Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius

Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius
Theatrical release poster
Directed by John A. Davis
Produced by
Screenplay by
Story by
  • John A. Davis
  • Steve Oedekerk
Starring
Music by John Debney
Cinematography
  • Steve Kolbe
  • Chris Sherrod
Edited by
  • Gregory Perler
  • Jon Price
Production
company
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release date
  • December 21, 2001 (2001-12-21)[1]
Running time
 82 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $30 million[2]
Box office $103 million

Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius is a 2001 American computer-animated adventure comic science fiction film based on the 2 shorts titled The Adventures of Johnny Quasar between both 1995 and 1997, 12 three-minute animated shorts shown on Nickelodeon between 1999 and 2001, and a pilot in 1998. The film was produced by Nickelodeon Movies, O Entertainment, and DNA Productions, and distributed by Paramount Pictures. It was produced using off-the-shelf software (messiah:studio and LightWave 6) by DNA Productions. The film was released December 21, 2001.[1] It was nominated for the first Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, but lost to Shrek. It was the only animated Nickelodeon film to ever be nominated in that category until Rango (2011) was nominated and won.

The success of the film led to a spin-off television series, The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, which ran from 2002 to 2006. A second spin-off, Planet Sheen, ran from 2010 to 2013.

Plot

The film begins at an Air Force base somewhere in Colorado. The Air Force radar detects an unidentified flying object (UFO), so they send planes up to examine the situation. The pilots discover that it is a rocket carrying two boys and a robotic dog: Jimmy Neutron, Carl Wheezer and Goddard. Jimmy is attempting to launch a communications satellite made out of a toaster, in the hopes of communicating with an alien, and believes that an alien species exists somewhere out in the universe, despite his parents Hugh and Judy's protest in talking to strangers.

After school, Jimmy, Carl, and their friend Sheen spot a poster for an amusement park called "Retroland." However, Jimmy's parents refuse to let him go that night because it is a school night, and as a result, Jimmy is grounded for causing a fire with one of his inventions.

Meanwhile, Jimmy's communications satellite is picked up near the planet Yolkus, home to an alien race called the Yolkians, who commandeer their warships that look like a fleet of rubber chickens. King Goobot V and his assistant, Ooblar, watch a pre-recorded message from Jimmy, featuring him introducing himself and explaining about life on Earth, with Goobot declaring "the search is over". Jimmy, Carl, and Sheen subsequently choose to sneak out and visit the park advised by Nick Dean, a popular kid.

As the three are at the park, the Yolkians kidnap all the adults in the city, leaving fake notes on the refrigerators to tell the kids that they have gone to Florida for an "extended vacation". Coincidentally, Carl spots a shooting star (actually a Yolkian ship), so he, Jimmy and Sheen wish for no more parents so they can have fun all the time.

The next morning, the kids discover the parents have all disappeared and celebrate for the whole day. However, all the children quickly begin to miss their parents. The following day, after hearing a message from his parents that Goddard had recorded while posing as Jimmy last night, Jimmy becomes suspicious of the fact that his parents said that they would see him in the morning despite not being there. He discovers what has really happened.

Jimmy organizes the other children in town to build spaceships from the Retroland rides to travel to Yolkus and get their parents back. Eventually, they are captured by Goobot, who tells them that the parents are to be sacrificed to their goddess, Poultra. He shows the kids Jimmy's video, thanking him for helping him find suitable species for their ritual, before having the children locked up in their cells, with the exception of Goddard, who is taken by Ooblar to the lab, where he will be dismantled.

With Jimmy feeling guilty over the fact that his actions led to the Yolkans abducting the parents in the first place, his rival Cindy Vortex convinces him to stand up and think of an escape plan. After breaking out with the help of Goddard, the children (with the exception of Nick, as he turns out not so brave what he previously seemed to be), in accordance with Jimmy's plan, manage to stop the parents from being sacrificed to Poultra the giant chicken.

Everyone escapes aboard a Yolkian ship, but Goobot follows them in his ship at the head of the Yolkian fleet. With the exception of Goobot's ship, all of the Yolkian ships are destroyed when Jimmy baits them into flying too close to Yolkus' sun. Jimmy and Goddard then use an experimental shrink ray to grow to the size of a planet, and blow Goobot's ship into an asteroid: Goobot and Ooblar survive the explosion, and Goobot declares that they have not seen the last of him and vows revenge. Jimmy and the rest of the kids reconcile with their parents and head home.

