Craig McCracken: Powerpuff...Boy!

When young cartoon artist/director Craig McCracken created his student film called The Whoopass Girls, he had no idea that it would one day launch a huge cartoon series with international popularity and a multi-million dollar toy franchise! When the Cartoon Network premiered two of the newly-named Powerpuff Girls shorts in 1995, they were voted viewer favorites and became big faves on the college campus circuit.

Since 1998, the tiny, mutant superhero girls who are always "Saving the World Before Bedtime," have won their creator Emmys for art direction and Outstanding Animated Series. In July, the girls will appear in their first feature film, The Powerpuff Girls Movie. We talked to Craig at Cartoon Network H.Q. in Burbank, California in a room that was wall-to wall PP Girl toys.

TEENHOLLYWOOD: What were your cartoon influences as a kid?

Craig: Underdog, Rocky and Bullwinkle, all the Jay Ward cartoons and Warner Brothers shorts. Those are the best.

TEENHOLLYWOOD: There is a double layer of fun in The Powerpuff Girls, something for kids with a few things adults will get. Very much like Rocky and Bullwinkle was.

Craig: Right. It was all about making cartoons that appeal on different levels to a younger audience and an adult audience.

TEENHOLLYWOOD: The show has gotten huge. Do you still have time to do some of the drawing?

Craig: Oh yeah. I do tons of the drawing. I wouldn't do it if I couldn't draw. That's why I got into it because I love drawing so much. If anybody said, 'you've gotta be the boss and you can't draw anymore', I'd go, 'well, I'm done.'

TEENHOLLYWOOD: Buttercup is sitting on your shoulder. Is she your favorite Powerpuff Girl?

Craig: No, they just put her up here. I don't pick a favorite.

TEENHOLLYWOOD: When you first conceived of this as a student project, did you get teased by people who asked 'What are you writing a cartoon about little girls for?'

Craig: No. Not at all. The people I went to school with thought it was a really cool idea. We never treat the girls as girls. We just treat them as kids. They just thought it was a cool idea to see these cute little girls beating monkeys up and stuff. Visually, it was an interesting thing.

TEENHOLLYWOOD: When you were growing up, didn't you have a strong female influence with your mom and sister?

Craig: Yeah. My father passed away when I was really young so I was pretty much raised by my mother so I had a really strong feminine influence growing up.

TEENHOLLYWOOD: So you knew girls were strong.

Craig: Yeah. It was never an issue with me.

TEENHOLLYWOOD: The big eyes are a Japanese anime influence. Is that kind of work interesting to you?

Craig: The big eyes actually came from Keene paintings. They came from Margaret and Walter Keene's sad-eyed girl thing. I haven't seen too much anime stuff but I've really like what I've seen. In Japan, there's a love for iconic cartoon characters. On every product, every building you'll see some little graphic and I think I share that same love for little graphic representations of characters.

TEENHOLLYWOOD: When you first started this, did you have any clue it was going to be so big?

Craig: No. I thought is was going to be a cult hit and maybe some kids would like it, college kids would probably like it. I thought it would be too weird and most people really wouldn't get it.

TEENHOLLYWOOD: Did you have a major hand in developing the story for this new film or was that a collaborative effort?

Craig: Like the show it's all a collaborative effort. We're all involved in putting in our two cents to shape the show but I could never do it by myself. I'm one part of the world but there are other artists who bring something else from a different perspective.

TEENHOLLYWOOD: Are there any new characters in the movie?

Craig: There are the classic characters we know from the show but there are new characters that are actually old characters... uh, there's an interesting twist.

TEENHOLLYWOOD: Do you have a favorite episode?

Craig: I can't say. If we achieve what I set out to achieve on each show then I'm happy with it. If we got the jokes we wanted and it had the mood we wanted then I'm fine with it.

TEENHOLLYWOOD: What kind of influence do you hope your cartoon girls have on young girls?

Craig: I hope that they realize that they can do anything boys can do; that there's no difference between genders. It's all just life and we all experience the same thing.

TEENHOLLYWOOD: If you could have a dream project, what would that be?

Craig: I don't know. I just made a movie so that was pretty cool!

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Lynn Barker is a Hollywood-based entertainment journalist and produced screenwriter.