There are few cartoons today that are able to amuse both adults and children, and the Cartoon Network's The Powerpuff Girls is one of them. This is a show about three cute little girls, with huge heads and eyes and no fingers, who save the day yet need to be home by bedtime. It is weird but fun mix of violence, superheroics, and cuteness that has attracted a diverse fan base. The Powerpuff Girls movie is their origin, detailing just exactly how they got their super powers. The movie also retains the feel of the movie by keeping the animation style and spirit. The spirit element is the most important. The Powerpuff Girls attracts so many people because it is so fun to watch. It has a prepubescent sense of grrl power and imagination that is infectious, along with an anarchic bent to attract older people. There are also jokes here that make no sense to small children (there are TWO Planet of the Apes jokes in this movie thrown in for good measure) but will have adults chuckling.

Professor Utonium (voiced by Tom Kane, Dracula 2000, Halloween H20) created the girls using sugar, spice, and everything nice. What he didn't count on was the inclusion of Chemical X, which gives them their superpowers. He dubs them Blossom (voiced by Cathy Cavadini, Lilo and Stitch, Dinosaur), Bubbles (voiced by Tara Strong, Ice Age, Rugrats in Paris) and Buttercup (E.G. Dailey, The Trumpet of the Swan, Recess: School's Out). Most of the Sugar went to Blossom, who is really sweet. Bubbles has the everything nice, and is liable to burst into a fit of giggles. Buttercup has the spice; she is the feisty one. Utonium didn't realize that he also created Mojo Jojo (voiced by Roger L. Jackson, Monkeybone, Titan A.E.), now a supersmart monkey with a brain so large it sticks out of the top of his head. The girls love their father and going to school, until a game of tag goes awry and they unknowingly destroy much of the city. Utonium has them vow never to use their powers in public again, but by then the city turns against them. The police arrest Utonium, and the girls don't know what to do.

Mojo Jojo finds them and takes advantage of their naivete. He too feels like an outcast, and befriends them so that he may use their powers to help take over the city. Of course, the girls will eventually realize who is good and who is evil, and will end up kicking butt in the cute way only they can. Part of the reason this feels so much like the regular cartoon is that many of the people that made the movie also work on the cartoon. Craig McCracken (No Neck Joe) created the Powerpuff Girls, and also wrote and directed the movie. The other credited writers, Don Shank and Charlie Bean (Buy One, Get One Free*), Lauren Faust, and Paul Rudish all storyboard for the regular series. They have plenty of time to work on witty humor, since the animation is sometimes so simple that it resembles something akin to South Park. Still, it looks much better on the big screen than the recent Hey Arnold! The Movie, which suffers from bad animation, a lack of imagination, and a boring story. The Powerpuff Girls Movie opens with a short entitled Chicken Scratch starring Dexter of Dexter's Laboratory. In it, Dexter gets chicken pox, and tries (unsuccessfully) not to scratch. It is funny and disgusting in a way that appeals to all children.