'The Powerpuff Girls' cartoon used to screen on Channel 5 at an indecently early hour on a Saturday morning, but it was so hilariously addictive that it made a struggle against even the worst exhaustion and hangover seem worthwhile. It featured the escapades of Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup, three little girls (drawn in wide-eyed manga style) whose 'father', Professor Utonium, concocted them from 'sugar, spice and everything nice', but accidentally spilt some 'Chemical X' into the mix, thus giving the pre-teen threesome untold superpowers. Every episode followed a simple formula (the girls 'kick bad guys' butt') which would be pushed to more and more absurd limits (e.g. one memorable episode had its entire script composed of lyrics from Beatles songs). Like 'Roger Ramjet' before it, 'The Powerpuff Girls' was a witty parody of the whole superhero genre and a gentle satire of smalltown American values. A truly great kids' show for adults...
...unlike 'The Powerpuff Girls Movie', which is just an OK kids' show for kids. The film's overall shape is lifted from 'Spiderman', focusing upon the Girls' origins (already well established by the TV show's opening credits), and their early lessons in the pros and cons of (girl-)power as they do battle with evil for the first time. While most of the ingredients of the original remain, there is less postmodern humour, and the TV show's most striking quality, its extreme narrative economy, has inevitably been sacrificed to achieve full feature length. Thus everything in this film feels drawn out and padded, and many potentially funny ideas lose all their charm by outstaying their welcome (like the scene in which the Girls' high velocity game of tag wreaks unintended havoc throughout the city - amusing for a minute or so, inexcusably tedious after five).
On the plus side, great pains have clearly been taken to retain something of the original's lo-fi look, while greatly expanding its colour palette and adding a range of new visual effects. This film looks good. Still, you could be excused for thinking that the Girls' simian arch-nemesis Mojo Jojo is talking about his own movie when he declares: 'Alas, my little ones, I do not rock..' Nice try, but no banana.
...unlike 'The Powerpuff Girls Movie', which is just an OK kids' show for kids. The film's overall shape is lifted from 'Spiderman', focusing upon the Girls' origins (already well established by the TV show's opening credits), and their early lessons in the pros and cons of (girl-)power as they do battle with evil for the first time. While most of the ingredients of the original remain, there is less postmodern humour, and the TV show's most striking quality, its extreme narrative economy, has inevitably been sacrificed to achieve full feature length. Thus everything in this film feels drawn out and padded, and many potentially funny ideas lose all their charm by outstaying their welcome (like the scene in which the Girls' high velocity game of tag wreaks unintended havoc throughout the city - amusing for a minute or so, inexcusably tedious after five).
On the plus side, great pains have clearly been taken to retain something of the original's lo-fi look, while greatly expanding its colour palette and adding a range of new visual effects. This film looks good. Still, you could be excused for thinking that the Girls' simian arch-nemesis Mojo Jojo is talking about his own movie when he declares: 'Alas, my little ones, I do not rock..' Nice try, but no banana.