|
|
| In
a nutshell, if you like the cartoon show that this movie is based
on, then you will be almost pleased with the movie. The movie touches
on all the things you love about the show (or hate about the show,
depending on where you fall on the topic of all things SpongeBob),
but doesn't quite deliver. |
(2004) Film Review |
| This
page was created on November 25, 2004
This page was last updated on
December 10, 2004
—Overview
—Review by Maurice
Broaddus
—Review by Kathy Bledsoe
—Trailers, Photos
—About this Film
—Spiritual Connections
Blog
Maurice here
Dial up modems will take a few moments |
| CREDITS |
| Directed
by Stephen Hillenburg
Screenplay
by Stephen Hillenburg and others
Cast
(in credits order)
Tom Kenny .... SpongeBob SquarePants/Narrator/Gary/Clay (voice)
Clancy Brown .... Mr. Eugene H. Krabs (voice)
Rodger Bumpass .... Squidward Tentacles/Fixh #4 (voice)
Bill Fagerbakke .... Patrick Star/Fish #2/Chum Customer/Local Fish
(voice)
Carolyn Lawrence .... Sandy Cheeks (voice)
Mr. Lawrence .... Sheldon J. Plankton/Larry the Lobster/Fish #7
(voice) (as Doug Lawrence)
Mary Jo Catlett .... Mrs. Puff (voice)
Jill Talley .... Karen the Computer/Old Lady (voice)
Alec Baldwin .... Dennis (voice)
Scarlett Johansson .... Mindy (voice)
Jeffrey Tambor .... King Neptune (voice)
Dee Bradley Baker .... Cop/Phil/Perch Perkins/Waiter/Attendant/Thug/Twin
(voice)
Sirena Irwin .... Reporter/Driver/Ice Cream Lady (voice)
Lori Alan .... Pearl (voice)
Thomas F. Wilson .... Fish #3/Victor - Tough Fish #1 (voice) (as
Tom Wilson)
Carlos Alazraqui .... Squire/Goofy Goober Announcer/Thief (voice)
Produced
by
Derek Drymon .... producer
Albie Hecht .... producer
Stephen Hillenburg .... producer
Aaron Parry .... line producer
Julia Pistor .... producer
Gina Shay .... producer
Peter M. Tobyansen .... supervising producer
Steven Wilzbach .... associate producer
Original Music by Gregor Narholz
Film Editing by Lynn Hobson
MPAA: Rated PG for some mild
crude humor.
Runtime: USA:90 min
For rating reasons, go to FILMRATINGS.COM,
and MPAA.ORG.
Parents, please refer to PARENTALGUIDE.ORG
|
| TRAILERS
AND CLIPS |
| |
| CD |
The
SpongeBob SquarePants Movie:
Music from the Movie and More...
Various Artists - Soundtrack - 2004
1. SpongeBob SquarePants Theme - Avril Lavigne ListenMusic ListenMusic
2. SpongeBob & Patrick Confront The Psychic Wall Of Energy - The
Flaming Lips ListenMusic ListenMusic
3. Just A Kid - Wilco ListenMusic ListenMusic
4. The Goofy Goober Song - Mike Simpson ListenMusic ListenMusic
5. Prince Paul's Bubble Party - Wordsworth ListenMusic ListenMusic
6. Bikini Bottom - Electrocute ListenMusic ListenMusic
7. The Best Day Ever - SpongeBob ListenMusic ListenMusic
8. They'll Soon Discover - The Shins ListenMusic ListenMusic
9. Ocean Man - Ween ListenMusic ListenMusic
10. Under My Rock - Bill Fagerbakke ListenMusic ListenMusic
11. Now That We're Men - Patrick ListenMusic ListenMusic
12. Goofy Goober Rock - Tom Rothrock ListenMusic ListenMusic
13. You Better Swim - Motorhead ListenMusic ListenMusic
14. The Jellyfish Song By The Jellyfish Band - Plus-Tech Squeezebox
ListenMusic ListenMusic
15. SpongeBob SquarePants Theme (Movie Version) - The Pirates ListenMusic
ListenMusic
|
| POSTER |
|
| AVAILABILITY
ON VIDEO AND DVD |
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AVAILABILITY AND PRICING OF THIS MOVIE ON VIDEO OR DVD.
