sadomikeyism's Journal: The Sponge Bob Squarepants Movie

Sponge Bob Squarepants is a cartoon show I've enjoyed more than most. Okay, I'm a fanboy: I have Sponge Bob jammies, a Sponge Bob alarm clock, and a few other accoutrements (sister bought them for me). I can sing the theme song word for word. I know all the characters. I am a 36 year old single white male. I am disturbingly outside the bell curve for this show's target audience. I even got my younger sister hooked on the show. Quite sad.

Anyways, when I saw the tv ads for the movie, I called sister and said, "Hey, we're gonna need to rent some kids to see this movie."

"No, we don't," she replied.

So, as we were visiting the rents for thanksgiving weekend and were bored Friday evening, we went to see it. There was only one preview before the movie. Chrissy commented on that. "They can only show G movie previews before G movies," I explained.

The opening sequence took the piratically sung theme song and turned it into a production of "Pirates of Penzance". Not funny. Mildly amusing.

But things got underway with Sponge Bob's morning sequence of slapstick and moved into an extended storyline that was consistently funny, even for adults, with lampoons of David Hasselhoff, Fear Factor, early Rock Videos, and simulated sucrose intoxication by minor child sponges and starfish with associated sugar crash hangovers.

Several obligatory show-tune sequences like "I'm a Goofy Goober" and "I'm a Man Now" kept up the occasional musical orientation so the kids would have something to sing to. The obligatory evil plot by Plankton to take over the world of Bikini Bottom was well thought out, but we wondered how Plankton got King Neptune's crown to Shell City so much faster and less dangerously than the kids got there (Perhaps David Hasselhoff's evil twin had something to do with it).

Overall, it was a B+ effort. Not outstanding like "South Park: Bigger, Longer, Uncut", but worth the money. At 90 minutes, though, it might be too long to hold little kids attention.