[three-star-rating]Antonio Banderas, Voices of Tom Kenny, Clancy Brown, Bill Fagerbakke, Mr. Lawrence[/three-star-rating]
SpongeBob’s legions of fans (many of them adults) are going to be overjoyed to see this sunshiny yellow weirdo and his underwater friends in their first full-length animated movie in over ten years. The rest of us might or might not enjoy the hyper absurdity, depending on our taste for craziness. I personally like my childish humor served this way – manic, wide-eyed, a little gross, and without a trace of malice.
If you don’t know SpongeBob…well, have you been living under some undersea rock somewhere? SpongeBob is a very square, very optimistic sponge – he looks more like the kitchen variety than the natural type – and he’s the most positive resident of the underwater town Bikini Bottom. His show on Nickelodeon is for kids, but the level of Monty Python absurdity and twitchy humor draw all sorts of fans. He’s the station’s most popular show nine seasons running.
SpongeBob (Kenny) is the lone grill cook at The Krusty Krab, the most popular restaurant in Bikini Bottom. He flips the famous Krabby Patties. When a local competitor – a one-eyed plankton – tries to steal the recipe for the sandwich, all Hell breaks loose. The recipe magically disappears, driving Bikini Bottom into an apocalyptic war.
It looks like an underwater Mad Max – one character even saying, “Welcome to the apocalypse, Mr. Squidward. I hope you like wearing leather!”
All of this chaos may have to do with a pirate above sea. Burger-Beard (Banderas, having a blast) has stolen a mystical book that tells the story of the missing recipe. Does this mean our lovable swimmers will have to leave their ocean home? Well, there’s a hint in the title.
I was a little surprised that half of this second movie – much like the first – looks so much like the Nickelodeon TV show – colorful and goofy but not necessarily detailed. SpongeBob is one of the dozens of sitcom animations quickly churned out by South Korean artists. Though the original vision is still owed to Stephen Hillenberg (who’s a marine biologist as well as an animator) and voice actor Tom Kenny in Pasadena, California, the show and this movie is mostly cheap, speedy animation – South Korean artists now being the modern Hanna Barbera. The movie looks it.
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That’s not to say that SpongeBob doesn’t have its tricks, including the scenes above water, with singing seagulls, alien dolphins, an elaborate little pirate ship, and some very clever Claymation work in the last third of the film.
Now, truthfully, that last part breaks a SpongeBob rule – leaving its two-dimensional world. Fans of SpongeBob may rankle. I was actually hoping the movie would do more of this. It’s disappointing that most of the artwork is hardly better than the TV show. I was also hoping for a slightly more clever script than what is typically on Nickelodeon. The flick swims into superhero territory with a big, common chase scene – the thing saving it is the high ridiculousness that’s brought to a fever pitch toward the end.
If you’re a SpongeBob fan, or if you generally like nonsense, you’ll enjoy this ADHD humor. Soak it up!
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