stumble across a faulty car, whose owner agrees to hand it over should they fix it. Cookie succeeds, and they all drive off in search of a hiding place.

Continuing from the last episode, Rayman and friends continue on driving along looking for a place to hide from the law. Unfortunately, Grub sees them and gives chase in his police car, but Rayman manages to evade Grub by making a sharp turn and causing Grub to crash into a nearby stack of crates. After escaping from Inspector Grub, Rayman and the gang stop at a park to rest for a while, but a disgruntled Cookie starts to regret joining Rayman on "this foolish adventure", and decides to write a will, believing that he will die soon. Flips finds a teddy bear in a nearby garbage can and decides to show it to everyone, but flies back to the car in disappointment when Betina and Cookie tell her that they're busy working.

However, the gang turns around to see the car being taken away by a tow-truck. At first, they are unconcerned after seeing the "No Parking" sign above them, but give chase after Lac-Mac points out that Flips is trapped in the car. Eventually, they run into a nearby train station, where Rayman spots Inspector Grub outside. Rayman disguises himself and asks Grub where the tow-truck would take a car. Grub tells him that it is headed for the Scrapyard which can be reached by the 7 Train, but then recognises Rayman. After a brief chase in the station, Rayman and the gang manage to escape from Grub by catching the 7 Train just in time. While the train is moving they spot Flips on another scrapyard train going right next to them. Lac-Mac attempts to get her but the train speeds up and Rayman stops him from jumping because he can't reach.

They arrive at the Scrapyard. There, Rayman and the others see that the cars are being loaded on a conveyor belt and dumped into the mouth of a giant monster. Worse, Rayman sees Inspector Grub park his car outside the Scrapyard, so they all get inside a towed car and hook Grub's car to it, pulling Grub's car into the Scrapyard and leaving him with no transportation. Rayman manages to climb up the conveyor belt and use his magic hands to save Flips in the nick of time, just as Grub finds them. Getting into a nearby steamroller, Lac-Mac drives away after chasing Inspector Grub with the latter, but the Lac-Mac doesn't see drop below and falls off a pier. Although Rayman manages to keep everyone in the air with his Helicopter Hair for a few moments, he loses concentration and they all fall back into the forest.

Waking up, they all see that they actually landed in a cosy bedroom, and it is now daylight. However, what they do not know is that they are actually in the room on the first floor of Inspector Grub's house.

Continuing from where No Parking left off, Cookie finds himself with a splitting headache due to the crash they experienced earlier, so they all borrow Betina's new taxi and drive him to the doctor, where he is strapped to a chair and experimented on in a few hilarious moments.

After the experiment, the doctor comes out with the results, and breaks the news that Cookie has only been imagining it all and needs to be committed immediately. Cookie is then taken by the orderlies into the mental asylum basement, where he is thrown into a cell with a roommate: an old lady with mood swings (she seems sweet at first but can sometimes have a quick temper).

In the waiting room, Rayman and the others talk about how to spring Cookie out of the asylum. Then, to their horror, Grub enters the building, and they all hide behind chairs to see what Grub is up to. They don't hear him, so after Grub goes into the hospital, Rayman and the others pose as Grub's family and ask where he went. Unfortunately, they take a wrong turn, and end up checking all the cells for Cookie. Meanwhile, Grub arrives at Cookie's room, to visit the old lady, who it turns out is his mother. Rayman and the others arrive just as Grub recognises Cookie. Thanks to the intervention of Grub's mother, Rayman and the gang finally manage to escape from the asylum after being chased for a long time by Grub. Eventually, Grub is caught by two orderlies, who mistake him for a similar-looking patient who escaped earlier on, and is thrown into the patient's cell, while protesting that he is a detective.

Arriving back at their flat above Grub's home, Rayman, Betina, Flips, Lac-Mac and Cookie complain about not having anything to eat. Rayman suggests going to the grocery store, but Cookie refuses, fearing Grub is still at home. Rayman starts pacing the room thinking when he trips over Lac-Mac, Lac-Mac suggests that they check by looking through a gap in the floorboards. Cookie invents a periscope that looks into Grub's flat. Betina sees Grub enter the house carrying a bouquet of flowers, and immediately assumes Grub has a date. Rayman realizes that if Grub has a Girlfriend, the gang won't have to worry about him trying to arrest them.

The normally messy Grub starts to clean his house and brush his hair, but when his date arrives, he makes a complete buffoon of himself by accidentally hitting her with her umbrella and leaving the oven on for too long, burning the meal in the process.

Feeling sorry for Grub, Rayman suggests helping him out despite being his enemy, much to Cookie's annoyance. After Grub accidentally breaks his date's nose with a bottle cap, she storms into the bathroom to fix it while Grub sulks. Initiating their plan, Rayman deliberately sets off the fire alarm, and hides behind the door as Grub comes into the kitchen, giving Rayman, Betina and Flips the chance to tidy up the living room.

As Grub comes back into the dining room with his date, Rayman, Betina and Flips sneak back into the kitchen, and notice Grub's awful attempt at cooking. With the help of Cookie and Lac-Mac, they prepare a secret feast, but Lac-Mac clumsily drops the plates and breaks them, attracting Grub's attention.

Grub goes into the kitchen just as Rayman and his friends go out. Grub then sees the feast on the table and takes it to his date as Rayman watches them from the first floor. However, Grub foolishly ties the tablecloth to his neck and gets up to get some soda, accidentally pulling the tablecloth off the table and making a complete mess, which upsets Rayman.

Grub's date then storms out of the house, so Rayman, in a last-ditch effort to save Grub's happy evening, Rayman poses as a singing telegram and delivers flowers and a "romantic message" from Grub, asking her to the movies. The date then phones Grub, and he excitedly agrees to take her to the cinema the following day.

Rayman and his friends smile in triumph as the picture fades out.