Professor Popinjay's Compendium of Perspicacity

A Non-Review by Professor Popinjay

(1998)

I’ve had a roller-coaster relationship with Jimmy Neutron. When he first aired I had zero interest. The show seemed juvenile. I later learned that Steve Oedekerk was executive producer. I’m not sure if that translates to any artistic input from him but I was a fan of “Kung Pow: Enter the Fist” and the various Thumb movies such as Thumb Wars, Thumbtanic, and The Blair Thumb Project.

Despite this intrigue, I still never watched Jimmy Neutron until my kids started becoming interested and even then I was usually doing other things at the time. The jokes that caught me off guard were few and far between. Also, I’d cringe every time Jimmy’s dad would call his wife “Sugar Booger”. I get queasy just writing it.

Eventually the movie came out and had Patrick Stewart and Martin Short in it and that actually grabbed my attention for the most part. Seems like the jokes came up a notch. The kid named Sheen was particularly entertaining. If you skip the show, I fully recommend the movie. It’s actually pretty good.

Gradually as my kids grew older, I witnessed certain lines from Jimmy Neutron become memes. Meme status is kind of an ever-in-the-present immortal status. Not a day goes by wherein my kids do not quote Rob Paulson as Carl saying “Croissant” or “…macaroni with the chicken strips!” followed by a strange truncated yelp of euphoria. I know that clip didn’t originate with Rob Paulson but he definitely said it later and my kids attribute the line to Carl.

Anything that my kids use to relate to each other and generate smiles and laughter gets an okay from me. Seeing the memes in the show has incubated a genuine appreciation for the show as a whole. My honest opinion now? I really like Jimmy Neutron. Still can’t stand the term “Sugar Booger” though.

Now, if you want to learn of the insanely plausible theories about the weird food-eating/dancing cgi people from the old GrubHub commercials being grown up versions of the Jimmy Neutron characters after their torrid affairs and poor life choices, click on the video below: