| Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | John A. Davis |
| Produced by | Steve Oedekerk Albie Hecht John A. Davis |
| Screenplay by | John A. Davis Steve Oedekerk David N. Weiss J. David Stem |
| Story by | Steve Oedekerk John A. Davis |
| Starring | Debi Derryberry Patrick Stewart Martin Short Rob Paulsen Jeffrey Garcia Frank Welker Brandon T Jackson Carolyn Lawrence Crystal Scales Candi Milo |
| Music by | John Debney |
| Cinematography | Steve Kolbe Chris Sherrod |
| Editing by | Gregory Perler Jon Price |
| Studio | O Entertainment DNA Productions Nickelodeon Movies |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
| Release date(s) | December 21, 2001 |
| Running time | 82 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $30 million |
| Box office | $102,992,536[1] |
Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius is a 2001 computer-animated film based on a few three-minute animated shorts shown on Nickelodeon between the years 1999-2002, and a pilot in 1998. The film was produced by Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies with O Entertainment and DNA Productions. It was produced using off-the-shelf software (messiah:studio and LightWave 6) by O Entertainment.
A first spin-off TV series, The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, premiered July 20, 2002, and a second spin-off TV series Planet Sheen also premiered on October 2nd, 2010 on Nickelodeon.
Contents |
At an Air Force base, the military discover a UFO and they send up some F-14s to investigate. 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 made out of a toaster, hoping to communicate with an alien species he believes exists somewhere out in the universe. Unfortunately, the pulse rockets fail, and the rocket starts to fall back to Earth, unable to break through the atmosphere. Jimmy shakes up a soda can, tapes it to the satellite and throws it, propelling it into space. Jimmy manages to eject Carl before the rocket crash lands on his roof. He is reprimanded by his parents and misses the bus to school.
Undefeated, Jimmy then tests his latest invention, a form of pickle transportation made from a special pickle jar gum. He catches up with the school bus, but the bubble pops when it hits a tree. During show and tell at school, Jimmy shows Ms. Fowl and the class a shrink ray. He attempts to shrink the head of his rival, Cindy Vortex, but the ray malfunctions and is unable to work. He is teased by everyone, including the most popular kid in school, Nick Dean. After he throws the ray away, however, he accidentally shrinks his teacher, Mrs. Fowl (who got attacked by a worm). When walking home, Jimmy, Carl, and their friend Sheen Estevez (who is obsessed with the superhero "Ultralord") spot a poster for an amusement park opening that night. When they grow excited, but worried that they won't get to go, since it is a school night, Nick tells them that he's going and convinces them to come with him by sneaking out. At first they decline, but when Nick reminds them that there is "only one opening night" and leaves, Jimmy, Carl and Sheen make a plan to sneak out to the park if their parents refuse to take them. Jimmy uses various inventions in his lab (disguised as a clubhouse in his backyard) to create jewelry for his mother. He gives it to her hoping that she will allow him to go, but she unsurprisingly refuses since it's a school night. Things get worse when Jimmy's jet pack sets the living room on fire (breaking a rule that no rockets are allowed in the house) and Jimmy is now grounded. Using the shrink ray, Jimmy is able to sneak out of the house (with Goddard hiding in his bed with Jimmy's voice in case his parents look in on him) and join his friends at the park, Retroland.
Meanwhile, the communicator is found by an alien race called the Yolkians. King Goobot and his assistant, Ooblar, watch a pre-recorded message from Jimmy, featuring him introducing himself and explaining about life on Earth. Goobot pauses the video on an image of Jimmy's parents, saying that they look delicious. He sets a course for Earth and kidnap all the parents in the city, leaving fake notes on the refrigerators to tell the kids they've gone to Florida for a "extended 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 and reads it. The notes are the same for everyone, and with all the kids realizing all the adults are gone, they now have the freedom to do anything they want and celebrate. They do stuff that parents forbid such as flooding the school into a swimming pool, they eat lots of junk food, they make a flood of popcorn near the school, they celebrate with fireworks, and other bad things, resulting the city becoming a giant mess. The next morning, however, the euphoria has worn off, with the kids feeling sick or injured from doing reckless things. Jimmy is sad that his parents didn't even say goodbye before they left. Goddard plays Jimmy a heartfelt video recording of his parents telling "Jimmy" that they love him and they'll see him the next morning. Jimmy realizes that there would be no point in saying that if his parents knew they weren't going to be there and feels that something is wrong. He goes to his lab and compares the note the Yolkians left with notes his parents wrote. Goddard finds evidence of aliens on the computer, and Jimmy tracks them to another solar 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, home of the Yolkian race. Eventually they are captured by Goobot, who tells them the parents are to be sacrificed to their god, Poultra. He shows the kids Jimmy's video, thanking him for helping him find a suitable species for their ritual. The kids, now furious with Jimmy, are taken to the dungeon. Ooblar takes Goddard to his workshop to take him apart after Goddard offends Goobot. After some kind words from Cindy (it's hinted that her taunting is because she has a crush on him), Jimmy manages to win everyone's forgiveness and comes up with a plan. He calls Goddard on Libby's cell phone and tricks Ooblar into thinking Goddard will self-destruct in a huge explosion. Goddard then frees the kids using a glitch in his obedience program and they make it to the sacrifice arena. After an unusual ceremony (in which the parents under mind control do the Chicken Dance), Poultra, a colossal three-eyed reptilian chicken, hatches from her egg. Nick, who previously promised that he would battle the aliens himself, runs out of the stadium screaming. Jimmy's quick thinking allows him to think of a new plan. He sends Sheen to the airfield to obtain an escape ship. Jimmy manages to steal the mind controller thanks to Goddard while the rest of the kids keep the guards busy in a short but victorious battle. Poultra blocks their way out of the arena but Sheen knocks her dizzy when his ship hits her in the head.
