Any movie that starts and ends with a band of surly singing pirates is A-okay in my book and is a good sign of the ninety minute ride ahead. Watching ‘the Spongebob Squarepants movie’ opening scene unfolds, I knew that this ninety minutes of animated silliness would be AHHHHRRR—right with me!

Stephen Hillenberg writes and directs his yellow sponge character that is adored by children everywhere. Kids love Spongebob because he’s as much of a kid as they are, which turns out to be the big conflict for ‘the Spongebob Squarepants movie’. Spongebob gets shut out of an opportunity at Krusty Krabs because he’s ‘just a kid’, motivating Spongebob and Patrick to take on a dangerous adventure to prove that they are ‘real men’.

‘The Spongebob movie’ features all of the regulars from the TV show. Tom Kenney resumes his role as the voice of Spongebob, joined by the rest of the regular crew Bill Fagerbakke as Patrick and Rodger Bumpass as Squidward. New celebrities fill out the films cast, which includes The distinctive voice of Jeffery Tambor that suits the neurotic King Neptune who is so obsessed about his thinning hair, that he fails to see what’s really going on around him. Fortunately, he still listens to his perky daughter Mindy, whose stylish spectacles and the soft dialog of Scarlett Johannson makes her the sweetheart of the underwater world.

Speaking for the Villain side, who could more sinister than Alec Baldwin to be the voice of the bounty hunter Dennis, who hunts our heroes from scene to scene. His evil presence is only matched by Doug Lawrence as the megalomaniac plankton that kicks up all the chaos in the first place. And just when it seems like our heroes are doomed, we see David Hasselhoff in his finest hour, who steps in to save the day. He helps Spongebob and Patrick out, by letting them hitch a ride while he swims their way to safety.

‘The Spongebob movie’ is a mainstream success story that holds onto enough of its strangeness to please the freaky kids and adults alike. The film is filled with slight and surreal scenes where Spongebob imagary is blown up with far our visuals, that wow the audience and acts as a reminder that even wacky weirdness has a place in our world.

Given that Spongebob is as odd as they come, there are some scenes that I’m not sure if I’d want to be the parent or uncle trying to explain certain deviant parts to a six year old. Such as answering questions from little ones as to why Patrick dons high heel boots and fishnets as the distraction part of their plan to save Bikini Bottom. But based on the laughs I heard at the Spongebob screening I was at, kids don’t really care why. They know it’s their pal Patrick and that he’s wearing funny looking clothes while dancing his way to victory.

Staying until the very end of the Spongebob credits for a fun pirate surprise, for Movie Magazine this is Purple.

© 2004 - Purple - Air Date: 11/17/04