Publication Date: 07-12-2025

Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius (2001) review

Dir. John A. Davis

By: Steve Pulaski

Rating: ★★★

Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius was one of the biggest gambles Nickelodeon ever took and it paid off immensely. Using off-the-shelf animation tools, and simultaneously conceiving the film as a launchpad to a TV series, the film was a rousing success over Christmas break 2001.

Personally, I was never a big fan of The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius, which ran on Nickelodeon from 2002 to 2006 and spawned a spin-off in 2010 based on one of its side characters. I was big (and still am) on programs and movies that had relatable characters, and I couldn’t much relate to an unsung genius who concocted little mechanical machines in his bedroom to use to benefit every day life.

Yet at 77 minutes, the official introduction we get of Jimmy Neutron, an incredibly advanced eleven-year-old kid who “has a knack for inventions, a super-powered mind, and a mechanical canine,” isn’t half bad. It zips along with its free-spirited, relatively easy-on-the-eyes animation and cute, charming little premises that teach kids the importance of parental influence and societal order. Just don’t tell your kids that going into it. Jimmy Neutron (voiced by Debi Derryberry) has been trying to make contact with alien lifeforms for weeks now, yet to no avail. He winds up sending them something of a care package with a video showing his parents, himself, his dog, and his life on earth.

There is a new theme park opening in town and Jimmy and his friends Carl Wheezer (the great Rob Paulsen), a chubby asthmatic and Sheen (Jeffrey Garcia) are denied permission to attend the grand opening because of it being on a school night. They decide to rebel against parental authority and sneak out anyway, returning just in time before being caught by their parents. They wake up the next day to find all the adults removed from planet earth, leaving nothing but a generic note saying that they have gone to Florida. The kids are initially thrilled, free of the shackles of discipline, and commit acts they assume to be inconsequential such as having a contest to see who can eat the most cotton candy and who can wreak as much havoc.

It soon backfires, with the children experiencing an influx of owies, boo-boos, tummy aches, and constipation. As a kid, I was off-put by this development as the thought of losing my mom and dad, who I preciously clung to like a magnet on a refrigerator; the scenes of the kids hurt in some way, crying for their parents deeply upset my wimpy self.  A similar premise was used to even lesser effect 10 years later in Mars Needs Moms.

Jimmy investigates and learns that giant, spherical aliens housing mysterious green liquids have kidnapped their parents and plan to make a surprise launch to space, using amusement park equipment as their rocketry.

This is silly, innocuous fare that isn’t as substantial as a Pixar endeavor, but light-years more effective in terms of escapism and imagination than anything currently on the primetime Nickelodeon lineup. The animation here replicates a more unpolished feel that improved on the typical hand-drawn animation pioneered by Disney, yet not refurbished to look like something along the lines of Monster’s Inc. or Shrek (the animated competition during the original release of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius). The story depth is slim and slender too, which will definitely not be a burden to kids or adults, who might appreciate and recognize the highly imaginative material at hand here. Reiterating that my liking for the show, even growing up, was small and concise, and my memory of the film’s plot sour and not wholly positive, this was a pleasing and successful romp, emphasizing on what kid’s need to do more of: dream.

NOTE: Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius was the first film Nickelodeon used as a launchpad for a television series. The second came several years later; the film Barnyard spawned a series called Back at the Barnyard, which ran for two seasons and over 50 episodes. The third attempt was 2019’s Wonder Park, though that television series never came to fruition after the film was a financial flop.

Voiced by: Debi Derryberry, Rob Paulsen, Jeffrey Garcia, Patrick Stewart, and Martin Short. Directed by: John A. Davis.