"The Powerpuff Girls Movie" 20th Anniversary Appreciation Thread

[Elijah Abrams]

Today is the 20th birthday of Cartoon Network's first and only attempt to make a big screen feature with "The Powerpuff Girls Movie"! Share your thoughts here on the origin story of how Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup dedicated their lives to fighting crime and the forces of evil, and how Mojo Jojo rose to become the girls' greatest villain! If only it didn't flop at the box office, we could've gotten a better Samurai Jack finale in film form, that Adventure Time feature, and perhaps a Steven Universe feature.

I also wonder this: What if New Line Cinema distributed the film instead of Warner Bros.?

 

[Fone Bone]

Oh, my God are these threads going to be an actual recurring thing? Holy crap, this board is going to become VERY cluttered, VERY quickly.

On the topic at hand, if this is so, the search function needs to be fixed. Now.

 

[Surreal Kangaroo]

I was actually going to see this in theaters but my local theater stopped playing it. I’m not a huge PPG fan, but I’m sad it bombed. If I remember correctly it made less than the movies for Hey Arnold and The Wild Thornberrys (which also came out in 2002). I feel like if it was a hit, CN would have made more movies.

As a bonus, here’s a thread I made in 2009 discussing why it bombed.

Why did the PPG movie bomb so bad?

I was thinking about this. According to my encyclopdia of animated cartoons it cost $10 million to make but only grossed $9 million. Just for comparison Hey Arnold movie grossed $13 million and the Wild Thornberries grossed $39 million. I thought that PPG had way more fans than those shows. Can...

animesuperhero.com

 

[Daikun]

One massive reason I can think of for the movie bombing was CN's incessant promotion for the movie. They had roughly 3 commercials for the movie EVERY. COMMERCIAL. BREAK. It became overkill and made people not want to see it just to get away from the constant bombardment.

It's a shame because I saw the movie in theaters on the day of release and really enjoyed it. If AOL Time Warner hadn't mismanaged their advertising units so poorly, maybe the commercials wouldn't have been so invasive and it probably would've fared better.

 

[Nexonius]

It was put against Men in Black II and Like Mike, per CN's decision. There was absolutely no chance of the movie being successful at that point.

 

[JMTV]

I remember seeing it on CN On Demand back in the late 2000's, and I wasn't a big fan of it mostly because of the dark and cynical atmosphere really rubs me the wrong way, and I never watched it ever since.

 

[EdCNPowerpuffDrama]

I didn't even know this movie was a thing till one random day after getting home from school back in 2008, I saw it playing on RTL Klub (probably the most watched channel in Hungary) at around 1 PM. I remember being super confused as a kid. Why is PPG here, what episode is this, why is this boring tag sequence going on for so long, didn't we already have a a shorter episode that explained the PPG's origin. these are the questions that I kept asking myself. Yeah, when I was a kid I didn't like the movie. Despite being a massive fan of the PPG, I thought the movie was just dull. Some sequences went on for too long, and the fact that it was an origin story was also a problem. We already had episodes that dealt with the PPG's origin, I didn't want to see a movie focusing on it again.

But this was in 2008 when I was just 8. I watched the movie again a few years ago, and I enjoyed it a lot more. The animation is beautiful, and I loved the action at the end. Sure the movie still has problems, such as the tag sequence being way too long, but overall I still enjoyed, and it made me disappointed when I found out that the movie bombed in the US. I didn't find it "too dark", in fact even as a kid, I found the action at the end to be the best part of the film. Not the best CN movie, but it was still enjoyable enough. Happy Birthday to it!

 

[Pooky]

There's never one reason why a movie does or doesn't do well. I suspect there were fewer PPG fans than Cartoon Network thought; the network's reach wasn't that wide at the time, and a lot of people probably bought PPG merchandise without necessarily watching the show much or at all. Additionally, Lilo & Stitch was in its third week and Scooby-Doo was in its fourth and both still had a little gas in the tank. The Hey Arnold movie had come out a couple of weeks prior, and I think there was a bit of a backlash among parents around animated movies adapted from contemporary TV shows; the Wild Thorberrys Movie and Rugrats Go Wild did OK but weren't smashes like the first couple of Rugrats movies.

Anyway, I didn't see it until 2017 (barring a little bit on TV in 2005 or so), but good movie IMO, easily one of the better animated movies adapted from an American TV show. Going for an origin story was perhaps a strange choice, but that's the superhero movie formula; it makes an interesting comparison with Spider-Man from earlier in the summer, and it weirdly plays like something of a pre-emptive parody of Man of Steel in some ways.

