I remember really enjoying this movie when it came out! I haven't seen it since then and I suspect the racism would bother me more than it did at the time, but as you say, female nerd heroines are rare enough to make it precious still. And I'll throw in another vote that if you enjoyed this, the sequel is also probably worth watching, if not quite as good as the original. It's one of my favorite examples of a married movie couple still being heroic.

Send help, I just pictured Siddig El Fadil as Jonathan and now I am wistful.
This is an amazing, perfect idea.

I also wanted to mention this excellent fanfic from Yuletide a few years ago. It's all about Anck-su-Namun as a living woman and so quite tangential to the movie itself, but well worth reading.