hat bogey on NORAD's radar isn't an enemy bomber: It's just Jimmy Neutron (Derryberry), his good-hearted friend Carl (Rob Paulsen) and his faithful robot dog, Goddard, in their homemade spaceship. Jimmy is the smartest kid in Retroville, and he's built the rocket to launch a satellite (made from Mom's toaster) into space to make contact with an alien civilization.
After crash-landing on his parents' roof, Jimmy gets a scolding. Haven't we told you not to talk to strangers? But all is forgiven, and Jimmy heads off to school.
Blond, perky Cindy Vortex (Carolyn Lawrence) is Jimmy's archnemesis at school—and the smartest kid in class, at least until Jimmy showed up. Cindy's moony over bad boy Nick (Candi Milo), who thinks Jimmy's a total dork.
After school, Jimmy, Carl and their action-figure-obsessed friend Sheen (Jeff Garcia) want to go to the grand opening of Retroland, the coolest amusement park in the universe. But despite Jimmy's efforts to get permission from Mom and Dad—he makes pearls and diamonds with various machines in his basement lab—the answer is no. After all, it's a school night.
Why not just sneak out? Nick suggests. Using his shrink ray, Jimmy does and joins Carl and Sheen. The three have the time of their lives at Retroland. On their way home, they muse: Wouldn't it be great if they didn't have parents at all? They wish upon a shooting star.
Unbeknownst to them, that shooting star is actually the advance ship of the Yolkians, a race of green, egg-shaped aliens, led by King Goobot (Stewart) and his minion, Ooblar (Short). Answering Jimmy's toaster satellite, they have come to Earth to abduct all adults as a sacrifice to their god, Poltra.
When the kids awake the next day, they all find mysterious notes saying their parents have gone to Florida. At first, they rejoice: It's like a kid holiday! But then reality sets in. Jimmy discovers the truth: Aliens have abducted Mom and Dad! The kids must save the day, helped by Jimmy, who wants to build a fleet of intergalactic spaceships from the amusement park rides.
Not quite infinity and beyond
The computer-animated Jimmy Neutron is less a movie than a springboard for a massive kids' franchise that will include a Nickelodeon animated series, games, an Internet site, a magazine and other products. The idea was born from Davis' computer-animated short about a runaway rocket boy and was quickly developed by Oedekerk, Davis and partner Keith Alcorn and executive producer Julia Pistor into the marketing juggernaut it is today. Jimmy Neutron hasn't blasted off on theater screens yet, but he's already appeared during the closing bell of the New York Stock Exchange and as a new balloon in Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, among other things.
As for the movie itself, it doesn't compare well with other recent CG features, such as Monsters, Inc. and Shrek. Jimmy Neutron's animation, reportedly created with off-the-shelf software, is more game-like and less fluid than that of the other movies, as befits architecture designed primarily for television. The design is witty and amusingly retro-flavored, with the title character a pint-sized version of Oedekerk's Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, which he co-wrote with Jim Carrey.
Otherwise, the film is strictly for young kids, who will doubtless be dazzled by the film's array of gadgets and whiz-bang effects, toilet humor, Saturday-morning characterizations and movie-of-the-week pieties about family and doing the right thing. Though some adults will also find the movie entertaining, many may find Jimmy and company's energy and enthusiasm a little grating after a while.
Jimmy Neutron does show a spark of originality here and there, as with the image of a fleet of amusement-park rides zooming through the universe or with the infinite permutations of Goddard the wonder dog. There's also one hilarious moment when Nick tells a campfire ghost story about three filmmakers and some sticks that caught a preview audience by surprise.
Stewart and Short, the only real stars in the film, basically shuck and jive through their cartoony roles. Veteran voice actress Derryberry stands out as the Bart Simpson-like Jimmy.
