Growing up, one of my favorite shows was (and still is) the animated series known as “The Powerpuff Girls”, a great cartoon about a trio of little girl superheroes saving the world before bedtime. Even as I’m nearing twenty, the show is a huge part of my life in terms of my childhood. Now, years later in 2016, Cartoon Network is rebooting the series. I wanted to be excited, but after the disappointing short with Paul McCartney I was less than thrilled.
Later, I found out that the girls were re-cast with different voice actors. But even that was not the part that bothered me; it was the fact that the original voice actors were not asked or contacted about the reboot in any way, and that was disheartening.
Then a clip from the upcoming reboot was released entitled, “Don’t Call Me a Princess”. After some time I finally decided to give watching this excerpt of the new “Powerpuff Girls” a try. The introduction of a different villain that took on a “meninist” persona saying that Townsville “needs to return to its manly roots”; when Buttercup (the difference in voice actress is obvious, but at the same time it does not sound like she is trying too hard to mimic the original which I liked) accepts his challenge only for him to call her a princess. He gets his butt kicked by the toughest fighter. The clip was only forty-five seconds, which is definitely not enough to change my mind completely.
However, it does have me thinking that at the very least I could give this reboot a chance. Despite what I thought before, the “Powerpuff Girls” I grew up with are not “ruined.” Rather, they are being upgraded for a new audience that will be able to connect better with it, something that has been done with other franchises including but not limited to “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” “My Little Pony” and so many others. If I find myself dissatisfied with the reboot then I will still have my original "Powerpuff Girls" to enjoy, as they are not being replaced. Whoever does watch it, especially if it ends up being a little kid’s first time watching anything related to “The Powerpuff Girls”, I just hope that kid is able to love Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup as much as myself and anyone else who is a fan of the original series.
