MIRACLE GROW ON EVE OF VEGGIETALES MOVIE OPENING, MEDIA COMPANY HOPES TO INCREASE ITS BOUNTY.

Byline: Glenn Whipp Film Writer

ELEVEN YEARS AGO, Phil Vischer was tinkering around with computer animation software, trying to figure out how to tell stories with the fledgling technology. At that point, he knew his characters couldn't have any arms, legs, hair or clothes because of the software's limitations. So Vischer created a computer candy bar, gave it some goofy eyes and made it bounce happily across the screen.

Just when he thought he was onto something, his wife, Lisa, walked into the room.

``You know, moms are going to be mad if you make their kids fall in love with candy bars,'' she said.

Good point, Vischer thought. What wouldn't make moms mad?

Vegetables.

From those humble beginnings, the VeggieTales empire was born.

VeggieTales and its Chicago-based parent company, Big Idea, might just be the most anonymous media giant in America. The VeggieTales video series and its offshoots have sold more than 30 million copies since Big Idea began production in 1993, making it the top-selling children's video series in the United States.

The Veggie videos, which use silly songs and goofy computer-animated characters to illustrate biblical messages and morals, began their retail life exclusively at Christian bookstores, but are now fixtures at mass retailers like Wal-Mart and Target. In addition to the videos, you can find likenesses of the series' most-popular characters like Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber affixed on everything from paper plates to plush dolls.

Yet, unless you go to church or have kids, you probably don't know about VeggieTales. That may well change now that Big Idea is releasing its first feature film, ``Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie,'' in more than 900 theaters on Friday. ``Jonah'' is the first film in a two-picture deal with Artisan Entertainment's new family division, and Big Idea CEO Vischer hopes it will be the first step in taking his company toward his goal of being ``a Disney with a biblical view.''

Keeping it fresh

As the title indicates, ``Jonah'' tells the story of the Old Testament prophet (portrayed here by the snooty Archibald Asparagus) who fled God and found his way into a whale's belly. Big Idea paid for ``Jonah'' itself (which cost less than $20 million, a paltry figure for a computer-animated feature) with proceeds from all those video sales. The self-financing was important because Vischer wanted to retain ownership and complete creative control of the film.

``I want to build a media company, not just a production studio,'' Vischer says. ``Production companies come and go because they don't own their libraries and, as such, they don't have any long-term value. We had to own the film. And we need to have our audience completely trust us, too, so we couldn't have anyone tell us what we could or couldn't do.''

Adds Mike Nawrocki, Vischer's creative partner who co-wrote and co-directed ``Jonah'': ``The premise for the company has always been to create stories with the kinds of values that parents would want to pass along to their kids. And we thought if we could do that in an entertaining way, then our company would really stand out.''

And indeed, VeggieTales does stand out from other religious entertainment in several respects. Vischer and Nawrocki forged their creative partnership in the mid-'80s while freshmen at St. Paul Bible College in Minnesota. The two ran a puppet ministry, visiting local Sunday school classes to entertain and/or confuse local youngsters with scripts that were heavily influenced by their shared love of Monty Python's Flying Circus.

When they formed Big Idea a few years later, Vischer and Nawrocki, both 36, decided to keep the arch Python-esque humor and illustrate biblical morals in unusual ways. While teaching simple lessons in subjects like forgiveness and sharing, the Veggie videos parody some pretty highfalutin subjects including classical music, Shakespeare (``Hamlet'' becomes ``Omelet''), Steinbeck (``The Grapes of Wrath,'' natch), Gilbert and Sullivan and ``Masterpiece Theatre.'' (``Gilligan's Island,'' ``Star Trek'' and ``Sesame Street'' are sent up, too.)

Salad days

``It's a powerful product because it's biblically based, but it's culturally relevant, too,'' says Bill Anderson, president of the Christian Bookseller's Association. ``There's the obvious appeal to kids and it has a cult following among college students and adults. When you're able to entertain kids and adults at the same time, you know you're doing something right.''

The series has also managed to appeal to a variety of denominations and faiths, while accounting for 70 percent of Christian bookstores' annual video sales of $100 million. The videos don't evangelize; but they're not afraid to talk about God, either.

``I think a lot of Christian artists and filmmakers are afraid that mainstream America does not want a story or a song that has something to say about God,'' Vischer says. ``And that really isn't the case. What mainstream America does not want is over-earnestness and schlock. And those are the two biggest attributes of most Christian media, unfortunately. People aren't going to sacrifice their tastes and quality standards and their sense of what's good entertainment just to get a message from God.''

Comments like that are bound to draw a little hellfire, and indeed, VeggieTales' harshest critics tend to come from within the church. The biggest gripe: Jesus has only been mentioned in one video, a Christmas title that came early in the series.

Answers Vischer: ``We're not trying to convert people. If we try to engage our culture like that, we'll find ourselves only talking to ourselves. We're trying to pull it back to the point where we can all have a conversation about faith. That's why the central message of VeggieTales is simply this: God made you special and he loves you very much. If we can agree on that, we can actually begin to start talking to each other again.''

Artisan Entertainment president Glenn Ross says one reason his studio picked ``Jonah'' to become its first film under a new family entertainment banner is that it isn't ``heavy-handed.''

Big Idea is counting on the faithful turning out in force for ``Jonah.'' With the movie's small budget and built-in home video sales, Vischer says the movie can gross less than $30 million and break even. Of course, he wouldn't have named his company Big Idea if he didn't have higher expectations.

``We want to be the most trusted of the top four media brands,'' Vischer says. ``We want to be big, but no matter how much our audience may grow, we want our principles to stay the same. We want parents to know that if it's from Big Idea, you don't have to worry about what's in it for your kids.''

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5 photos

Photo:

(1 -- cover -- color) moral fiber

`Veggie Tales' tackle big screen

(2) Kahlil meets the whale in ``Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie.''

(3) Clockwise from left, Jonah, Mr. Lunt, Pirate Larry, Cap'n Pa and Khalil play Go Fish in ``Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie.''

(4 -- 5) VeggieTales stems from a puppet ministry run by Phil Vischer, above, and Mike Nawrocki. The scripts were heavily influenced by the duo's shared love of Monty Python's Flying Circus.