The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (2004) Review
Back in 1989, Nickelodeon aired what would be one of their most iconic shows to date: SpongeBob SquarePants. Created by Stephen Hillenburg, the show surrounded on the antics of a happy yellow sponge named SpongeBob SquarePants who lives in a pineapple under the sea as he navigates his work life at the Krusty Krab and his personal life with his best friend Patrick Star. The show originally ran for a total of 3 seasons and was very much beloved by fans. In 2002, Hillenburg decided to cap off the series with a movie which was released two years later.
Eugene Krabs (voiced by Clancy Brown), owner of the Krusty Krab, opens up another Krusty Krab restaurant and is ready to promote one of his two employees to the positon of Manager. SpongeBob (voiced by Tom Kenny) thinks the job will go to him and is so excited he doesn’t realize Mr. Krabs gave the job to Squidward Tentacles (voiced by Rodger Bumpass). Mr. Krabs cites that SpongeBob was still too immature to take on the responsibilities of manager. Utterly depressed, SpongeBob drowns his sorrows away with Patrick (voiced by Bill Fagerbakke) at an ice cream bar. While this is happening, Mr. Krabs’ arch nemesis, Plankton (voiced by Mr. Lawrence), concocts a nefarious plan to steal the Krabby Patty secret formula by framing Mr. Krabs for stealing King Neptune’s crown. Neptune plans on executing Krabs on the spot until SpongeBob vows to bring back the crown in six days. Should he fail, Mr. Krabs will be executed.
I can’t tell you how much I love the series, even as an adult. Not only was it fun and entertaining to watch, but it was one of those shows that was designed for children, yet contained its fair share of adult humor. Sadly as the series progressed past Season 3, it lost a decent bit of that humor. But fortunately, it’s completely intact in the movie. We literally open up to SpongeBob cheering about being promoted, only to go drink his sorrows away when he gets passed up for the job. Yes, I know it’s ice cream, but the message is still there. We even see him show up to work completely hungover and grumpy, before angrily spitting in Mr. Krabs’ face. But that’s not where the jokes end. Fans of the show will know that Squidward is the complete antithesis of SpongeBob. He’s grouchy, tired and only sees his job as a means to an end. In other words, your typical employee of a minimum wage job. When Mr. Krabs is frozen by King Neptune, the first thing Squidward cares about is who’ll sign his paycheck.
The movie actually takes a stark turn in its second act, going from lighthearted and whimsical to full-on horror. Now this is typical of early SpongeBob (“Graveyard Shift”, anyone?) but not to this degree. I think the most horrifying scene is where Plankton manages to mind control everyone in Bikini Bottom. The idea of losing your free will is absolutely terrifying. And it doesn’t help that the movie switches from its usual bright and colorful tone to a dark sepia color grading while the brainwashed citizens move in a creepy robotic manner. This is followed up with SpongeBob and Patrick driving on an eerie, deserted and bone-covered road before getting chased by a horrifying sea monster disguised as an old lady selling ice cream. I don’t know about you, but even at my age I still get creeped out by this scene!
My only complaint is the third act. One of the most heart-wrenching scenes in the entire franchise is lazily followed up with an unwarranted David Hasselhoff cameo. It also doesn’t help that he’s actually the one who swims SpongeBob and Patrick to Bikini Bottom and ejects them (with his pecs) into the Krusty Krab 2 just in time to stop Mr. Krabs’ execution. And from here on, the insanity just spirals. The rest of the film is a glorified music video where SpongeBob’s rock and roll skills are so electrifying, they overpower Plankton’s mind control. My only reasoning for why this is here is that Nickelodeon wanted to entertain children for the last twenty minutes of their attention span. However, this hasn’t stopped people from making memes of almost the entire movie.
Despite the messy tone of the third act, I still love The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie even as an adult. It’s fun, engaging and keeps the semi-adult themes of the original show while executing a near-perfect send off to the original run of SpongeBob SquarePants. It’s a shame we rarely get media that toe the line between adult life and child entertainment. Cartoons today are either too safe or edgy for the sake of being edgy. SpongeBob SquarePants showed that you could convey some more mature themes while still be a timelessly classic cartoon series. And whether or not you grew up as a fan of the show, I strongly advise you to give the movie a chance. You might realize that your life could use some more whimsical optimism.
