‘ChalkZone’ Draws Attention to Brainpower

The offbeat animation shifts between crisp outlines with solid colors and charming, rough-textured, kid-style chalk drawings. The unforced humor and educational tidbits are a smooth mix. The mini music videos are wildly inventive. And the hero uses his brain, not brawn, to save the day.

Nickelodeon’s new animated series “ChalkZone,” premiering at 8:30 tonight in its regular time slot, is a lively treat.

Sure, it plays like a hyperkinetic relative of Crockett Johnson’s children’s classic, “Harold and the Purple Crayon,” about a little boy who draws his own fantasy adventures. But judging by the first two episodes, this clever show, created by Larry Huber and Bill Burnett, follows its own path.

With wacky songs by Burnett, and fast and funky original music by Guy Moon, Steve Rucker and Thomas Jones Chase, 10-year-old artist Rudy Tabootie, voiced by E.G. Daily (“Rugrats’” Tommy Pickles), gains entry to the world where erased blackboard drawings go--all those scrawled pictures of mean teachers, bullies, crooked vehicles and skewed buildings, gum-chewing spiders, fluttery “buttonflies,” a cranky lady in a tub and a one-eyed, kilted giant. (Rudy draws the giant a pair of knickers for comfort and a second eye for better vision.)

Using his magic chalk, imagination and smarts, Rudy resolves various zany cliffhanger predicaments in the ChalkZone, aided by Snap--his drawing of a pint-sized masked superhero--and brainy classmate and kindred spirit Penny. Each episode winds up with a comical one-minute “music video” bash, played by Rudy and his ChalkZone band.

Repeat shows run Saturdays at noon.