 

[Nexonius]

There's never one reason why a movie does or doesn't do well. I suspect there were fewer PPG fans than Cartoon Network thought; the network's reach wasn't that wide at the time, and a lot of people probably bought PPG merchandise without necessarily watching the show much or at all. Additionally, Lilo & Stitch was in its third week and Scooby-Doo was in its fourth and both still had a little gas in the tank. The Hey Arnold movie had come out a couple of weeks prior, and I think there was a bit of a backlash among parents around animated movies adapted from contemporary TV shows; the Wild Thorberrys Movie and Rugrats Go Wild did OK but weren't smashes like the first couple of Rugrats movies.

Anyway, I didn't see it until 2017 (barring a little bit on TV in 2005 or so), but good movie IMO, easily one of the better animated movies adapted from an American TV show. Going for an origin story was perhaps a strange choice, but that's the superhero movie formula; it makes an interesting comparison with Spider-Man from earlier in the summer, and it weirdly plays like something of a pre-emptive parody of Man of Steel in some ways.

Craig also stated that the boys who loved the show were embarrassed of buying tickets to the movie.

 

[JMTV]

why is this boring tag sequence going on for so long,

OMG, I HATED the tag scene! Even as a kid, I find it very annoying and frustrating.

 

[90'sKid]

There's never one reason why a movie does or doesn't do well. I suspect there were fewer PPG fans than Cartoon Network thought; the network's reach wasn't that wide at the time, and a lot of people probably bought PPG merchandise without necessarily watching the show much or at all. Additionally, Lilo & Stitch was in its third week and Scooby-Doo was in its fourth and both still had a little gas in the tank. The Hey Arnold movie had come out a couple of weeks prior, and I think there was a bit of a backlash among parents around animated movies adapted from contemporary TV shows; the Wild Thorberrys Movie and Rugrats Go Wild did OK but weren't smashes like the first couple of Rugrats movies.

Anyway, I didn't see it until 2017 (barring a little bit on TV in 2005 or so), but good movie IMO, easily one of the better animated movies adapted from an American TV show. Going for an origin story was perhaps a strange choice, but that's the superhero movie formula; it makes an interesting comparison with Spider-Man from earlier in the summer, and it weirdly plays like something of a pre-emptive parody of Man of Steel in some ways.

PPG the movie came out right around the time that theatrical adaptations of cartoons were starting to wane in popularity (along with 2D animation in theatres in general).

I'm not sure it had anything to do with parents (after all, there never was a pushback against 2D Disney movies) but moreso studios reading the room.

While the Rugrats movie made BANK, and Rugrats in Paris prolly put some kids through college, the success was not to last.

Rugrats Go Wild, the Wild Thornberries and Hey Arnold movies didn't take in the cash Nick was expecting. Plus other cartoon adaptations weren't doing too hot the last few years either. Doug's First (and only) Movie, Teachers Pet the movie also weren't huge hits. Recess: Schools Out did okay.

Looking back in retrospect, Rugrats was something of an anomaly.

Cartoon movies are now pretty much a once-a-decade thing, the only ones I can think of since the initial craze was the MLP movie, Simpsons, Sponge out of Waterand the recent Bob's Burgers movie.

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[Pooky]

I'm not sure it had anything to do with parents (after all, there never was a pushback against 2D Disney movies) but moreso studios reading the room.

Well, it's not a hard scientific fact, but it's conjecture based on my memories of the time and the way Box Office dropped off. Parents were the ones spending the money after all. It's even alluded to by Homer at the start of the Simpsons Movie. Even the first Spongebob movie could have done quite a bit better given what a phenomenon the show was (and is).

There was a bit of a pushback against 2D Disney films, but not in the same way. Other than Tarzan and maybe Mulan, the Disney features from Pocahontas on were largely seen as being disappointing relative to the run of films from 1989-1994 (not to mention "the classics"), and critics would cite family films like Babe and the Pixar films as more refreshing (that Disney released the Pixar films was conveniently overlooked). They were still hits of course, and kids loved them, but adults and critics weren't as on board any more. It's part of why Shrek was so well received at the time.

A few years ago RebelTaxi had this video hypothesising that these TV cash-ins helped devalue 2D animation as whole in the eyes of parents. I certainly don't think it's the sole cause of the death of traditional animation on the big screen, but it's food for thought.

