The Powerpuff Girls Movie

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Travis Willock reviews

The Powerpuff Girls Movie
Distributed by
Warner Home Video

    Cover

  • Cert: PG
  • Cat.no: 23945
  • Running time: 73 minutes
  • Year: 2002
  • Pressing: 2002
  • Region(s): 1, NTSC
  • Chapters: 8
  • Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 (Eng only)
  • Languages: English, French, Spanish
  • Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
  • Full Frame: 4:3 (ugh)
  • 16:9-Enhanced: No
  • Macrovision: No
  • Disc Format: DVD 9
  • Price: $26.98
  • Extras:Cast Interviews, Behind-the-Scenes, Audio Commentary, DeletedScenes, Character Commentaries, Theatrical Trailer, Dexter’s LaboratoryShort, Cartoon Network Sneak Peeks.

    Director:

      Craig McCracken

Screenplay:

    Charile Bean, Lauren Faust, Craig McCracken, Paul Rudish and Don Shank

Cast:

    Blossom: Catherine Cavadini
    Bubbles: Tara Strong
    Buttercup: E.G. Daily
    Proffessor: Tom Kane
    Mojo JoJo: Roger L. Jackson
    Mayor: Tom Kenny

The formula for creating a feature film from a cartoon isrelatively simple:darken the color palette, have about at least 8 people write thestory, add about 40 nauseating minutes to show length, and stir for 12months to allow word of mouth circulate. Well The Powerpuff Girls Moviefollowed this formula well and you know what? It doesn’t pay off.Instead it comes off as a slapdash effort to capitalize on a show thatwasn’t that great to begin with.

The plot deals with the origin of the girls, their powers, and theirarch nemesis: Mojo JoJo (the real star of the movie if you ask me). Whenthe girls tear the city of Townsville apart by simply playing tag theyfeel like outcasts. Mojo tricks them into helping him build a machinethat will turn other apes smart like him. In a hysterical scene the apestake over Townsville and each fights over who will the King of thePlanet of the Apes. Now the girls must find a way to rid the people ofTownsville of their fear and stop Mojo JoJo.

Not a bad plot at all but the script feels like it was put together in acouple of days. Too many authors have spoiled the broth here and itshows. While the show itself is cleaver the movie just feels winded andstretched out to fill the short 73 minutes.

The casting is great on the other hand. Some animated films have theworst voice actors but all have returned from the show and given a goodperformance. The score is actually absent from most of the movie butwhen it’s there it’s mostly just generic drum beats and techno.

Like I said before, the color pallete is considerably darker than theshow and it pays off. This transfer is perfect. Blacks are deep andcolors are bright and sharp. The color pallete looks like it wasdestined for DVD. But there’s just one problem: FULL FRAME ONLY!!!.

Anybody who has read some of my previous reviews knows how much I hatefull frame. I think this one problem actually hurt my enjoyment of themovie. But wait could this have been filmed at this frame and matted fortheaters? I wondered that too but after seeing the deleted scenes andstoryboards clearly widescreen at 1.85:1 I knew the truth. Warner hasobviously not learned from the whole Willy Wonka widescreen fiasco. Andconsidering the short extras, would it have been too much for Warner toput a widescreen transfer on the disc like New Line did with the NinjaTurtle movies? Since full frame lops of 50% of the picture (give ortake) I’m lopping this score in half. Too bad too because this is one ofthe best transfers from Warner in a long time.

Audio is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1. At first the track seemsgeneric and plain but once the action picks up is when it picks up aswell. Watch the scene of the Girls playing tag in Townsville and tell methat’s not loud. The track won’t knock your socks off but it gets thejob done.

Even though the film failed pretty miserably at the theater (what werethey thinking, releasing it the same day as Men in Black II?) thathasn’t stopped Warner from putting some extras on the platter. Here’show it stacks up:

  • Audio Commentary: Featuring the director/creator and the producer.This is funny, I can’t imagine any kids listening to this. Could it havebeen made for a once widescreen release? They never state they’rewatching a full frame transfer.
  • Cast Interviews: Short 1 minute mock interviews with the actualcharacters. Come off as promos of some sort. Features the Girls, themayor, and Mojo JoJo.
  • Director’s Chair: A Behind the Scenes segment is featured here thatruns 4 minutes and in non anamorphic widescreen. The featurette is yourstandard interviews and movie clips. Two of the same early testsequences are presented as well, both running little over 2 minutes andin non-anamorphic widescreen. The clips are identical except the secondfeatures narration by the Mayor.
  • Character Commentaries: Select scenes are dlsplayed with audiocommentary by each character. This is a cool idea and it actually worksfor the most part. Features commentaries by the Girls, the Mayor, andMojo JoJo.
  • Dexter’s Laboratory: Chicken Scratch: This show should have recieved the movie treatment. Runs 8 minutes and is fullframe. This preceded the film at the theaters.
  • Theatrical Trailer: Runs about 1 minute and is anamorphic 1.85:1widescreen. Pretty bad and shows how studios don’t even really try tomarket their cartoons at the movies… wait a second
  • Cartoon Networks: 4 shameless promos for CN mechandise like the GBAgame of Ed, Edd, and Eddy (that should get a movie too).

At least Warner didn’t make it bare bones but it still feels slappedtogether like the movie. The only supplements that standout are thecharacter commentaries and the Dexter short.

Packaging is snapper case and uses the decent theatrical poster as itscover. There are only 8 chapters to split up the film and I thoughtTouchstone’sBig Troublewas bad with only 12.

Overall, the lack of a widescreen transfer and a movie that isn’t thatgood anyway is destined to doom this DVD. I’ve heard rumors of CartoonNetwork producing a special edition of their own with a widescreentransfer but this is unlikely considering the film’s success. If you’rea fan and you can get past the horrors of full frame then knock yourselfout you’ll be happy with the release.

FILM CONTENT
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS


OVERALL
Review copyright © Travis Willock, 2002.

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