JIMMY NEUTRON: BOY GENIUS ($30) is nothing short of a brilliant computer animated kids flick. I was thoroughly tickled throughout the movie’s eighty-two minute running time- laughing at the jokes aimed directly at the kids, as well as those for the adults. Another thing that adults are certain to admire is the film’s beautifully designed computer animation, which is indicative of why JIMMY NEUTRON: BOY GENIUS received an Academy Award nomination in the animated film category. The character designs and settings are decidedly cartoony, yet they are rendered in 3D, giving them a unique sense of style that I found to be both fresh and familiar.

The plot of JIMMY NEUTRON: BOY GENIUS is concerned with the adventures title character. Jimmy is a brilliant young boy who is capable of constructing everything from a robotic dog to a jet pack to a communications satellite out of common household objects. Jimmy’s latest scientific endeavor involves making contact with extraterrestrials, after he picks up a garbled transmission from space. Unfortunately, Jimmy’s best intentions go awry when the aliens he contacts turn out to be a less than friendly lot. Homing in on Jimmy’s coordinates, the aliens whisk away every one of the adults from his hometown. Of course, after a day of unsupervised euphoria, the kids decide that the want their parents back and it’s up to Jimmy to construct a space fleet capable of mounting an attack and rescue mission. JIMMY NEUTRON: BOY GENIUS features the vocal talents of Megan Cavanagh, Mark DeCarlo, Debi Derryberry, Jeffrey Garcia, Bob Goen, Mary Hart, Carolyn Lawrence, Andrea Martin, Candi Milo, Rob Paulsen, Crystal Scales, Martin Short and Patrick Stewart.

Paramount Home Entertainment has made JIMMY NEUTRON: BOY GENIUS available on DVD in a 1.78:1 wide screen presentation that features the anamorphic enhancement for 16:9 displays. While a full screen presentation is also available on a separate layer of the DVD, the comments in this review will pertain to the wide screen version. In a nutshell, JIMMY NEUTRON: BOY GENIUS looks terrific on DVD. The image on the DVD is as crisp and well defined as the computer animation will allow. Colors are wonderfully vibrant and purposely cartoony. None of the intense hues show any signs of noise or bleeding beyond their boundaries. Blacks have a pure appearance; however, the software used to create the animation controls the perceived contrast and the depth of the image, which is always quite impressive. Despite having two versions of the film on the same side of the dual layer DVD, digital compression artifacts never become truly noticeable.

JIMMY NEUTRON: BOY GENIUS comes with a bouncy Dolby Digital 5.1 channel soundtrack. Despite being an animated feature and a comedy, there are plenty of opportunities for active sound effects, something of which the sound designers take full advantage. Spacecrafts and other flying objects whoosh and pan effectively throughout the soundstage. Explosions and cartoony sound effects also make good use of digital format’s capabilities. There is plenty of pop music on the soundtrack, and it too is well integrated into the sound mix. The bass channel isn’t oppressive, but it does endow the track with a solid bottom end. Dialogue is cleanly reproduced with excellent intelligibility and a nice sense of character. English and French Dolby Surround soundtracks are also encoded onto the DVD, as are English subtitles.

Animation and sound serve to enhanced the DVD’s delightfully appropriate interactive menus. Through the menus, one has access to the standard scene selection and set up features, as well as some cool extras. Running sixteen minutes is The Making Of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, which offers interviews with the creative team, as well as the voice actors, plus a quick look at the computer animation process. Two music videos are included on the DVD; Aaron Carter is featured on the song Leave It Up To Me and No Secrets perform a remake of Kids In America. Twelve promotional spots from Nickelodeon, plus a theatrical trailer and theatrical teaser comprise the remaining video supplements. JIMMY NEUTRON: BOY GENIUS is also DVD-ROM enabled with seven PC compatible games and web links.

JIMMY NEUTRON: BOY GENIUS is a delight of a movie and a terrific little DVD. If you are a kid, still think like one, or love computer animation, then you will definitely want to pick up a copy of JIMMY NEUTRON: BOY GENIUS on DVD.