Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius (2001)

Jimmy Neutron has got to be my favorite children's animation series because of its inventive and energetic animation, plotting, characterization, and just generally lyrical quirkiness. Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius is the first feature-length movie of the series and I have enjoyed it multiple times on Nickelodeon with my youngest son. Even so, I gladly watched it alone on DVD (obtained from a competing service since it recently reverted to Save status on this rental service) and I would be pleased to own every Jimmy Neutron episode. (Thankfully, Seasons 1 and 2 are now streaming here, at least for the time being.) Naturally, I came to the show because I have children but I have stayed with the show because of my inner child. The animation style is colorful, 3D, and kinetically pops off the screen. (In the making-of featurette, the creative team explains how they put 3D animation in the service of Roadrunner- and Coyote-style physics.) Every character has an intense personality and the voice talent is superb, from boy genius Jimmy Neutron to his quack-happy pie-loving father Hugh Neutron to his sweetly keelhauling mother Judy Neutron to his intelligent and insulting nemesis Cindy Vortex to his tubby hyperallergenic friend and guinea pig Carl Weezer to their Ultralord-crazy nerd companion Sheen Estevez (not to mention the rest of the folks in Retroville and a parade of space aliens and would-be Earth conquerors). Our story begins as the evil (and hungry) Yolkians (think floating glass eggs with green brains and eye stalks) kidnap all the grownups in town, causing Jimmy to lead his classmates in interstellar pursuit. Flying through an asteroid belt and doing battle in the alien coliseum is not for kids under 6 (as the movie page states clearly) but it's all cartoon fun and mayhem. (By the way, there is an explanation for how the kids fly through space without spacesuits but that's an in-joke covered in another episode.) Simply put, Jimmy Neutron is pure goofy, loopy fun with a chewy smart-kid center. This show never disappoints. Enjoy! 5 stars.