Movielogr

Rating: 4 stars

All movies seen on 07/03/2002

View on: IMDb | TMDb

The Powerpuff Girls Movie (2002)

Directed by Craig McCracken

Animation

Most recently watched by lordofthemovies

Overview

Based on the hit animated television series, this feature film adaptation tells the story of how Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup - three exuberant young girls - obtain their unique powers, become superheroes and join forces to foil evil mutant monkey Mojo Jojo’s plan to take over the world.

Rated PG | Length 74 minutes

Actors

Cathy Cavadini | Tara Strong | Elizabeth Daily | Roger L. Jackson | Tom Kane | Tom Kenny | Jennifer Hale | Jennifer Martin | Jeff Bennett | Grey DeLisle | Phil LaMarr | Rob Paulsen | Kevin Michael Richardson | Frank Welker

Viewing History (seen 1 time)

Viewing Notes

This review originally appeared on ZENtertainment.com. As of the last snapshot on November 28, 2003 it had received 2,111 hits.

POWERPUFF Suffers From A Bit Too Much Fluff

THE POWERPUFF GIRLS have always been a great cartoon, running in 15 minute shorts on the Cartoon Network. The question is, would it survive a transition to a longer-running movie format? In some ways, yes, PPG does succeed, but it leaves out some important components that made the show so successful among kids and adults both.

This movie is the story of the first adventure of the crimefighters known as The Powerpuff Girls. Pre-PPG, the city of Townsville is a dirty and crime-infested. However, one day Professor Untonium decides to create the perfect little girl by mixing sugar, spice, and everything nice. When a familiar monkey goes ape, Chemical X, whose beaker just happens to be suspended above the vat of sugar, spice, etc, is spilled into the mix. After an explosion, the Powerpuff Girls are born. Professor Utonium and Townsville must learn to deal with these three projects the Professor has created, equipped with Superman-like superpowers. On their first day at Pokey Oaks Elementary, the girls start a game of superhuman tag and severely damage the city. The people of Townsville hate them for it and the Professor is arrested. Then, Mojo Jojo, evil monkey, steps in to take advantage of the Powerpuff Girls’ damaged psyches and try to take over Townsville. The girls must then learn that, as Spider-man would have put it, with great power comes great responsibility.

POWERPUFF GIRLS creator Craig McCracken succeeds in bringing most of the elements of the show to the big screen. The movie has a deeper theme than most of the shows, but it is needed in the transition from short to feature length film. All of the actors bring their usual quality voice work to the film, never missing a beat as the main characters. The action scenes are also great, leaps and bounds above the normal show, which is to be expected. However, while McCracken succeeds on all these levels, he fails on another: adult humor. The show often blends in humor that only adults will understand, especially between the Mayor and his secretary, Sarah Bellum, but there is little of that here. The main point of the movie is to please kids, yes, but adults need to be able to enjoy it as well. Adults still can, but not as much as the show, I believe.

The animation was top notch. The style isn’t radically changed at all from the show, while adding more effects to the girls’ superpowers and action sequences. However, I will warn you that those who suffer epilepsy may not want to attend the show, as it frequently and annoying suffers from rapidly flashing colors and characters.

My only other problem with the film is the length of the action sequences. While the final battle was great, it was just a hair too long. Most noticeably too long, however, was the sequence where the girls play superhuman tag. The film had several opportunities to jump off to another scene, but it simply didn’t. It is comparable to the length of the pod race in STAR WARS EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE.

Overall, McCracken has put together a wonderful film that most audiences will enjoy. Kids at the theater were reciting lines over and over coming out of the film, which is always a good sign. Laughter was in abundance, and the film, for the most part, moves at a good clip. THE POWERPUFF GIRLS MOVIE is a wonderful opening chapter for the show. Hopefully there will be more to come.

Comments