Re-Animated (TV 2006)

Part live-action, part animated story about a boy who, after an awful amusement park accident, gets a brain transplant, which allows him to see cartoon characters in real life.

Director:

Bruce Hurwit

Writers:

Timothy McKeon, Adam Pava

Stars:

Tucker Barkley, Eunice Cho, Stephanie Courtney

Cast

Credited cast:
Tucker Barkley	...	Scott / Dancer
Eunice Cho	...	Robin
Stephanie Courtney	...	Team Member Donna
Jennifer De Minco	...	Nurse
Cindy Drummond	...	Mrs. Salsbury
Bil Dwyer	...	Jimmy's Dad
Neil Flynn	...	Head of Appleday Board
Jonina Gable	...	Becky
Chanel Gaines	...	Girl Dakota
Rosemary Garris
Malerie Grady	...	Lead Junior Milt
Ellen Greene	...	Dolly Gopher (voice)
Terrence Hardy Jr.	...	Easily Excited Kid (as Terrence Hardy)
Shane Harper	...	Dancer
Dominic Janes	...	Jimmy Roberts

Storyline

Jimmy is the kid everybody ignores and uses. One day, he gets into a freak accident. The only way for him to survive is a brain transplant. He gets the brain of Milt Appleday, a famous cartoon creator. And when he wakes up, he can see cartoons!

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Plot Keywords:

Brain Transplant | Accident | Part Live Action | Part Animation | Tied To Railroad Tracks | 

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Genres:

Animation | Family | Fantasy

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

8 December 2006 (USA)

Also Known As:

Re-animowany

Company Credits

Production Co:

Cartoon Network, Renegade Animation, Turner Studios

Technical Specs

Runtime:

85 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Quotes

Easily Excited Kid: Yeah!

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Connections

Followed by Out of Jimmy's Head (2007)

User Reviews

Quirky, Demented and Misunderstood

"Re-Animated" has been unfairly criticized for three reasons.

The first reason has to do with the station that aired the movie more than the movie itself. Cartoon Network was making the transition from animation to live-action, and this film was clearly the beginning of the end. Many took their justified frustrations with the station out on this movie, viewing it as a symbol of the switch. The second reason many unfairly attack the film is because Cartoon Network launched a TV series based on the movie titled "Out of Jimmy's Head" shortly after its release. This series was, admittedly, quite terrible and did damage to the reputation of the original movie.

And the third reason? Well, "Re-Animated" is full of strange, offbeat humor and that's always bound to alienate people. Certainly, many of the elements people complain about on these reviews were put in intentionally by the filmmakers. The whole thing is a joke, people! We all know that it looks fake when Jimmy gets hit by the train. It's SUPPOSED to. And of course no one would perform brain surgery in a giant cartoon character costume. THAT'S the joke. If you can't follow that much, then God forbid you should ever watch "Yellow Submarine".

The animation, too, has been criticized for looking like it was just pasted on the screen instead of meticulously integrated into the live-action surroundings (a la Roger Rabbit). Well, yes, the characters do look tacked on, but – again – that's the point. They don't really exist in our world; they exist in Jimmy's brain. Why should they blend in with the backgrounds?

It really is a shame this film has been so mindlessly panned, because there is a lot to love about it. Dominic Janes is perfect in the role of Jimmy, a kid who always gets taken advantage of (a schoolmate even tells him to hold a snake for him and he can't say no). Golly Gopher (voiced by Paul "Pee-Wee Herman" Reubens) is, in personality, a cross between Mickey Mouse and Daffy Duck – a blend that works surprisingly well. And there's a hilarious chemistry between the incompetent villain Sonny and Jimmy's adopted alien sister Yancy… hey, I told you this movie was offbeat.

I also love the digs at Disney (here referred to as Milt Appleday Studios). Turning the myth that Walt Disney was frozen into an FBI secret was a brilliant idea, and perhaps the funniest moment of the whole movie occurs when Golly Gopher finds out what horrible things his parent company has been doing to his image in the past fifty years. I also love how Golly and Dolly Gopher insist they look completely different (the only difference is the bow), a creepy audio-animatronics version of Milt Appleday proclaims that he is the greatest man who ever lived, a wisecracking penguin makes a joke about how empty Gollyworld Paris is and all of the characters generally act like the studio has been in the toilet ever since Milt Appleday died. I assume most of this satire went of the audience's heads, although it's pretty hard to miss.

I have never written a review on this site before, and I don't really intend on continuing, but when I saw how misrepresented this movie was I had to say something. If you have a fondness for the insane and nonsensical, mixed in with a healthy dose of sarcasm, you could do no better than "Re-Animated". That is all.