Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius **** (2001, voices of Debi Derryberry, Megan Cavanagh, Rob Paulsen, Mark DeCarlo) – Classic Movie Review 4793

In a super 2001 Nickelodeon Movies animated action adventure, 10-year-old intrepid rocket genius and inventor Jimmy and his robot dog, Goddard, set off into space to rescue his parents. Along with the rest of the adult population of his home town, they have been abducted by aliens!

Quirkily enough, Jimmy is voiced by a middle-aged woman, Debi Derryberry. The character is envisaged as ‘one-third Bart Simpson, one-third Albert Einstein and one-third Jim Carrey.’

Debi Derryberry was born on 27 September 1960 in San Diego County, California, as Deborah Sue Greenberg.

Megan Cavanagh, Rob Paulsen, Jeffrey Garcia (as Sheen Estevez!), Carolyn Lawrence, Andrea Martin, Candi Milo, Crystal Scales, Martin Short (as Ooblar), Patrick Stewart (as King Goobot), Jim Cummings and  Mark DeCarlo provide other voices in co-writer/ director John A Davis’s wildly inventive, rocket-paced animated adventure movie.

Jimmy Neutron will enthrall adults and kids alike with its delicious bug-eyed monsters and cute Sixties retro look. It was Oscar nominated for Best Animated Feature, Nickelodeon’s first, and their first entirely CGI animated movie. It is also the first CGI feature made entirely with off-the-shelf software.

Based on a series of shorts, it was planned as a TV series pilot, but Paramount studio bosses admired it and backed it for cinema release. And, they were right, as it fared well at the box office, grossing more than $80 million in the US after costing a fairly low $30 million.

Director Davis provides the voices of Octapuke Kid, Guard and Bennie. Davis and Steve Oedekerk are credited for story and screenplay, with David N Weiss and J David Stem also for the screenplay, and Dan Schneider as contributing writer.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 4793

Link to home page for more reviews derekwinnert.com