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|
|
| SYNOPSIS
|
| There's
trouble brewing in Bikini Bottom! Someone has stolen King Neptune's
crown, and it looks like Mr. Krabs is the culprit! Though he's just
been passed over for the promotion of his dreams, SpongeBob stands
by his boss and along with his best pal Patrick sets out on a treacherous
mission to Shell City to reclaim the crown and save Mr. Krab's life. |
 Review
by MAURICE
BROADDUS BLOG
Website:
www.MauriceBroaddus.com
Email: maurice@mauricebroaddus.com
Holds a Bachelor's of Science degree in Biology (with an undeclared
major in English) from Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis.
He works as an environmental toxicologist by day and is a horror
writer by night. Obviously his areas of interests includes religious
studies, folklore, and myths. He is a notorious egotist who, in
anticipation of a successful writing career, is practicing speaking
of himself in the third person. Oh yeah, he's married to the lovely
Sally Jo and has two boys: Maurice Gerald Broaddus II (thus, retroactively
declaring himself "Maurice the Great") and Malcolm Xavier Broaddus.
|
 In
a nutshell, if you like the cartoon show that this movie is based
on, then you will be almost pleased with the movie. The movie
touches on all the things you love about the show (or hate about
the show, depending on where you fall on the topic of all things
SpongeBob), but doesn't quite deliver.
For those new to this universe created by Stephen Hillenburg (hard
to believe anyone is, considering the millions that the Nickelodeon
show brings in via merchandising) SpongeBob SquarePants is a sponge.
"Absorbent and yellow and porous is he." Along with his best friend
Patrick, a starfish, they live in the underwater town of Bikini
Bottom. SBSP works as a fry cook at
the Krusty Krab, alongside his neighbor Squidward Tentacles, for
their money grubbing boss, Eugene H. Krabs. Mr. Krabs' long-time
arch nemesis, Plankton, runs the rival restaurant, the Chum Bucket.
The plot centers around Mr. Krabs opening up Krusty Krab II, next
door to the first one, and making Squidward the manager instead
of SpongeBob ("It's not called kid-ager"). Plankton has framed
Mr. Krabs for the theft of King Neptune's crown, as part of his
convoluted scheme to get the secret formula for Krabby Patties.
And SBSP sets off with Patrick on the
hero's journey to the forbidden Shell City to retrieve the crown
and prove himself man enough to be manager.
Still with me?
 A
lot of the show's cracked sensibility is still here -the animation
mixed with the jarring live-action digressions- but it doesn't
always come together. For example, you want the theme song to
be there, expecting a grand audience sing-a-long. Instead it is
delivered hilariously by live-action pirates. This is typical
of the almost-perfect frustration of the movie. There is still
plenty of the crass humor and frantic animation that makes the
show great. The copious amount of Patrick nudity prompted this
exchange between my son and me:
"I see his butt."
"What did daddy tell you?"
"Butts are funny."
Sure, there's an early scene of SpongeBob in the shower with Squidward,
but the topper for disturbing imagery can be expressed in four
words: David Hasselhoff's flexing pectorals.
There are two problems with the movie. One, I never thought that
as a writer I would say this, but this movie suffers from too
much plot. Most cartoon-to-movie leaps suffer from not having
enough plot, after all, we're talking about stretching an 11 minutes
per episode cartoon into an hour-and-a-half affair. But plot is
not quintessential to the SpongeBob experience: non sequitur dialogue
combined with gratuitous looniness is.
The other problem is one that strikes far too many cartoon movies:
THE CELEBRITY VOICE. This movie should have been a road movie
with SpongeBob, Patrick, and Sandy Cheeks, a "Fellowship of the
Crown."  Instead
we get a tale -without Sandy, except by cameo- distracted by the
introduction of a new character (and not character so much as
merely celebrity voice) Mindy (Scarlett Johansson). King Neptune,
a character introduced on the show, is now bald and voiced by
(and modeled after) Jeffrey Tambor. Though, admittedly, Dennis
(Alec Baldwin) worked, but this was because his character was
more in tune with the pop-culturally-aware-yet-random spirit of
the show.
The show has always been about the power of friendship and community.
Sure, SBSP and Patrick get blitzed on
Goofy Goober Sundaes after SpongeBob is overlooked for promotion,
but they are there for each other. It is SpongeBob's eternally
optimistic, innocent obliviousness, that is not only the secret
to his charm, but that also gets him through life. In short, his
is the faith of a child. Though the plot is supposedly about the
duo's desire to prove themselves to be men, since men have facial
hair and are "invincible" what we learn is that it is important
to be who you are. And it is their child-like faith that sees
them through.
"If nautical nonsense be something you wish" . . . then this movie
doesn't quite hit the mark. The closer it sticks to the television
show the better it is. But despite its flaws, it does prove to
be a highly entertaining venture.
