‘Jimmy Neutron’ pleases with kitsch, animation

In theaters

JIMMY NEUTRON: BOY GENIUS, directed by John Davis. Written by Davis, David Weiss, David Stem and Steve Oedekerk. 83 minutes. Rated G.

John Davis’ “Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius” pulls off a nice trick. It uses computer animation to create a crisp retro look, one that favors the looser animation of 1995’s “Toy Story” over the more detailed animation of this year’s “Shrek” and “Monsters, Inc.”

The film isn’t generating the Academy buzz “Shrek” and “Monsters” are enjoying, but its animation is nevertheless fun to watch, a perfect complement to a movie that takes place in a kitschy, late-’50s suburbia called Retroville.

Bright and colorful, its skies never darkened by anything as gloomy as clouds or rain, Retroville is a pop culture dream, a computer-animated fantasyland filled with so many nostalgic touches, audiences might smell apple pie if they reach out and scratch the screen.

The film follows Jimmy Neutron (voice of Debi Derryberry), a MENSA card-carrying third grader who’s a product of his environment – and a disturbance within it.

Nicknamed Nerdtron by his schoolmates, Jimmy, whose full name is James Isaac Neutron, is a quirky boy with oversized hair, an oversized head and a brilliant knack for creating mind-bending gadgets – a device that shrinks people, bubble gum that doubles as transportation, a mechanical dog named Goddard, a satellite that communicates with an alien race.

His parents, a pair of June and Ward Cleaver throwbacks, do their best to tolerate his destructive bouts of genius, but when they prohibit Jimmy from attending opening night of Retroland, the town’s new theme park, they unwittingly become involved in a series of events that sends this film – not to mention Jimmy, his friends and everyone’s parents – straight into outer space.

Fueled with references to “The Jetsons,” “The Wizard of Oz,” “Star Wars” and “Mars Attacks,” “Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius” creates magic of its own in its gorgeously conceived space scenes, the most notable of which finds the children gliding away from Earth in the carnival rides Jimmy transformed into rocket ships.

The film, which hails from Nickelodeon Movies, is fast paced and fun, an innovative flick whose likable characters and charm are enough to transcend its easiest laughs – the wealth of burp and flatulence jokes that come at the end.

Grade: B+

On video and DVD

EVOLUTION, directed by Ivan Reitman. Written by David Diamond, David Weissman, and Don Jakoby. 103 minutes. PG-13.

Ivan Reitman’s “Evolution” suggests what a handful of scientists, Darwinians and armchair atheists have believed for years – perhaps we really did crawl out of a bog.

The film, which is weirdly unfunny given the talent involved, is an uninspired ameba, a stunted, knuckle-dragging bore whose big moment finds its characters hosing down a giant alien sphincter with Head & Shoulders shampoo.

Frankly, Reitman should have scratched away the flakes with better writing, better performances, sharper direction and more than one or two laughs sandwiched between the mold. But since “Evolution” is never anything more than a lazy piece of mimicry that strains to recall the director’s best movie, “Ghostbusters,” that was obviously hoping for too much.

The plot, such as it is, follows a team of scientists (David Duchovny, Julianne Moore, Orlando Jones) and their dumb sidekick (Seann William Scott) fighting against the alien bacteria rapidly evolving into a series of gruesome monsters after a meteor strikes Earth. Cells split, a species evolves, people get eaten – rinse and repeat.

Throughout, Reitman isn’t content to just evoke “Ghostbusters.” He also pilfers from “The Blob,” “The Planet of the Apes,” “King Kong,” “Godzilla,” “Starship Troopers,” “Jurassic Park,” “Mars Attacks,” and the entire oeuvre of 1950s, gloom-and-doom, sci-fi cinema.

The film’s utter lack of jokes is stunning, but where “Evolution” truly takes a dive is in its special effects, which suggests the art form isn’t evolving but regressing, and in Reitman’s decision to not create anything new.

The cast is appealing and everyone seems to be up for a good time – Jones and Duchovny in particular – but since the script asks nothing of them but a few throwaway smiles and some silly pratfalls from Moore, their talents, along with everything else in this movie, are wasted.

Grade: D-

Christopher Smith is the Bangor Daily News film critic. His reviews appear Mondays and Fridays in Style, Tuesdays on “NEWS CENTER at 5” and Thursdays on “NEWS CENTER at 5:30” on WLBZ-2 and WCSH-6. He may be reached at BDNFilm1@aol.com.