Editor’s Note: Christopher Smith will be on vacation next week, so his columns will not appear in Monday and Friday’s editions.

In theaters

MR. DEEDS, directed by Steven Brill, written by Tim Herlihy, 91 minutes, rated PG-13.

The new Adam Sandler movie, “Mr. Deeds,” is based on Frank Capra’s 1936 film, “Mr. Deeds Goes to Town,” which is sort of like saying that this withered seedling here came from the roots of that towering oak there.

Difficult to believe, but nevertheless the case.

The film, from a script Tim Herlihy adapted from Capra’s movie, stars Sandler in the role previously played by Gary Cooper and Winona Ryder in the role previously played by Jean Arthur – which is sort of like saying that these two idiots here wish to be compared to those two geniuses there.

Curious, but nevertheless the case.

For those who have seen the original, you have the memory of a great film. For those who haven’t, you’ll find it in video stores. For those who’ve seen both, “Mr. Deeds” stands as a textbook example of the dumbing down of Hollywood and how a popular star can be given the green light to toss just about anything onto the big screen.

As directed by Steven Brill, the man responsible for Sandler’s “Little Nicky,” “Mr. Deeds” stars Sandler as Longfellow Deeds, a small-town hick from Mandrake Falls, N.H., who runs a “wicked cool” pizza joint and who somehow commands the attention of a town that revolves solely around him.

For years Longfellow has tried to sell greeting cards to Hallmark – one of several product placements shoehorned into the script – but when he inherits a $40 billion fortune from Preston Blake (Harve Presnell), his wealthy uncle and the freshly dead CEO of Blake Media, he’s forced to put his stilted verses and pizza pies on hold as his life takes swift and unexpected turns.

Whisked off to Manhattan by Chuck Cedar (Peter Gallagher), an unscrupulous executive at Blake Media, Longfellow naturally becomes bamboozled by Cedar, who’s eager to buy Longfellow’s share of the company so he can become absurdly rich himself, and also by Babe Bennett (Ryder), a tabloid television reporter seeking to exploit her relationship with Longfellow until she predictably falls in love with him.

That Ryder plays a con artist might be considered inspired casting in light of the actress’s current troubles with the law, but this time it’s she who gets robbed. The film doesn’t know what to do with her and she has no chemistry with Sandler, whose bogus, aw-shucks performance continues the actor’s insistence that he’s just one of us, just a regular Everyman screwed over by a world that doesn’t deserve him – but desperately needs him.

When you produce your own films, that’s a great pedestal to plop yourself on. But in this case, is it deserved? Anyone who remember the Gary Coopers, Spencer Tracys and Jimmy Stewarts of the world might argue otherwise.

Grade: D

On video and DVD

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

John Davis’ Academy Award-nominated “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 last year’s “Shrek” and “Monsters, Inc.”

Set in a kitschy, late-’50s suburbia called Retroville, 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 is a quirky boy with oversize hair, an oversize 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 some 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.

Mirroring the Nickelodeon television series on which it’s based, the film is fast paced and fun, an innovative flick whose likable characters are enough to transcend even the easiest of laughs, such as the wealth of burp and fart jokes that come at the end.

Grade: B+

Christopher Smith’s reviews appear Mondays and Fridays in Style, occasionally on E! Entertainment’s “E! News Weekend,” Tuesdays on “NEWS CENTER at 5” and Thursdays on “NEWS CENTER at 5:30” on WLBZ-2 and WCSH-6. He can be reached at BDNFilm1@aol.com.

The Video-DVD Corner

Renting a video or a DVD? NEWS film critic Christopher Smith can help. Below are his grades of recent releases in video stores.

Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius ? B+

Shallow Hal ? C

A Beautiful Mind ? B

Gosford Park ? B+

I Am Sam ? C

The Majestic ? D-

Max Keeble’s Big Move ? B

Orange County ? C-

The Shipping News ? C

Rollerball ? F

Black Hawk Down ? B

Kate & Leopold ? C+

Monster’s Ball ? A

Harry Potter and the

Sorcerer’s Stone ? B 3/4

Sidewalks of New York ? B-

Lantana ? A

Vanilla Sky ? B+

Corky Romano ? D-

From Hell ? C

The Others ? B+

Snow Dogs ? B-

Ocean’s Eleven ? B

Waking Life ? A

Ali ? B+

Not Another Teen Movie ?

C-

Behind Enemy Lines ? C-

No Man’s Land ? A

Black Knight ? F

The Deep End ? A

Domestic Disturbance ? C

The Man Who Wasn’t There

? B+

Mulholland Drive ? A

Spy Game ? C+

Bandits ? D

13 Ghosts ? F

Donnie Darko ? B

K-Pax ? B-

Life as a House ? C

Original Sin ? F

Our Lady of the Assassins ? B+

Riding in Cars with Boys ?

B-

Training Day ? B-

Heist ? B+

Joy Ride ? B+

Zoolander ? C-

A.I. ? B-

The Last Castle ? C-

Sexy Beast ? B+

Jay and Silent Bob Strike

Back ? F

The Musketeer ? D-

The Taste of Others ? A-

Don’t Say a Word ? C-

Hardball ? C+

O ? B+

Hearts in Atlantis ? B