The Powerpuff Girls Movie (PG)
IMDb; Rotten Tomatoes; TV Tropes; Warner Bros.; Wikia; Wikipedia
streaming sites: none that I'm aware of.

This came out in 2002, during the fourth season of the TV series The Powerpuff Girls. I actually saw it in a theater when it was released (and hoped that no one thought it was too creepy for a guy without any kids to be there). Then I didn't see it again until I got it on DVD in 2020. The movie was preceded in theaters by a Dexter's Laboratory short film called "Chicken Scratch," which I don't remember anything about except that I really didn't care for it. It's a bonus feature on the DVD, but I don't plan to re-watch it.

Well, this movie is an origin story for the Powerpuff Girls. We already basically knew their origins from the intro to every episode of the show, but the movie expands on that a bit. And before their creation, we see what a terrible state Townsville was in. So it was obviously in need of superheroes like the girls. Unfortunately, when they begin attending kindergarten and learn about the game "tag," using their superpowers while playing the game leads to a great deal of destruction throughout the city, so everyone comes to hate them. Everyone except their creator and "father," Professor Utonium. He hopes everyone will come to understand their specialness. But then he gets arrested for having created them, so he can't pick them up from their second day of school. Feeling abandoned, but forbidden from using their powers, they start walking home. But along the way, they meet Jojo, a monkey with a freakishly large brain, who tricks them into helping him build a machine which he says will make the city a better place, so everyone will love them. Of course, this turns out to be the evil Mojo Jojo (formerly the Professor's lab monkey, whose brain was enlarged by accident, unbeknownst to him, at the same time the girls were created). And he has a plan to take over the city, and eventually the world. So, it's up to the girls to stop him.

I don't want to reveal any more than that, but while the movie has some humor and some heart, it's actually a lot darker than most episodes of the series it's based on. I think it's pretty cool, though. And I don't know what else to say.