The most successful cartoon TV series ever made about a sponge comes to the big screen: “The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie” is here.
Beloved by millions of kids, and not a few adults, “SpongeBob SquarePants” is a Nickelodeon series about a square yellow sponge who lives under the sea in a place called Bikini Bottom. SpongeBob works at the Krabby Patty, a job he is very happy about.
In the movie, SpongeBob (voiced by high-pitched Tom Kenny) is eagerly anticipating the announcement of the Krabby Patty’s new manager. (SpongeBob does just about everything eagerly.) He assumes he will get the promotion, but it’s not to be.
More urgently, SpongeBob and best friend Patrick (Bill Fagerbakke), a dopey starfish, leave Bikini Bottom to search for King Neptune’s stolen crown. This actually takes them out into the real world, as the movie shifts into live-action footage for a while (including a rather disturbing sequence in which SpongeBob and Patrick dry out and become noncartoon figures).
The daffy camaraderie of these two doesn’t work very well on dry land. And a cameo by David Hasselhoff as himself is a little funnier as an idea than as a full-blown bit. His performance culminates in the weirdest moment of many weird moments in this movie, as he launches SpongeBob and Patrick into the sea with his pectoral muscles.
A funnier bit has a piece of plankton, named Plankton (Doug Lawrence), stealing the secret Krabby Patty recipe and setting up a dictatorial state based on enslaving Bikini Bottom’s residents.
The movie has some guest voices, including Alec Baldwin as a fishy hit man, and Scarlett Johansson and Jeffrey Tambor as undersea royalty. They frankly don’t add much, and you get the distinct feeling that their characters are intruding on an already-set formula for success.
Whenever it’s just SpongeBob and Patrick being silly, the film is charming. They even get “drunk” on ice-cream sundaes in one scene, the kind of thing that parents will laugh at as much as kids.
I also liked the live-action opening with a band of pirates who incongruously go to see the SpongeBob movie – it has a Mel Brooks craziness to it.
Overall, though, I have the feeling that “SpongeBob” is better in its modestly surreal TV shows than in this extended outing. The original production team, including creator-director Stephen Hillenburg, is responsible for the film, but “small” seems to fit SpongeBob like a pair of, well, square pants.
SpongeBob and his buddies are movie stars now.
SpongeBob and Patrick meet David Hasselhoff.
“The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie” HH
Small jokes: A so-so film adaptation of the smash cartoon TV series, about a sponge and a starfish and their journey into the live-action world. Pretty bizarre, but the movie is at its best when concentrating on the small jokes around the original characters (a collection of guest voices, including Alec Baldwin, doesn’t pay off).
Rated: PG rating is for subject matter.
“SpongeBob Square-Pants Movie” HH
Small jokes: A so-so film adaptation of the smash cartoon TV series, about a sponge and a starfish and their journey into the live-action world. Pretty bizarre, but the movie is at its best when concentrating on the small jokes around the original characters.
Rated: PG for subject.
Now showing: Alderwood, Everett Mall, Galaxy, Marys-ville, Mountlake, Stanwood, Meridian, Metro, Oak Tree, Woodinville, Blue Fox, Cascade.
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