It's a Neutron Bomb (Jimmy Neutron - Boy Genius (DVD))

Member Name: marandina

Product:	Jimmy Neutron - Boy Genius (DVD)
Date:	05/04/02 (110 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: The kids will like it especially the younger ones

Disadvantages: Aimed at a youngish age

From the same stable as Toy Story and, more recently, Monsters.Inc comes the futuristic Jimmy Neutron. When we were over in the US last October our DisneyMGM studio visit took us on a tour of an actual movie-making studio and we came across the groundwork under construction for this particular movie. So it was inevitable that when it came to the UK we’d go and see it.

T’was this time last week we paid a visit to our local UCG. Me, the nippers but no missus as she was working (ha) went along. Jimmy Neutron is based on the premise of a super kid who’s ahead of his time and, basically, a boy genius.

Directed by John A Davis (Olive the Other Reindeer & Santa vs The Snowman), the movie has a real child’s feel to it as opposed to some of the more adult-orientated films like those mentioned above. Therein lies the problem.

Those responsible:

Story ~ John A Davis and Steve Oedekerk

Cast ~ Debi Derryberry Jimmy Neutron (voice)
Megan Cavanagh Mrs.Neutron/VOX (voice)
Martin Short Ooblar (voice)
Patrick Stewart King Goobot (voice)
Rob Paulsen Carl Wheezer (voice)
Andrea Martin (I) Mrs. Fowl (voice)
Carolyn Lawrence Cindy Vortex (voice)
Candi Milo Nick Dean (voice)
Mark DeCarlo Hugh Neutron (voice)
Crystal Scales Libby (voice)
Frank Welker Goddard (voice)

The opening shots are spectacular with some great animation of aircraft zooming through the skies. Mission control has identified a strange object on the radar and the warplanes are on reconnaissance to try and identify the source. The scene pans to Jimmy N in his own home made plane along with his pet robot dog, Goddard on board. They shoot a piece of toast into the atmosphere, which summons a race of aliens to the Earth. Sounds a little far fetched but remember that it’s an animated children’s movie and, as such, anything can happen. The style of the movie has an
American 50’s feel as JN’s hometown of Retroville summons up images of Middle America along with the appropriate stereotypical adults and kids of that time.

***The plot***
Pretty basic stuff really. Jimmy Neutron is considered something of a nerd by his classmates due to his intellect and verve for inventing. His home life is very 50’s America with images of running for yellow school buses and being late for class. The robot dog, Goddard provides a different slant on the archetypal pet as well as invaluable support to the main character. Having accidentally summoned the aliens to Earth, the comic villains of the piece voiced by Patrick Stewart and Martin Shaw proceed to kidnap all of the parents to face a rather bizarre fate on their home world. Cue the ethos at the heart of the movie as "There’s no place like home" kicks in after the subsequent chase through space by the parent’s children.

***Best bits***
 There were a lot of funny moments including Goddard the robot dog exploding and re-forming in Jimmy’s underground laboratory.

 JN’s minituriser provides a few laughs especially after it fails him at a show and tell but subsequently miniaturises the teacher after everyone has left the classroom. She is then left to face the enhanced threat of formerly small animals.

 There’s a scene later on where the same gadget reduces and enlarges JN’s parent’s heads, TV and so on in a comic sequence where nobody picks up what’s happening.

 The spacecraft formed from the fairground rides is a nice touch with a cleverly worked passage of taking fairground rides and making them into spacecraft.

 The scenes towards the climax are maybe the funniest but without wanting to spoil it, all I’ll say is that a rather humungous chicken god comes into play!

***The verdict***
This movie was conce
ived by Nickelodeon as a means of entertaining kids too old for Rugrats. My kids loved it and it had a real happy-go-lucky atmosphere. The drawback is that it is a kid’s film and not really that suitable for adults.

I found myself nodding off a little because there were few subtle older gags like you get in some movies. The special effects were OK but again, looked a bit PC gameish and would hardly stack up against, say, Monsters.Inc. The script is a little clunky and the humour definitely levelled at the younger generation. The film seemed to borrow a little from Pinocchio whereby, having discovered that the parents had gone, all of the kids in the neighbourhood went on a beano at the local fair a la Pleasure Island from the film mentioned above. As you'd expect, maybe, it's not long before they realise that they can't really cope without their parents after all and decide to find them again.

It wasn’t all bad though. I thought the humour in it was easy to relate too and there were some imaginative moments like the secondment of the fairground rides as makeshift spacecraft, the barter between the alien antagonists was fun at times and the movie did build to an action crescendo with some slapstick moments.

The musical score reflected the film’s moods at the right times and had the suitable futurist feel to it to enhance the script.

If you looked a little deeper, which was kinda hard to do with the fairly young target age, then you’ll have picked up on the emphasis of family values including the moralistic imposition of parental guidelines on kids. Also, the almost inevitable pecking order that develops in school was examined at a cursory level through the eventual friendship between Jimmy and the class cool kid (you know, the Fonz type of 50’s cool). Of course, the film isn’t meant to be a deep thinker but you could be forgiven for trying to make something of an analysis if you are a
nything like me and try and glean some sort of meaning from the heart of a movie.

The particular scenes that brought this home was Jimmy’s parents refusing to allow him to go out to the fair and then agreeing that if they had been similarly grounded that they would have sneaked out (which he did). The reaction of children to not having parents is briefly drawn on when Jimmy finds a post it note on the fridge supposedly from his parents saying that they have gone away (of course, it’s from the aliens). Also, the peripheral emotional moments centring on the re-unification of the kiddies and parents along with the satisfactory conclusion of the meeting of minds between the class cool kid and Jimmy.

If you are looking for a film to go and watch with the kids then this is OK. I’d rate it as 3 stars as I don’t think that it reaches out to anybody much above early teens. It’s a fairly original film and the novelty, invention and humour will have the kids giggling. If you are the adult taking them along then have a couple of cups of coffee before you go!

Running Time: 82 minutes and at cinemas now

Thanks for reading

Marandina

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