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Traveta reviews
Paramount
- Cert: G
- Cat.no: 33826
- Running time: 82 minutes
- Year: 2001
- Pressing: 2002
- Region(s): 1, NTSC
- Chapters: 13
- Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 (Eng only)
- Languages: English, French
- Subtitles: English
- Widescreen: 1.85:1; Standard 4:3
- 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: DVD 9
- Price: $29.99
- Extras: Making-of featurette, 2 music videos, 12 promotional spots,7 DVD-ROM games, teaser trailer, theatrical trailer, and scene selection.
Director:
- John A. Davis
Screenplay:
- John A. Davis, Steve Oedekerk, J. David Stem and David N. Weiss
Cast:
- Mrs. Neutron, VOX: Megan Cavanagh
Hugh Neutron: Mark DeCarlo
Jimmy Neutron: Debi Derryberry
Sheen: Jeffrey Garcia
Newscaster: Bob Goen
Newscaster: Mary Hart
Cindy Vortex: Carolyn Lawrence
King Goobot: Patrick Stewart
Ooblar: Martin Short
Jimmy Neutronis the first Nickelodeon movie (despitethe average Harriet the Spy) that is actually good. Itappeals to both adults and kids – more on the latter.
It seems that nowadays computer animated films arebetter than the average 2D films. They always seem toappeal to both audiences (except for Final Fantasy: TheSpirits Within). But being the only person on the faceof the planet who hated last year’s Shrek, I can’t saythat the appeal is completely universal. That said, Iwent into Jimmy Neutron expecting a fun movie andthat’s exactly what you get. Most people will sayShrek is better and it’s no Toy Story. It’s betterthan Shrek but not as good as the Toy Story films.
Jimmy Neutron tells the story of a boy genius whoinvents all kinds of things. Like rockets, jetpacks, arobotic dog, a transportation bubble, just to name afew. He is sort of like Dexter (from Dexter’sLaboratory) in that he has a lab under his house. Hisparents, however, know that he is an inventor andaccept it. But when Jimmy wants to go the newly-arrivedfair in town, Retro Land, his parents say no.He shrinks himself down and sneaks out of the house.
When at Retro Land, he and his friends have a greattime and upon coming home, they wishthat the parents would just disappear so they couldhave fun all the time. Litle do they know that aliens,called Yokonians, have abducted their parents tosacrifice to a giant chicken. The kids have funwithout the parents but soon start to miss them. Jimmythen retro fits the fair’s rides into spaceships sothey can go save their parents.
The film’s plot is average kid fare and does have it’s share of cleverjokes. Not a bad movie really.
Into the disc. The video was of course tranfereddirectly from a digital source. So you won’t find anyscratches or dirt here. A very colorful transfer thatshows no grain or anything. What else would you expectfrom a digital film. Definitely the best transfer I’veseen from Paramount execpt for Rat Race and ApocalypseNow: Redux. Suprisingly the disc houses bothwidescreen and full frame transfers on one side,making it the first Region 1 Paramount disc to have both.
The sound, like the video, is great too. I’m sure thiswas digital too as it is very booming. And again,Paramount has included Dolby 2.0 for people without5.1 systems. I’m sure some people probably wanted acommentary on the inside of the film but no dice.
The extras are no frills really. A 16-minutefeaturette is more about interviewing the voice actorsand they tell you what their character is like with ahuge barrage of clips from the film. Only for a minuteor two is the real process of digital film-makingpresented. Then you have two terrible songsaccompanied by two horrible videos. Aaron Carter’sLeave it Up To Me is less enjoyable than fingernailson a chalkboard. You know the routine, it’s theaverage adults-don’t-understand-kids-fare even thoughthey were kids once too. And then the Kids inAmerica song is just a remake for the film. Stillterrible though.
The only good thing about the extras are the 12 promotional spots.These were animated shorts created for Nickelodeon to advertise the filmall through 2001. Mildly enjoyable.
Overall, Jimmy Neutron is a good, fun film. Computeranimated films are becoming more and more common now.A solid rent for adults looking for a fun flick and ifyou have kids it would be a hit among them as well.
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS
OVERALLEmailTraveta
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.