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PAGE 38 SECTION 6 DAILY HERALDHielbbeFRIDAY, JUNE 28, 2002Kim:Continued from Page 33viewer finds that not only does Kim’s mother work, she's a neurosurgeon, a detail that is simply dropped in when Kim tries to call her for some advice.As in “The Powerpuff Girls,” it’s all very matter-of-fact. They fight crime because, well, because that’s what anyone with the ability does in his or her spare time. Yet Kim has no superpowers; she’s simply unusually agile, with moxie and a self-sufficient nature. That doesn’t mean she works alone. She is helped out by a com-puter-hacker pal named Wade (when he calls her on the “Kim-municator,” she typically replies,“What's the sitch?”), and by her (Platonic) boyfriend (not boyfriend) Ron Stoppable, a nice guy who's a bit of a dweeb, complete with pet naked mole rat.“Never be normal, that’s the Ron Stoppable motto,” he explained in the pilot.In “Bueno Nacho,” they find themselves working at a fast-food taco restaurant, because Kim wants to raise money for a jacket she wants to buy. Yet Ron proves unusually well-suited to the fast-food life, to the point where he chooses that over fighting crime in his spare time.“Mop it yourself, Boss,” Kim says, marching off to another battle against her nemesis, Dr. Drakken. “And find a new nacho drone, I quit.”“Yeah, well, find a new sidekick!” Ron replies.They’re soon back together, of course, but Ron’s professional skill at melting cheese turns out to be every bit as important as Kim’s agility and moxie. They have an easy, natural friendship that goes beyond the traditional roles of hero and sidekick, boy and girl, which is another admirable quality.In fact, there is very little not to like about Kim Possible,” although I can already hear a few grumbles from the Birkenstock crowd. Plainly put, Kim is a knockout, even by cartoon standards, with a full head of flowing hair and a usually bare midriff. What’s more, in her “normal” high-school life she is also a cheerleader. How do those details go against stereotypes?Yet, remember, Batman was agymnast without raising questions of his sexual orientation. (“Why did she have to be a cheerleader?” Drakken groaned in the pilot as he missed her again and again with laser blasts. “If she'd been on the debate team I’d have vaporized her by now.”) And, while Kim and Drakken’s sidekick Shego might exchange fashion-oriented insults in today’s episode, to me they seem to simply use fashion as the subject matter for the same sort of witty banter Spider-Man and Doc Octopus used to share.Don’t let it go unnoticed that the bravest thing Kim did in the pilot, while vanquishing Dr. Drakken, was ask a boy out on a date—still one of the biggest taboos in teen sexual relations.The good things about “KimPossible” far outweigh the bad. She’s a welcome addition to the cartoon ranks, with Disney lifers Mark McCorkle, Bob Schooley and director Chris Bailey creating animation that is simple, yet stylish, and with dialogue that sometimes crackles.“You’re so conceited!” Kim tells Drakken.“I’ll take that as a compliment,” he says, a rejoinder that wouldn’t be out of place on “Frasier.”Simply put, girls rule and boys can drool after them in “Kim Possible.” After decades of male cartoon dominance, it’s a welcome change.• Ted Cox's column runs Tuesday and Thursday in Suburban Living, Friday in sports and Friday in Time out!
Newspaper Details
Arlington Heights Daily Herald Suburban Chicago
Arlington Heights, Illinois, US
Fri, Jun 28, 2002
Page 110
Full Page
Clipped by
Christopher B.
NA, 18 Aug 2023
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