SHADES OF GRAY MATTER.

Byline: David Kronke Television Critic

Rare is the kids' film that inspires comparisons to the surreal work of Luis Bunuel and Jacques Tati, but that's the case with Cartoon Network's utterly loopy ``Re-animated,'' which is sort of a ``What's wrong with this picture?'' puzzle stretched to feature length.

As the film opens, we follow seventh-grader Jimmy (Dominic James) through his day -- his father (Bill Dwyer) is an idiot who brays and spits out his sugar-laced cereal while watching cartoons in his underwear (he's also the principal at Jimmy's school). His mother wanders the kitchen in astronaut gear (fair enough, since she is an astronaut); his sister is a green-skinned alien with antennae that pick up AM talk radio.

OK, fine, one thinks; eventually, this all will be revealed as a dream. But it isn't.

The surreal touches mount -- a llama in a classroom, a duck at a group lecture, a Belgian juggling team wandering an amusement park.

At the amusement park, Gollyworld -- named after Golly Gopher, the key cartoon icon created by long-dead animator Milt Appleday (Fred Willard), who also used to peddle edible paint -- Jimmy is in an accident. ``Don't worry, son,'' a guy in a penguin outfit tells Jimmy's nerdy pal Craig (Micah Carnes). ``Everyone who works here is a certified doctor.''

And so, of course, Jimmy winds up with Appleday's brain (shades, of course, of the Walt Disney urban legend). This imbues him with the ability to see and interact with all of Appleday's menagerie, including Croco the Alligator, Tux the Penguin and the famous feuding team of Pickles and Prickles. It also infuriates Milt's buffoonishly evil son Sonny (a hilarious Matt Knudsen), who vows grisly revenge.

``Re-animated'' has inventive, anarchic energy to spare, for the first hour or so, anyway. Creators Adam Pava and Tim McKeon borrow from any film source they can lay their hands on, from the mayhem of the old Warner Bros. cartoons to, in a scene in which a secretary takes forever to traverse an office, Tati's ``Playtime.''

Eventually the film settles into more familiar rhythms, as Jimmy learns the importance of friendship over fame. Which is a little too bad, although apparently all children's films must shoehorn in a lesson somewhere. Though I don't remember Bugs Bunny or Daffy Duck ever learning a lesson, except for maybe ``Don't work in a comedy feature with Michael Jordan.''

David Kronke, [phone]

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RE-ANIMATED - Three stars

What: During a trip to an amusement park, a seventh-grader (Dominic James) undergoes a brain transplant, receiving the brain of a legendary animator.

Where: Cartoon Network.

When: 8 tonight.

In a nutshell: Surreal and sometimes very funny.

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Photo:

A seventh-grader (Dominic James) gets the brain of a legendary animator in ``Re-animated.''