YMMV / The Powerpuff Girls Movie

• Alternative Character Interpretation: At what point did Mojo decide he was going to use the girls to help him with his master plan? When he saved the three from the Gangreen Gang in the alley, did he know he was gaining the gratitude of three very powerful and special people? Evidence suggests otherwise, as he only seemed to be surprised to find that they could fly, and it was only then that he showed them his (skewed) plans to make the city a better place. Additionally, were the tears he shed upon finding common ground with the girls genuine?
• Broken Base:
  • Many people think that the movie was really good, and that the Darker and Edgier tone is a nice change of pace. Others think that the tone was too dark and scary; even Craig McCracken thought so, and thought he should make it a little Lighter and Softer, maybe not so heavy the whole time.
  • Some think that the movie was unnecessary, since they found it was an origin story. This is most likely because they knew the origin story right off the bat when they watched the intro of the show many, many times on TV. Others think that the movie did a good job expanding on the girls as characters (after all, they weren't heroes when they first came, and they learned that With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility).
• Catharsis Factor: A dark one. The people of Townsville getting terrorized by Mojo Jojo's army of mutated primates actually feels deserving after how cruelly they treated the girls.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Mojo's treacherous minions are minor characters, but are fairly popular for their increasingly ridiculous and bizarre plans to Take Over the World and their distinctive designs and personalities. Amongst them, the most popular are Hacha Chacha, a Harmless Villain whose plan is to just make people slip on banana peels and elaborates on his plan through a Villain Song, and Blahblah Blahblah, a Nervous Wreck who hastily improvises a surprisingly effective scheme on the fly. It also helps that when the Girls finally fight them, each and every one is confronted in a unique way.
• Evil Is Cool: Mojo Jojo played this role in the most epic way imaginable. He creates an army of mutated simians to get revenge on Townsville for discriminating against monkeys, and turned himself into a Kong-sized monster where he held his own against The Powerpuff Girls.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • Mojo being a mutated chimpanzee who leads other mutated apes to rebel against humans, that he helped mutate is fairly prophetic of the 2011 film, Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Mojo declares himself "king of the planet of the apes", too.
  • One of Mojo Jojo’s minions that copies his schtick is Hota Wata, a Japanese Macaque, a.k.a. a snow monkey. Come Powerpuff Girls Z, Mojo himself would be reimagined as a Japanese macaque, due to Creator Provincialism.
  • The ad for Gorillaz Live is much funnier now considering Ace temporarily played bass for the band during the release of The Now Now.
  • Craig McCracken mentions on the DVD Commentary that the film was colored digitally, then recorded to film for theatrical distribution. The colors on film look wrong to him, though, and he idly muses that he'd love for it to be possible for the film to be projected from the digital master. A decade later, digital distribution became the industry standard for movies in theaters, even ones that were shot on film.
• Special Effect Failure: The show's flat, graphic design does not translate well to the big screen. The first time we see Professor Utonium, it's a worm's eye view and he looks like a cardboard cut-out.
• Squick:
  • The Doot Da Doot Da Doo Doos, a troop of spider monkeys, plan to take over the world by spitting on the people below. Mojo even lampshades this with an "Ewww."
  • Ace’s face when Blossom kicks him.
  • Grubber’s overall appearance. There’s even a closeup on the drool during his jumpscare.
• Vindicated by History: The movie initially had mixed reception (but leaned a bit more to positive), not helped by the poor box office sales. Years later, it's looked upon much more fondly. Even the detractors think it's at least a little better.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: While some of the original designs' appeal is lost in translation to the big screen, the art direction and effects animation are top-notch, especially the distinct color schemes of the girls on the asteroid and Mojo's ape army taking over the city. The final showdown with Mojo is one of the few scenes which uses a beefier animation budget to the movie's benefit.

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