‘SpongeBob SquarePants’ a silly, wonderful treat
If the sight of a cartoon sponge and his starfish pal hanging off the leg hairs of David Hasselhoff doesn’t provoke a belly laugh (or at least make you shake your head in giggly, kitschy disbelief), then “The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie” is not for you.
The movie is childish, silly, contains a lot of burping and farting and the de-pantsing of major characters. And I loved every minute of it, which is surprising since I’m not a fan of the television show. Not to say I hate the show, I just never got around to watching it. Now that I’ve seen the movie, this will change.
The film is about, well … a sponge. His name is SpongeBob (voiced by Mr. Show’s Tom Kenny). He lives in the ocean town of Bikini Bottom and works at a fast-food joint called the Crusty Crab. SpongeBob thinks he’s going to be promoted to manage a new store, but his boss, Mr. Krabs, gives the job to Squidward Tentacles. SpongeBob is told he is too immature to run a restaurant.
Meanwhile, King Neptune’s crown is stolen by the evil Sheldon Plankton, who leads the king to believe it was really stolen by one of SpongeBob’s pals, Larry the Lobster. SpongeBob sees this as an opportunity to show Mr. Krabs that he is a man, and SpongeBob decides to find King Neptune’s crown and return it before Larry the Lobster gets zapped. Tagging along with our porous hero is Patrick Star, a starfish and bestest buddy to SpongeBob.
There are great voice cameos by Alec Baldwin as a hit man and Scarlett Johansson as Princess Mindy. And if I’m not mistaken, I could’ve sworn I heard a Motorhead song during one of the action scenes. Good to see Lemmy’s still getting work.
Stretching what is normally a 22-minute cartoon episode into a 90-minute feature can be a daunting task, but director Stephen Hillenburg does a pretty good job of keeping the action and jokes moving.
There are a few lulls in the second act, but they don’t last too long and on the whole, the movie is a wonderful treat for fans and wannabe fans alike.
GRADE: B+