 

[90'sKid]

Well, it's not a hard scientific fact, but it's conjecture based on my memories of the time and the way Box Office dropped off. Parents were the ones spending the money after all. It's even alluded to by Homer at the start of the Simpsons Movie. Even the first Spongebob movie could have done quite a bit better given what a phenomenon the show was (and is).

There was a bit of a pushback against 2D Disney films, but not in the same way. Other than Tarzan and maybe Mulan, the Disney features from Pocahontas on were largely seen as being disappointing relative to the run of films from 1989-1994 (not to mention "the classics"), and critics would cite family films like Babe and the Pixar films as more refreshing (that Disney released the Pixar films was conveniently overlooked). They were still hits of course, and kids loved them, but adults and critics weren't as on board any more. It's part of why Shrek was so well received at the time.

A few years ago RebelTaxi had this video hypothesising that these TV cash-ins helped devalue 2D animation as whole in the eyes of parents. I certainly don't think it's the sole cause of the death of traditional animation on the big screen, but it's food for thought.

"A few years ago RebelTaxi had this video hypothesising that these TV cash-ins helped devalue 2D animation as whole in the eyes of parents"

Hmm, I guess I never looked at it that way before. I mean, I can see where he is coming from, there was alot of animated shows getting movie adaptations in the late 90's early 00's:

Rugrats
Recess
Doug
Hey Arnold!
The PowerPuff Girls
Teacher's Pet
SpongeBob SquarePants
Pokemon
Simpsons
Wild Thornberries
The Goofy Movie (if that counts)



And more, plus there was plans for alot of others like Fairly Oddparents, Family Guy, Ren and Stimpy I think a Phineas and Ferb and Adventure Time movies were planned at one point.


And combine that with the fact that this was when 3D animation was starting to become the "new hotness", thanks in no small part to Shrek and the last couple Disney 2D films around that time being... Less than beloved. (It's generally seen that Home on the Range was the final blow to major 2D animated movies)

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[Pooky]

(It's generally seen that Home on the Range was the final blow to major 2D animated movies)

It was already known that Home on the Range would be the last 2D Animated Disney movie when it came out, I don't know if it really did any damage so much as it was left hanging out there to take the fall. Treasure Planet did a lot more damage (as did Titan A.E. and Dreamworks' string of commercially underwhelming 2D films), although even by then Disney had already downsized their Burbank studio to a single unit.

 

[Neo Ultra Mike]

There's a lot of history to go over in the fall of 2D Theatrical animation and what's exactly to blame for that as well as talking about other films based on TV cartoons that managed to make it into theaters. Honestly though I think the Powerpuff Girls movie bombing so much didn't really have to do with that. Like it's a factor for sure but I think the real issue was that the PPG Movie went super hard on both sides of how it was branded. It wanted to capture the super bright, heart and sugar side of the property but also the hardcore, gritty and rebellious side at the same time with marketting flip flopping on how both parts were represented which... yeah was going to drive away some people. None of the little boys are going to really be comfortable going to the movie when the ads show the girls and the professor laughing and painting their room but then you can also lose the other demographic showing them violent assaulting the various chemical x powered baddies as well. PPG at the time worked because it's a show both demographics could watch in the safety of their house without judgement but this wasn't at a time yet where you could cater all audiences of kids to theater especially when it wasn't like a Disney movie or anything. Thus yeah this did wind up flopping hard with it being 16 years until Teen Titans Go came out where we had another CN series popular enough to have a movie which... technically broke even more then bombed.

I will say I did actually enjoy the movie when it came out 20 years ago. It was actually the last movie I saw at the super cheap theater I would go to as a kid where you could actually have 2 dollar matinees and one of the first movies I remember seeing alone catching a bus to go to theater and going back two hours later. I also remember it was one that was pretty empty at theater I went to see it in too so yeah even figured back then might not make money but again if you are a fan of the series it works at selling both tones. Admittedly it did go hard on some of the puns with the Mojo monkey in the last act wasn't a fan of and probably could of used better laugh but the story was solid. And you know what? I actually enjoy that tag scene. It's long sure but the action is solid and the movement is great especially since that's the first major bit of the girls using their powers at that sort of speed that really flows well together. Granted it's not as good as like South Park Bigger Longer And Uncut... or Bob's Burgers movie... or even the Simpsons movie but probably on par on some levels as the MLP:FIM or TTG movies.

 

[Markus Nelis]

I really liked the movie. Wasn't successful in theaters even after CN advertised it as heavily as possible. Came at the wrong time. Mostly because of tough competition as some of the movies at the same time interested people more.