In a final scene of the film, Jimmy and Carl have breakfast during which Jimmy's parents drink one of his experiments (that causes significant belching), thinking it is real soda and they all laugh out loud.

Cast

Production

The film started out as a short called "The Adventures of Johnny Quasar" in 1995 and was shown at SIGGRAPH that same year.[3] Both the 1995, and 1997 shorts were intended to be short pilots for a television series.[4] In 1998, a new short with the main character's name changed to "Jimmy Neutron", called "Runaway Rocketboy", was made and pitched to Nickelodeon with the intent of making it into a television series. The pilot was so successful that the producers wanted to make it into a film, but due to the evolution of CGI. However, they were concerned that making a feature film before a television series was too risky, so they made and aired short interstitials on Nickelodeon leading up to the feature's release.

Release

Theatrical release

Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius was released in theaters on December 21, 2001,[1] by Paramount Pictures.

Home media

Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius was released on VHS and DVD by Paramount Home Entertainment on July 2, 2002.[5] It was re-released on DVD on June 22, 2011 and re-released again on DVD on April 25, 2017. The film has yet to be released on Blu-ray.

Reception

Critical response

Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius received generally positive reviews from critics and audiences. The film scored a 75% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The critics' consensus reads: "What Jimmy Neutron lacks in computer animation, it makes up for in charm and cleverness."[6] According to Metacritic, the film also scored 65/100, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[7] Rita Kempley of Washington Post praised the film, saying that "this little charmer both celebrates and kids the corny conventions of family sitcoms". Nell Minow of Common Sense Media enjoyed the "stylish 3-D computer animation, good characters", giving the film 3 out of 5 stars.[8] Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly gave this film a B+, calling it "a lickety-split, madly packed, roller-coaster entertainment that might almost have been designed to make you scared of how much smarter your kids are than you".[9] Paul Tatara of CNN.com called the film "the most delightfully original children's film of 2001".[10] Roger Ebert of Chicago Sun-Times gave the film a 3/4 score, saying that "it doesn't have the little in-jokes that make Shrek and Monsters, Inc. fun for grown-ups. But adults who appreciate the art of animation may enjoy the look of the picture".[11]

Box office

The film was financially successful, bringing in $13,833,228 on its opening weekend for an average of $4,407 from 3,139 theaters, and ended up with a total of $80,936,232 domestically, and the film did better overseas bringing in $22,056,304 which made a total of $102,992,536 worldwide. It had a budget of roughly $30 million. It is one of only twelve feature films to be released in over 3,000 theaters and still improve on its box office performance in its second weekend, increasing 8.7% from $13,832,786 to $15,035,649.[12]

Awards

Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius was nominated for the first Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, but lost to Shrek (2001), released by DreamWorks. It was the first release from Nickelodeon Movies to receive an Academy Award nomination.

Soundtrack

Official edit

The movie soundtrack was released on November 20, 2001 after the movie was released, by Sony Music Soundtrax, Columbia Records and Nick Records.[13] There is also an untitled track that talks about chimps. It includes covers of DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince's "Parents Just Don't Understand", Thomas Dolby's "She Blinded Me With Science" , and Kim Wilde's "Kids In America".

No.TitleArtistLength
1."Leave It Up to Me"Aaron Carter2:59
2."Pop" (Deep Dish Cha-Ching Remix)*NSYNC4:13
3."Parents Just Don't Understand"Lil' Romeo, Nick Cannon, and 3LW3:55
4."Intimidated"Britney Spears3:17
5."He Blinded Me with Science"Melissa Lefton3:15
6."A.C.'s Alien Nation"Aaron Carter3:23
7."Kids in America"No Secrets3:07
8."The Answer to Our Life"Backstreet Boys3:17
9."The Chicken Dance"Werner Thomas1:32
10."I Can Count on You"True Vibe3:46
11."We Got the Beat"The Go-Go's2:31
12."Go Jimmy Jimmy"Aaron Carter2:39
13."Parents Just Don't Understand (Bonux Mix)"Lil' Romeo, 3LW, and Nick Cannon3:52
14."Blitzkrieg Bop"The Ramones2:12
15."Jimmy Neutron Theme"Bowling for Soup2:08

Original score

Additionally, a promotional CD containing the score by John Debney was released for Academy Award consideration.

