The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (2004)

Personally I have a soft spot for SpongeBob, it's one of my earliest memory being one of my first cartoon and Nickelodeon show I watch along side with Thomas The Tank Engine. I have a fondness for SpongeBob SquarePants like no matter how much I get cynical or hypocritical with my reviews, I'll always love SpongeBob. Out of all the Disney, Pixar and DreamWorks big projects this movie manage to hold very well in fact I think this movie is much, much, much better then I thought, I love it more then I was a kid. Without an further-a-oooooohhhhhhhhhhh, who lives a pineapple under the sea!:

History of SpongeBob Show + Movie production: The story begin when Steven who was a marine biologist and teaches to kids. He was a great cartoonist and made a little comic called "The Inertidal Zone" featuring talking fishes about the sea; one of them was called "Bob the sponge". He move on from marine biology and has an interest of art, so he head off to CALARTS to study animation; years later he finally done it and head to Nickelodeon to make his first show that being Rocko's Modern Life but it ended in 1996 so he needs something new; He decided to based off his comic and SpongeBoy a-hoy was born but there was another property with the same name , so it was change to SpongeBob SquarePants. The pilot aired and got the green light and thus my friend SpongeBob SquarePants was released in 1999 , it became Nickelodeon's most popular show and the rest is history.

Or so we think. On November 2004 a full-length feature movie was released and was not nominated instead another fishy movie called Shark Tale of all movies. (I've already review that movie by the way) However this is when the show declined because you see the movie was supposed to be the finale to the series and wasn't supposed to be more but Nickelodeon saw the success of SpongeBob and take the movie as an on going series and all of the writing team from the movie left so it was changed. So dose the movie holds up well?

Plot + Characters: The movie starts off with the pirates and found tickets to the SpongeBob movie and sings the iconic theme song. You might be thinking "what's the point of the pirates in the first place", you see the pirates introduce us to the audiences and I find it quite charming. Like they are seeing the movie , I'm seeing the movie and they are seeing it too that's crazy! It also doesn't feel like it's filler too.

The writing is brilliant: I should mention the writing of the movie because it's a buddy road-trip movie and it shows you don't have to re-invented the wheel to make a good story in fact it lacks all of the tropes you see your standard movie. Not to mention this movie has 6 writer's and somehow makes it very charming, snappy and just so good. How many flippin movies people see movies these days and most of all of them lacks charm and originality. I mean comparing to the 200 Million budget Elemental it's night and day in fact it quite embarrassing.

Steven Hillenberg isn't one of those people who wants to make political movies or want to make much money as possible , he is an talented , intelligent and an funny animator. His talent shines through and not to mention this is his last big project respectfully.

The comedy is hilarious: Every single comedy lands for me , it's because how subtle it is and has great executed dialogue. The movie also has gags even some gags are subtle like as an example when Plankton send a bounty hunter , the plate said Dennis and I kill U sign makes the more of a vibrant experience. It's a lot more funnier then most Disney and the later sequels may I add. This quote-on-quote "kids movie" has funny things for adults too, like when SpongeBob and Patrick get dunked by eating Ice-cream; it's so subversive and funny.

SpongeBob: This an interesting question when adapting a cartoon into a movie , how are you going to give SpongeBob an inner struggle while keeping true to his character? Well they give SpongeBob just that , his character arc is that he is accepting himself for being a kid, everyone doubt him. It has a similar message to Wreck-It-Ralph (which I had already review that movie by the way) but the difference is that SpongeBob is more about the child like things what society told him not to act like a kid, it's a very fitting message to the TV show theme, most animated movies tend to get messages is like "be your self" or "follow your dreams" you know the over used message we seen done to death so many times, so it's nice to see a theme about acceptance and it's not a common theme to movies for some reason.

I never knew that Alec Baldwin is voiced by a bad guy (Dennis) which is ironic to me because four years ago he played as Mr Conductor from Thomas and The Magic Railroad who is a good guy and this movie he is a bad guy. (Well look like we got a trend actors voice good guys and bad guys. The other actor I can think on top of my head is Jack Black , he play as Po from Kung Fu Panda and Bowser from the Mario movie)

The most common criticism about the movie: The criticism I hear the most is the side characters needs more screen time and honestly I do agree on that like Sandy should be in the movie and Squid Ward too since this is the finale of the SpongeBob and they could have like a side plot or something ,but it's not the end of the world because they did show up thankful.

The only flaw in this movie: The movie isn't perfect and that's because the fake-out death scene is in my opinion the worst part of the movie like it's not that important and we seen this so many times before and after! But it's not important to the story and the reason I bring this up is because if I don't someone will say "HoW CAn yOu CallED ThiS A MAsterpiece If It hAs a FAKe oUt DEAth SceNE!" LISTEN! It's still possible for a movie that can be masterpiece even if it has some flaws.

The deleted scene that

The final act: it starts off SpongeBob and Patrick meet David Hasselhoff and takes them back to Bikini Bottom.

(Fun fact: in the scene where Dennis is fight SpongeBob and Patrick David Hasselhoff is an animatronic which is a replica of him and the animatronic is actually quite big) So Mindy distracted her dad and SpongeBob and Patrick got here on time before Mr Krabs was executed. But wait a minute Plankton mind control Mindy's dad by hold the phone SpongeBob sings the goofy Goober song in rock in roll montage and defeated Plankton, it's so absurd I love it!

The ending: I can not think of a perfect ending then these , it ends off SpongeBob finally is now a manager and jump up with this frame and Ocean Man played in as an ending. (As you didn't know it was an 1997 song by The Mollusk\Ween band which wasn't popular and make weird experimental songs. Steven was a big fan of it so he referenced it in the show before the movie SpongeBob: "Mind your wandering eye you little Mollusk". The band behind the album makes the loop de loop song which fits so well. It feels like including The Mollusk is like Nickelodeon give the writers room to experiment and do their own things. It's no wonder why most Disney projects now feels monotonous and product placements, wow that's long statement)

Animation: For a movie that is a 30million budget and for almost 20 years old it still looks amazing! There is a lot more shading in the movie compare to the episodes and that's because it was hand-drawn on digital and the production of the animation was by none other then Warner Bros. Animation, yes it says it in the credits if your not looking. There is some CGI used in the movie but it was very subtle and mostly used in the background. Not to mention the animation with live action aged so well and feels like SpongeBob and Patrick is really there.

Final thoughts: So overall The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie is a great movie and it's my favourite Nickelodeon movie by far! Is it the greatest movie ever? Sorry no but I dare to say it's on power with the Disney Renaissance era and the greatest DreamWorks movies. It's has fun characters, a great plot, great comedy , fantastic animation, a love letter to ocean life and a perfect finale to the franchise!

Conclusion: The one sentence I describe The SpongeBob Square Pants Movie is.... fun-loving and light-hearted. It's fun to see out side of Bikini Bottom and every stop feels like has a purpose to the story, it's fun to look at animation and it's also a feel good movie

Thank You Steven Hillenberg