Movie Review:

The SpongeBob Squarepants Movie

He lives in a pineapple under the sea…SpongeBob Squarepants.. la la.. uh oh, you caught me singing. No way would we have believed that we might enjoy a cartoon about a yellow kitchen sponge and his best pal a pink, mentally-challenged starfish, but then we didn’t expect the hip wit such a TV series might contain. Now, SpongeBob meets world in his own big screen adventure!

For those of you who actually do live in a pineapple under the sea, SpongeBob is a yellow kitchen sponge who wears pants, shoes and other human garb. His best pal is Patrick, a goofy pink starfish. “Bob” works at the Krusty Krab fast food restaurant where he is up for a promotion to manager. SpongeBob is sure he’ll get the job but money-hungry Mr. Krabs has other ideas. He thinks SpongeBob is still a kid and can’t handle responsibility. Depressed, the sponge and pal Patrick go on an ice cream bender at the Goofy Goober.

Meanwhile, Plankton (a tiny creature determined to take over the world) grabs King Neptune’s crown. It’s all part of Plan “Z”, Plankton’s plot to make his sorry restaurant The Chum Bucket far more popular than the Krusty Crab and, of course, take over the world. With help from the king’s hot daughter Mindy (voiced by hot Scarlett Johansson), Bob and Patrick take off for the big city and eventually dry land on an adventurous quest to prove themselves as adults and get back the crown. Meanwhile, Plankton launches his plot to make the citizens of Bikini Bottom his slaves.

The SpongeBob movie is old-fashioned flat animation at its best. The live-action pirate opening is a kick too. What is fun about the TV show is that it’s okay for your little sis or bro who can identify with Bob’s innocent view of his world but older teens, college kids and even adults can dig the show on a whole different witty level. Bob and his pals tend to be blissfully joyful and clueless most of the time, breaking into bubble dances and goofy song just ‘cause they can. This tradition is continued in the feature film with the added adventure of a trip to live action dry land where our two heroes hope to prove they can be grown up. They have to rely on David Hasselhoff of “Baywatch” to aid their quest and launch them off his chest to safety (you’ve gotta see it). That alone, is campy hilarity.

Bad guy a la Terminator voiced by Alec Baldwin is a riot as he rides a big cycle with “I Kill U” plates and chases our heroes into a no man’s land of deep-sea trenches, tough guy bars and skull-covered terrain. Lesson is that it’s okay to be yourself, in SpongeBob’s case, a little childish. Only drawback for me was the fact that thirty minutes of this silliness is about right. A 90-minute feature film adventure is a smidge more SpongeBob than I need but you may feel totally glued through the entire adventure. Let’s face it. We all need a harmless laugh and this movie more than provides just that.

 

This movie is rated PG

Official Movie Web Site - http://www.nick.com/all_nick/movies/spongebob/

Pictures courtesy of and copyright Warner Bros.