No.TitleArtistLength
1."Jimmy Neutron Theme"Bowling for Soup2:08
2."Leave It Up to Me"Aaron Carter2:59
3."Pop" (Deep Dish Cha-Ching Remix)*NSYNC4:13
4."Parents Just Don't Understand"Lil' Romeo, 3LW, and Nick Cannon3:55
5."Intimidated"Britney Spears3:17
6."He Blinded Me With Science"Melissa Lefton and The Matrix3:15
7."A.C.'s Alien Nation"Aaron Carter3:23
8."Kids in America"No Secrets3:07
9."The Answer to Our Life"Backstreet Boys3:17
10."The Chicken Dance"Werner Thomas1:32
11."I Can Count on You"True Vibe3:46
12."We Got the Beat"The Go-Go's2:31
13."Go Jimmy Jimmy"Aaron Carter2:39
14."Parents Just Don't Understand (Bonux Mix)"Lil' Romeo, 3LW, and Nick Cannon3:52
15."Blitzkrieg Bop"The Ramones2:12
16."Nickelodeon Logo" 0:14
17."Air Force" 1:00
18."Jimmy's Rocket Machine" 1:20
19."Parents" 1:17
20."Ready-to-Go-to-School Machine" 1:49
21."The Plan (Part 1)" 0:37
22."The Plan (Part 2)" 0:17
23."Nick" 0:50
24."The Worm" 0:20
25."RetroLand Theme Park!" 0:40
26."Oyster & Diamond" 0:34
27."Alien Space Craft/Jimmy's Message" 3:02
28."Options" 0:49
29."Sneak Out" 1:09
30."Invasion Alert" 0:34
31."RetroLand Main" 0:14
32."Good Night" 0:58
33."Alien Abduction" 1:13
34."The Wish" 0:47
35."Say Goodbye/Angry Mob & 75/Launch" 7:07
36."Beauty of Space/Meteor" 2:25
37."The Alien Planet" 1:12
38."Flying Jimmy" 0:50
39."King Goobot's Shock" 0:20
40."Poultra: God of Wrath (Part 1)" 0:10
41."Poultra: God of Wrath (Part 2)" 0:20
42."Prisoners" 1:10
43."Cindy & Jimmy" 1:34
44."Ooblar's Danger/Cell Dog Phone/Rescue" 3:09
45."Stadium" 0:23
46."Bring on the Humans" 0:47
47."The Incubation" 0:48
48."Sacrifice" 0:29
49."The Plan" 1:40
50."Jimmy to the Rescue" 2:02
51."Escape from the Planet/The Big Chase" 2:42
52."Jimmy Is the Winner/Apologize" 2:15
53."The End" 0:13
Total length:82:58

Cancelled sequel and possible reboot film

In June 2002, it was reported that Kate Boutilier had made a deal to write a sequel to the film titled Jimmy Neutron 2: The Search for Carl. However, there was not any progress in the project and was cancelled.[14]

In 2016, director John A. Davis has stated that he has a story for a Jimmy Neutron reboot feature that he would like to make, but he is waiting for the "right situation" to make it.[15]

Spin-offs

Due to the film's successful box office performance, a spin-off television series The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius was produced. The show ran from July 2002 to November 2006 for three seasons. A second spin-off Planet Sheen, focusing on Jimmy's friend Sheen Estevez, ran from October 2010 to February 2013 for one season.

Genius, Sheenius or Inbetweenius

An event that aired on May 19, 2007, Nickelodeon rehired Debi Derryberry, Jeffrey Gacia and Rob Paulsen to return for a special audio commentary version of the film that features their animated counterparts' silhouettes, spoofing Mystery Science Theater 3000.

Film promotion

These shorts were used to promote the film. They have all been released on the official Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius DVD release of the film. All of the inventions in each short were seen again at some point on the television series (except for the Pain-Transference helmet). Clips from similar versions of these shorts, along with clips from the unaired "Runaway Rocketboy" pilot, appeared in the teaser trailer for Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius. The biggest difference between the clips seen in the trailer and the original shorts is that Jimmy wears the white and red striped shirt he wore in the pilot, rather than his trademark shirt.

