Susan Granger’s review of “JIMMY NEUTRON: BOY GENIUS” (Paramount Pictures)
It’s no “Shrek” or “Monsters Inc.,” but this animated adventure blasts into the holiday season with escapist entertainment for kids. Living in suburban Retroville, plucky Jimmy Neutron is an imaginative 10-year old who loves inventing gadgets – like his robot dog Goddard who explodes when he’s told “Play dead” and promptly reassembles himself . When Jimmy’s parents refuse to allow him to go to the opening of the new Retroland Amusement Park, he sneaks out to join his friends on the roller coaster and other rides. “What good is it to be a genius if you can’t even go out on a school night?” Meanwhile, the yucky “Yokians,” a slimy race of gross, green, gooey aliens, kidnap all the parents, forcing Jimmy and his cohorts to launch a scrambling celestial rescue mission on space ships that Jimmy adapts from amusement park rides with a toaster as a satellite. The concept of Jimmy Neutron was launched in 1995 when he appeared in a video short, “Runaway Rocket Boy” (now called “The Adventures of Johnny Quasar”), and Nickelodeon responded to its idealized contemporary-retro style (It’s the ’50s but Jimmy’s on the Internet.). The voice-overs are terrific, particularly Debi Derryberry as Jimmy, Patrick Stewart as the arrogant Yokian King Goobot and Martin Short as the King’s cocky, cheery assistant Ooblar. And the 3-D computer-generated animation blends high-tech with the visual innocence of ’50s sensibility. The Nick/Jive soundtrack features three new songs from Aaron Carter, a new track by Britney Spears, plus ’80s songs like “Parents Just Don’t Understand” and “Kids in America.” On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius” is a cool, fun-filled, stylized 6. Next year, Nickelodeon will launch the “Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius” TV series.
