Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius is a 2001 computer-animated film, based on a few five-minute animated shorts shown on Nickelodeon in 2000 and 2001. The television series was supposed to begin before the release of the film, but since there was not enough time, the animated shorts were created. The film was produced by Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies with O Entertainment. It was produced using off-the-shelf software (messiah:studio and LightWave 6) by DNA Productions of Dallas, Texas.
A spin-off TV series The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, premiered April 20, 2002 on Nickelodeon. This marked the first Nicktoon to be spun-off from a film.
Plot
The film begins at an Air Force base somewhere in Colorado. Their radar picks up a UFO and they send planes up to examine the situation. The pilots are surprised to find that it is a rocket carrying two boys and a robotic dog: Jimmy Neutron, Carl Wheezer, and Goddard. Jimmy needs to launch a communications satellite to communicate with an alien species who sent him a message that was garbled in the ionosphere. Unfortunately, the pulse rockets fail, and the rocket cannot leave the atmosphere. Jimmy tapes some soda to the toaster and throws it, propelling the soda into space. Then the rocket falls down to town and lands on his roof. He is reprimanded by his parents and gets ready for school, but his antics caused him to miss the bus.
He then tests his latest invention, a form of bubble transportation, made from a special bubble gum. He catches up with the school bus, but the bubble pops when it hits a tree. In the classroom, Cindy Vortex, Jimmy's arch rival, is giving a report on dinosaurs. Jimmy proceeds to correct her with technical data and they argue. During show and tell, Jimmy shows Ms. Fowl and the class a shrink ray. He attempts to shrink Cindy's head, but the ray malfunctions and does not work. When walking home, Jimmy, Carl, and their friend Sheen Estevez spot a poster for an amusement park. However, their parents will not let them go, so they sneak out. By now, the shrink ray is working again, so Nick Dean also had the Golden Rule.
Meanwhile, the toaster is found by an alien race called the Yolkians. They seem to be a green goo with eye stalks. They use pods with hovering capability and robotic arms to move, but they fly chicken-shaped spaceships in space. King Goobot and his assistant, Ooblar, watch the message, then all the ships in the armada head to Earth. They take all the parents in the city and leave, putting obviously fake notes on the refrigerators to tell the kids they've gone to Florida for a "vacation".
On the way home, Carl spots a shooting star, so he, Jimmy, and Sheen wish for no more parents so they could have fun all the time. The next morning, Jimmy spots the Note set and reads it. The notes are the same for everyone, so Jimmy has Goddard scan for adult life forms. When the report comes back (none within radar range), the kids celebrate and do things they couldn't do normally.
The next morning, the craze has worn off, and at home, Jimmy is upset that his parents didn't say goodbye. Jimmy goes to his lab and compares the note the Yolkians left with notes his parents wrote. When the writing doesn't compare, Jimmy realizes that the notes are fake. Goddard finds evidence of aliens on the computer, and Jimmy tracks them to another system. He organizes the other kids in town to build rockets from the theme park rides to travel there.
While staying on an asteroid, everyone recalls what their parents did at bedtime before they were abducted by aliens. The next day, they reach the planet Yolkus and are captured by Goobot. He says the parents are to be sacrificed to their god, Poultra. They're taken to the dungeon, but Ooblar takes Goddard to his workshop to take him apart after Goddard assaults Goobot. Jimmy calls Goddard on Libby's cell phone and tricks Ooblar into thinking Goddard will self-destruct in an explosion covering 30 square miles. Goddard frees the kids using a glitch in his obedience program and they make it to the arena where the parents will be sacrificed to Poultra. When they reach it, an unusual ceremony is finishing, and Poultra, a colossal three-eyed chicken with reptilian legs, hatching from her egg. Jimmy quickly comes up with a plan: Sheen heads to an airfield to obtain a transport, he gets the mind controller, and the rest of the kids keep the guards busy.
They escape, but Goobot follows them in his ship at the head of the Yolkus fleet. He orders the ships to open fire. During the battle, Jimmy skims the surface of Yolkus's sun, and flares destroy all but Goobot's ship. The king sends a taunting message to Jimmy, who flies out with Goddard. He uses his shrink ray to make himself the size of a planet, and blows the ship into an oncoming asteroid. Goobot vows he'll be back. The kids are reunited with their parents, and they make it home without further incident.
Cast
Reception
Reviews were generally favorable. It currently holds a 75% "Certified Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a rating of 65 (meaning generally favorable reviews) on Metacritic.
Box office
The film was financially successful, bringing in $13,832,786 on its opening weekend for an average of $4,407 from 3,139 theaters, and ended up with a total of $80,865,848 domestically, but the film did not do nearly as well outside of the US where it only made $22,056,304 which made a total of $102,992,536 worldwide. It had a budget of roughly $30 million.
Awards
Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius was nominated for the first Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, losing to the DreamWorks blockbuster Shrek, but still making it the first film produced by Nickelodeon Movies ever to receive an Academy Award nomination.
Soundtrack
Genius, Sheenius or Inbetweenius
An event that aired on May 19, 2007, Nickelodeon took the opportunity to rehire the original voice actors of Jimmy, Sheen and Carl 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 was seen again at some point in the TV series (except for the Pain-Transference helmet).
| 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." |
| 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 Hyper Cube, to store infinite items in one small place. But, it's dinner time and they are having creamed corn, which Jimmy hides in his Hyper Cube. After Jimmy's dad thinks it's a brain teaser puzzle and breaks it, Jimmy finds out 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 than in the original short. |
| New Dog, Old Tricks |
Jimmy introduces his robotic dog, Goddard to Cindy and her dog, Humphrey. Humphrey makes brief cameos in other episodes such as "Crime Sheen Investigation". |
| Pain Pain Go Away |
Jimmy visits 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. |
| 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". |
External links