Shorts

Short Overview
"Carl Squared" Carl asks Jimmy lots of questions when he clones himself. The cloning machine is seen again in "Send in the Clones" and "The Trouble with Clones".
"Calling All Aliens" (Parts 1-5) Jimmy receives a message, thinking that it is from aliens. But when he says "school Goddard", he gets teleported to school. He tries several attempts to try to communicate with the aliens. Aliens are also mentioned in Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius. It serves as the prologue to the movie.
"Cookie Time" Jimmy has a remote control that controls time. He asks his mom for a cookie and gets it. He keeps rewinding but Goddard bites the remote and sends them back to the prehistoric era. The remote is seen again in "Sorry, Wrong Era".
"Hyper Corn" Jimmy invents his HyperCube, to store infinite items in one small place. But, it is dinner time and they are having creamed corn, which Jimmy hides in his Hyper Cube. After Jimmy's dad thinks it is a brain teaser puzzle and breaks it, Jimmy finds out that he likes it after all. The Hyper Cube makes appearances in the episodes "Hypno Birthday to You" and "Holly Jolly Jimmy", although it looks different from in the original short.
"New Dog, Old Tricks" Jimmy introduces his robotic dog, Goddard, to Cindy and her dog, Humphrey, who Cindy says is the best dog in Retroville. However, after showing each other new tricks, Goddard wins the argument. Humphrey makes brief cameos in other episodes. Note: A clip from a slightly different version of this short appeared in the original theatrical trailer for Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius. This version ends with Goddard putting himself back together after Jimmy says, "I can fix that."
"Pain Pain Go Away" Jimmy visits Dr. Pane, the dentist, using his Pain-Transference Helmet to transfer the pain to Cindy. He gets in trouble, though, when Cindy snatches the helmet the next day and retaliates by injuring herself and sending the pain to Jimmy.
"Sea Minus" Jimmy accidentally uses his Matter Transporter to move the Neutron's House underwater! The Matter Transporter is seen again in "My Son, the Hamster".
"Ultralord vs. The Squirrels" Sheen gets his new Ultralord Action Figure in a tree. Jimmy must get it back with his Hypno Ray invention to keep it away from the squirrels. The Hypno Ray is seen again in "Hypno Birthday to You". Note: A clip from a slightly different version of this short appeared in the original theatrical trailer for Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius. In the trailer version, the scenes take place in the park, rather than in Jimmy's backyard, while Sheen is replaced by Nick Dean.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius". RottenTomatoes.com. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
  2. ↑ "Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2010-02-06.
  3. ↑ Mallory, Michael (November 11, 2001). "A Boy and His Franchise". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 6, 2016.
  4. ↑ "Jimmy_Neutron"_animated_shorts;_1995-1997) https://lostmediawiki.com/The_Adventures_of_Johnny_Quasar_(found_prototype_"Jimmy_Neutron"_animated_shorts;_1995-1997). Missing or empty |title= (help)
  5. ↑ Bovberg, Jason (July 18, 2002). "Jimmy Neutron Boy Genius". DVD Talk. Retrieved June 6, 2016.
  6. ↑ "Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius (2001)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2010-02-06.
  7. ↑ "Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius". Metacritic. Retrieved 2012-12-08.
  8. ↑ "Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius Movie Review". Commonsensemedia.org. Retrieved 2014-06-07.
  9. ↑ Gleiberman, Owen (2002-01-04). "Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius Review | Movie Reviews and News". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2014-06-07.
  10. ↑ "CNN.com International - Breaking, World, Business, Sports, Entertainment and Video News". Archives.cnn.com. Retrieved 2014-06-07.
  11. ↑ Emerson, Jim (2001-12-21). "Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius Movie Review (2001) | Roger Ebert". Rogerebert.suntimes.com. Retrieved 2014-06-07.
  12. ↑ "Smallest Second Weekend Drops". boxofficemojo.com. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved March 27, 2014.
  13. ↑ "Various - Music From The Motion Picture 'Jimmy Neutron Boy Genius'". Discogs.com. Discogs. Retrieved January 10, 2014.
  14. ↑ "'Jimmy Neutron' Sequel Gets 'Thornberrys' Scribe". Killer Movies. June 20, 2002. Retrieved November 12, 2016.
  15. ↑ Gruppetstudios (2016-10-14), Cartoons VS Cancer Ep. 11 - (The One with John Davis!), retrieved 2017-11-24
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