—Blog
Maurice here
|
 REVIEW
BY KATHY BLEDSOE
Kathy Bledsoe is an Office Manager for the Highline School District
south of Seattle, and has a background in business administration.
She's a mother and catlover, and teaches at Highline Christian Church.
She has a degree in theology from Puget Sound Christian College, where
she shared academic honors with her best friend, Jenn Wright. |
I’m
Ready… I’m Ready…
 Suspend
your disbelief, dust off the child inside, and take your kids to
see The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie. “I
don’t have children,” you say. Well, borrow some and
take them along with you. You will be doing yourself a great favor
because there is nothing so freeing as enjoying the genuine amusement
of children and remembering what it feels like to be just plain
ridiculous. If you insist on going with other adults, be sure that
you choose companions that can still stand to get their “silly”
on.
SpongeBob
SquarePants is the creation of Stephen Hillenburg,
who just may turn out to be one of the geniuses of present day culture.
Mr. Hillenburg has managed to bring to prominence characters that
appeal to a wide array of age groups and who transcend the formulaic
routine of cartoons that quickly become passé and boring.
One just can’t help but root for SpongeBob and Patrick even
while recognizing that they aren’t the brightest light bulbs
on the block.
 The
skeptics among you who are familiar with the Hollywood Jesus philosophy
and intent may be waiting for this reviewer to step in quicksand
up to her neck, especially since this is my inaugural foray into
the world of movie reviewing. “There is no way that you can
find spiritual content in SpongeBob SquarePants,”
you might be saying. Ah, but to the contrary, my friends! I know
nothing about Mr. Hillenburg’s spiritual background, but his
feature length cartoon is full of enough protein to feed many family
conversations for as long as folks want to make an effort to talk
to their kids about things that really matter.
First
and foremost, SpongeBob could be the poster child for James
1:2-4. SpongeBob perseveres through trial after
trial doggedly pursuing maturity. James tells us that perseverance
is the most valuable arrow in our quiver of spiritual growth. It
is the character trait that God wants us to develop so that we will
be “grown up” in our faith. The main theme of this movie
is SpongeBob’s desire to be a man rather than a child so that
he can be the manager of Mr. Krabs’ restaurant, the Krusty
Krab. Along the way, however, SpongeBob learns another valuable
lesson that also has a Scriptural counterpart. At the end of the
movie SpongeBob realizes that being childlike does not eliminate
him from being mature but rounds him out and makes him complete,
valuable, and usable. Jesus told his disciples in Matthew 18 that
to be great in the kingdom of heaven they must “change and
become like little children” or they would never enter it.
King Neptune and Mr. Krabs finally see the maturity of being childlike
in SpongeBob. How often in our culture do we hear people sarcastically
telling children or teens that they are too young to do anything
meaningful or that they don’t have any worthy ideas in their
heads? The King in The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie
discovers that the weakest creature in his kingdom was able to succeed
in the most arduous quest because he remained true to who he was.
We should be encouraging our children and young people to see that
just as King Neptune came to understand the value of SpongeBob,
God sees their value and worth and will use them as they are, who
they are, and wherever they are in life if they will respond to
His presence in their lives.
Another
topic worthy of exploring with your children is the meaning of friendship.
The relationship between SpongeBob and Patrick is the epitome of
Proverbs 17:17 –
“A friend loves at all times.” Patrick and SpongeBob
share the good times and the bad times. One falls down; the other
picks him up. One of them gets discouraged and the other becomes
the cheerleader and encourager. Even though scared spitless, they
would die with or for each other. There is no real celebration if
they do not share it together. God does not mean for us to live
in a vacuum, dealing with life on our own. We were made for relationship
with Him and with others. He brings special people into our lives
so that we may be encouraged and give encouragement; be accountable
and hold accountable. This is the honest and true way to live and
something we should pattern for our children and teach to them.
 Still
not convinced? Here’s one more… selflessness.
SpongeBob puts his very life in peril for a man whose main love
in life is money. Mr. Krabs is interested only in his own self-preservation,
and that only because he will be separated from his money if he
is gone. SpongeBob takes verbal, emotional, and physical abuse from
Mr. Krabs, but the moment his life is in peril, jumps in to redeem
him even though most of us would say he doesn’t deserve it.
Hmmmm… sounds suspiciously close to what Jesus did for us…
The
SpongeBob SquarePants Movie is rated
PG because of mild, crude humor. Believe me, it is so mild as to
be unnoticeable, so don’t allow the rating to scare you away.
Take your family and enjoy!
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