February 17, 2002 -- "Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius" is a nice little cartoon feature from Nickelodian which has its heart in the right place. It has some quality computer-generated graphics, while the story and artwork are imaginative. The big surprise is that it has been nominated for an academy award for best animated feature, beating out the highly-regarded "Waking Life," which is a lot more intellectually challenging, but not as pretty.

The story, co-written by director John A. Davis and Steve Oedekerk ("Kung Pow: Enter the Fist") has big-headed hero Jimmy Neutron (voice by Debi Derryberry) going on a rescue mission to save the parents of earth from certain doom on a world far, far away. The story is peopled with interesting characters, from Jimmy's best friend, Carl Wheezer (voice by Rob Paulsen), to the ultra-cool Nick Dean (voice by Candi Milo) to the superhero-obsessed Sheen (voice by Jeffrey Garcia). There is Jimmy's chief intellectual rival, Cindy Vortex (voice by Carolyn Lawrence). Cindy is kind of like the Hermione Granger character in Harry Potter.

Jimmy accidently attracts the aliens to earth by sending them a transmission. The aliens discover earth and promptly abduct most of the adults. Jimmy and his friends must build an intergalactic fleet of spaceships, find their parents and rescue them from a horrible fate in a matter of days. No sweat. Small problems like the lack of food and air in outer space, Einstein's light speed limit and trying to cope with the advanced technology of an alien race are hardly mentioned.

One of the things I liked about the film was that the personalities of the kids seemed pretty believable. The first thing they do when they find out their parents have been abducted is to have a big party. They go wild and do all the stuff their parents wouldn't let them do. Only after getting sick on massive overdoses of sugar do they realize that they need their parents. The characters are well-defined types with normal kinds of kid problems and concerns. The characters have their problems and disputes, but they have a nice way of pulling together when their backs are against the wall. The artwork is quite good. The sight of spaceships made from carnival rides zooming through space must be seen to be believed. It is all very colorful, bright and comfortably cheesy. This film rates a B.

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