According to the opening scenes of the TV show, the Powerpuff Girls' caretaker, Professor Utonium, created them from "sugar, spice, and everything nice" -- along with a dash of "Chemical X," a compound responsible for the girls' ability to fly and land brutal punches. Their hyperfemininity -- a result, no doubt, of the sugar-and-spice part of the formula -- seems to begin and end with the huge eyes and high voices. Sure, Bubbles likes drawing pretty pictures, but Blossom is mastering conversational Chinese, and Buttercup would rather throw punches than play with little ponies. The girls are boisterous and pushy and careless, just as any kids might be -- personalities that seem to draw in both boys and girls. In fact, boys make up a slight majority (56 percent) of the Powerpuffs' child audiences, according to Cartoon Network figures.
As for adult viewers, many embrace the Powerpuff Girls specifically for their girliness: a trio of the littlest third-wave feminists, they're capable and tough but sweet and alluring. And even as he purports to be a political naif, McCracken plays to such fans and other grown-ups -- inadvertently, perhaps -- with a generous amount of clever gender bending. Professor Utonium, the girls' caretaker and creator, behaves more like a worried mother than a macho boss, gently guiding the girls to do the right thing, then secretly worrying about being a bad parent. When a call comes from the mayor of Townsville, warning the girls that yet another villain is attacking, the professor doesn't field the call and issue orders like Bosley of Charlie's Angels. Instead, he kvetches over the interruption of bath time and bedtime while the girls spring into action.
Meanwhile, the mayor of Townsville is portrayed as an incompetent clod, while his secretary, Ms. Sarah Bellum, a buxom babe whose face we never see, whispers suggestions in his ear like a political Cyrano. And one of the girls' most feared adversaries, "Him," is a strangely creepy devil in drag who McCracken says was inspired by the Blue Meanies from "Yellow Submarine."
In fact, McCracken toys with all the aspects of culture -- pop and political -- by mixing unabashed earnestness with unrepentant irony. A '60s-style gung-ho narrator cheers and eggs the girls on while providing a running voice-over of wisecracks, undercuts, and anxious asides. As with classic Bugs Bunny cartoons, the pop cultural references come at lightning speed, and there are so many layers of meaning to navigate, it's sometimes impossible to tell what the real message is.
In one episode, evil monkey Mojo Jojo -- one of the girls' most entertainingly weird foes -- bestows superpowers on three kids at school by giving them some Chemical X. In the end, the kids agree that they should "just say no," but when another kid asks them how it felt to have superpowers, they all scream, "It was awesome!" In another episode, upon discovering the existence of a tooth fairy, Buttercup gets busy knocking the teeth out of every villain in town and putting them under her pillow until she has a huge bag of coins stashed under her bed.
Instead of painting children as idealized, angelic little innocents and assuming that young viewers can't understand anything but absurdly simple plots, the show's creators fearlessly give us kids as they are -- impulsive to the point of being reckless, imaginative to the point of being self-involved, and misguided to the point of being downright weird. By focusing on kids without getting bogged down in gender, McCracken manages to portray his young characters realistically, thereby appealing to young audiences who recognize themselves and to adult audiences who enjoy recalling the ways their minds worked as children.
The movie won't disappoint fans of the show. The story is something of a prequel in which we learn how the girls decided to use their powers to help the city of Townsville. At first, like any other kids, they have a lot of destructive fun with their abilities, ripping up roads and blowing stuff up in a game of tag that's a visual parody of those absurd chase scenes in big-budget action thrillers. But eventually, Mojo Jojo threatens to take over the town from his not-so-secret secret hideout, and the girls leap into action, superhero style.
While it's tough to sit through two hours of any cartoon, this is no "Pokémon," a movie that killed its franchise's golden goose. The Powerpuff Girls movie shares all the rapid references, jokes and dry humor of the show -- as well as its flexibility about gender. At a low point, when Mojo and his cronies have almost won, the girls are reunited with Professor Utonium, who performs that Teri Garr "Stop trying to save the world and finish your dinner" role like a fussy queen. "Oh, girls! Thank goodness you're OK!" he says as he hugs them. "Now let's get out of this town and find a new, safe place to live!"