Powerpuff Girls – The Movie

by Wartank

Here is a story of how great things come in small packages – I’m speaking both of the teensy size of the movie’s namesake ass-kickers as well as the densely packed cinematic artifice. The Powerpuff girls are pint sized but immensely powerful, and the movie is barely 70 minutes long but is effectively a challenge in how much can be contained in such a short time frame. Powerpuff Girls: The Movie is overflowingly and unabashedly cute, a non-stop bubble-gum action extraordinare, a high carnage, high octane, high fidelity synergy of all those ridiculously exaggerated cartoons popularized during the height of nuclear scare.

From their straightforwardly naïve births in a cauldron of sugar and spice and everything nice (and a fortuitous dose of “chemical X”), Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup are born to monumental powers a la Superman. This is a coming-of-age story, as the girls are vulnerable and victimized because of their immaturity, and must learn to cope with the responsibility borne to them. Despite this highfalutin description of the plot, don’t expect there to really be one. In one pivotal sequence, the girls play a game of tag which lasts for at least 10 minutes of film time.

There is really little else that can be said. It is a bombardment of the senses that requires you to refrain from thinking, never actually giving you time to. It pumps along in a very straightforward manner, rocking with catchy, techno beats, and spiced with the odd one-liner for adults amidst silly puns and three pairs of hideously gigantic but disturbingly cute eyes.

Unfortunately, you can bet that this film will always be preceded by far more previews than other movies, because children can rarely tell the difference. On the bright side, a cartoon short of Dexter’s Laboratory shows before the film, a program created with much of same attitude, craziness and funky mood as Powerpuff girls. Finally, the movie begins, but while it is short, it more than makes up for it by including unimaginable quantities of monkeys. All skeptics believing that monkeys cannot be substituted for plot or film time need look no further for proof.

Of course, you must be aware of the social turmoil that viewing this movie may place you in. I have actually experienced outright hostility when I speak of having paid money for this show. I inevitably explain that I went to the movie with my sister, who is four years older than me. They inevitably hear that I went to see the movie with my four-year-old sister. What can I say, sometimes you have to pay the price for going against the norm – after all, slavery used to be legal.

As you can well imagine, I enjoyed the movie, as much for it’s silly voices and funky visual appeal as for its quick pace and quirky attitude. Be warned, if don’t think you can accept the movie for what it is, you will definitely dislike it. If on the other extreme, you are a powerpuff girls fan, you owe it to yourself to see this movie; however, as an introductory movie, beware of some plot rehash. If you think you fall in-between, slavery is no more! Don’t be slaves to your social roles! Treat your eyes to sugar-coated chocolate bombs of some of the sweetest animated eye candy out there.

*Wispy Wartank has been quite disappointed by most of this summer’s movie fare, but remains a huge fan of monkeys

Wartank