Extras: Making-of featurette, 2 music videos, 12 promotional spots,
7 DVD-ROM games, teaser trailer, theatrical trailer, and scene selection.
Director:
John A. Davis
Screenplay:
John A. Davis, Steve Oedekerk, J. David Stem and David N. Weiss
Cast:
Mrs. Neutron, VOX: Megan Cavanagh
Hugh Neutron: Mark DeCarlo
Jimmy Neutron: Debi Derryberry
Sheen: Jeffrey Garcia
Newscaster: Bob Goen
Newscaster: Mary Hart
Cindy Vortex: Carolyn Lawrence
King Goobot: Patrick Stewart
Ooblar: Martin Short
Jimmy Neutron
is the first Nickelodeon movie (despite
the average Harriet the Spy) that is actually good. It
appeals to both adults and kids - more on the latter.
It seems that nowadays computer animated films are
better than the average 2D films. They always seem to
appeal to both audiences (except for Final Fantasy: The
Spirits Within). But being the only person on the face
of the planet who hated last year's Shrek, I can't say
that the appeal is completely universal. That said, I
went into Jimmy Neutron expecting a fun movie and
that's exactly what you get. Most people will say
Shrek is better and it's no Toy Story. It's better
than Shrek but not as good as the Toy Story films.
Jimmy Neutron tells the story of a boy genius who
invents all kinds of things. Like rockets, jetpacks, a
robotic dog, a transportation bubble, just to name a
few. He is sort of like Dexter (from Dexter's
Laboratory) in that he has a lab under his house. His
parents, however, know that he is an inventor and
accept it. But when Jimmy wants to go the newly-arrived
fair in town, Retro Land, his parents say no.
He shrinks himself down and sneaks out of the house.
When at Retro Land, he and his friends have a great
time and upon coming home, they wish
that the parents would just disappear so they could
have fun all the time. Litle do they know that aliens,
called Yokonians, have abducted their parents to
sacrifice to a giant chicken. The kids have fun
without the parents but soon start to miss them. Jimmy
then retro fits the fair's rides into spaceships so
they can go save their parents.
The film's plot is average kid fare and does have it's share of clever
jokes. Not a bad movie really.
Into the disc. The video was of course tranfered
directly from a digital source. So you won't find any
scratches or dirt here. A very colorful transfer that
shows no grain or anything. What else would you expect
from a digital film. Definitely the best transfer I've
seen from Paramount execpt for Rat Race and Apocalypse
Now: Redux. Suprisingly the disc houses both
widescreen and full frame transfers on one side,
making it the first Region 1 Paramount disc to have both.
The sound, like the video, is great too. I'm sure this
was digital too as it is very booming. And again,
Paramount has included Dolby 2.0 for people without
5.1 systems. I'm sure some people probably wanted a
commentary on the inside of the film but no dice.
The extras are no frills really. A 16-minute
featurette is more about interviewing the voice actors
and they tell you what their character is like with a
huge barrage of clips from the film. Only for a minute
or two is the real process of digital film-making
presented. Then you have two terrible songs
accompanied by two horrible videos. Aaron Carter's
Leave it Up To Me is less enjoyable than fingernails
on a chalkboard. You know the routine, it's the
average adults-don't-understand-kids-fare even though
they were kids once too. And then the Kids in
America song is just a remake for the film. Still
terrible though.
The only good thing about the extras are the 12 promotional spots.
These were animated shorts created for Nickelodeon to advertise the film
all through 2001. Mildly enjoyable.
Overall, Jimmy Neutron is a good, fun film. Computer
animated films are becoming more and more common now.
A solid rent for adults looking for a fun flick and if
you have kids it would be a hit among them as well.
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B
37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Jan 2011: Intel Quad Core Dell XPS 8100, i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80Ghz, 8Gb RAM, nVidia GeForce GTS 240, Windows 7
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