Everyone just escapes with the adults in tow, but Goobot follows them in his ship at the head of the Yolkus fleet, with Poultra not far behind. As the ships open fire, this scene is a parody of Titan A.E. (2000), Jimmy skims the surface of Yolkus's sun. The solar flares fry the ships to a crisp and destroy all but Goobot's ship. The king sends a taunting message to Jimmy, who flies out of the ship with Goddard. He uses his shrink ray to make himself grow the size of a planet, and blows the ship into an oncoming asteroid. Goobot vows revenge against Jimmy. The kids are reunited with their parents, and they make it home. The movie ends with Jimmy's mother and father trying his latest invention, Burping Soda, much to everybody's glee. Judy tries to yell at Jimmy for the invention only to belch loudly and the four laugh while Goddard imitates a bird outside.
Reviews were generally favorable. It currently holds a 74% "Certified Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes.[2] According to Metacritic, the film also holds a score of 65/100, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[3]
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.
Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius was nominated for the first Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, but lost to the DreamWorks blockbuster Shrek. However, with the exception of Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, it remains and still marks to be the only computer-animated film produced by Nickelodeon Movies ever to receive an Academy Award nomination.
Nickelodeon Movies announced that film will have a 3D re-release in 2014.
The movie soundtrack was released in 2001 after the movie was released, by Jive Records and Nick Records.
| No. | Title | Artist | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Leave It Up to Me" | Aaron Carter | 2:59 |
| 2. | "Pop" (Deep Dish Cha-Ching Remix) | *NSYNC | 4:13 |
| 3. | "Parents Just Don't Understand" (Teddy Riley Mix) | Lil' Romeo, 3LW, and Nick Cannon | 3:55 |
| 4. | "Intimidated" | Britney Spears | 3:17 |
| 5. | "He Blinded Me with Science" | Melissa Lefton and The Matrix | 3:15 |
| 6. | "A.C.'s Alien Nation" | Aaron Carter | 3:23 |
| 7. | "Kids in America" | No Secrets | 3:06 |
| 8. | "The Answer to Our Life" | Backstreet Boys | 3:17 |
| 9. | "The Chicken Dance" | Stupid | 1:32 |
| 10. | "I Can Count on You" | True Vibe | 3:46 |
| 11. | "We Got the Beat" | The Go-Go's | 2:31 |
| 12. | "Go Jimmy Jimmy" | Aaron Carter | 2:38 |
| 13. | "Parents Just Don't Understand" (Bonus Mix) | Lil' Romeo, 3LW, Nick Cannon | 3:52 |
| 14. | "Blitzkrieg Bop" | The Ramones | 2:12 |
| 15. | "Jimmy Neutron Theme" | Bowling for Soup | 2:08 |
| 16. | "Opening Titles" | 2:05 | |
| 17. | "The Yolkans' ship" | 2:06 | |
| 18. | "Welcome to Retroland" | 2:07 | |
| 19. | "No Parents" | 2:08 | |
| 20. | "Building Ships" | 2:09 | |
| 21. | "Egypt" | 2:10 | |
| 22. | "Breakfast" | 2:11 |
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.
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). Clips from similar versions of these shorts, along with clips from the unaired "Runaway Rocketboy" pilot appeared in the original theatrical 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 red and white striped shirt he wore in the pilot, rather than his trademark shirt.
| 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 | Jimmy receives a message, thinking that it is from aliens. But when he says "school goddard", he gets teleported to school. And tries several attempts to try to communicate with the aliens. Aliens are also mentioned in Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius (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 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 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 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, and Sheen is replaced by Nick Dean. |
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