My Thoughts on "The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie 🧽"
I only have one very important question, who lives in a pineapple 🍍 under the sea? SpongeBob SquarePants 🧽 of course, who else would it be? Didn't think I would ever review this movie, huh, did you? Well, I actually had plans on reviewing this movie for a while now ever since 2024 began. I knew that it would be the 20th anniversary this year since the movie came out in 2004. Crazy how much time flies, doesn't it? So, what better time to review this movie than this year? You couldn't ask for better timing than this.
But, it isn't even just the 20th anniversary of this movie, but it also the 25th anniversary of the show, SpongeBob SquarePants 🧽 as well. So, it's even more perfect time to review this movie. Every SpongeBob 🧽 fan is celebrating this year, and every content creator who is a SpongeBob 🧽 fan is doing SpongeBob 🧽 related content, including reviewing this movie.
But you know what? I came up with this idea first before any of those guys, so I'm marching on with my own review. I'm reviewing it now because I felt that it was enough of a special event to save for a milestone such as this. This is my 100th post, I'll plan on posting many more and making it to 200 posts and beyond. I've already got some more posts lined up ready to go, but I got to post this one first.
I got delayed on rewatching this movie for this review however. As it turns out, even if we're no longer using CenturyLink as our ISP (Internet Service Provider 🛜), they're still messing up our Internet 🛜. You see, some idiots working for CenturyLink accidentally cut some cables while working out here in the reservation, and shut off all of the Internet and cell service 🛜📶 in the reservation and a couple towns down like Grants, Milan, and Thoreau. So, for the entire day yesterday, we had no Internet 🛜 and we had no cell service 📶.
I couldn't watch YouTube, I couldn't watch streaming, I couldn't use DuckDuckGo, I couldn't use Wikipedia, I couldn't make calls or send texts. Everything was shut down. People couldn't even pay with cards 💳, everything had to be paid for with cash 💵 because all the electronic payment systems in the area were down due to the lack of Internet 🛜. It was miserable 😞. So, I wasn't able to watch the movie and then write my review yesterday. I had to postpone it to today, Friday August 9, 2024. Thanks CenturyLink, you fucks 🖕, you ruined the fun for all of us.
Well, at least I got to rewatch and review Deep Blue Sea and post my review before all of this happened. Speaking of Deep Blue Sea though, I ended up watching this movie on Max because for some reason, it was taken off of Paramount+ and licensed out to Max. Presumably for a limited time since these studios only license their movies and shows out to other streaming services for a certain amount of time, and then they take them back.
Anyway, onto the review. Maybe it was a good thing that I didn't watch and review these two movies back-to-back and try to post them on the same day because I would have been exhausted. It's a little breather, I got to have a day off to recharge my batteries 🔋 so that I can deliver the goods on this review. So, what did I think of this movie this time around? I really liked it. It's still a fun movie even after these years. Yes, there's the nostalgia factor, but the nostalgia really isn't as big of a factor in why I like it.
Why? Well because while did watch it as a kid, I didn't watch the movie when it originally came out back in 2004. I watched a bit later on. I believe the first time I ever watched it was on TV when it was playing on Nickelodeon one time, and I really liked it then. I bought the DVD 📀, and I would rewatch it every now and then. I used to rewatch movies a lot more often than I do now. I only really rewatch movies that I've already seen before now if I'm thinking about again, and am in the mood to see them again, or if I want to write a review of it, which is more or less the case with this movie. Although, I did have the idea of watching and reviewing The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie 🧽 for its 20th anniversary before I even created this blog. I thought about doing it when I was still writing these reviews and posting them as journals on DeviantART.
So, I don't really have as many fond memories surrounding this movie as you would think. I didn't see this movie in theaters, at least, I don't think I did, and I saw it a little bit later on when I was an older kid. I don't exactly remember the age I was I saw this movie for the first time, I think I might've been 9 or 10. I actually have more fond memories of the video game. I played the game way better I ever saw the movie, and I believe I played when I first got my PS2 for Christmas 🎄 one year, so it might've been 2005 or 2006 when I got it.
I know it because I also got Mortal Kombat: Armageddon and The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius: Attack of the Twonkies, and Mortal Kombat: Armageddon came out in 2006. I think I might've gotten my PS2 for Christmas 🎄 in 2004 because I already had my PS2 when I played the King Kong game that came out before the movie did. So, maybe I did play this game when it came out, but I didn't watch the movie when it came out.
I didn't even get that far in the game. I only played a few levels, and then I stopped. I only ever got as far as the desert level after the first driving section, and you have those enemies that look like babies floating the air and spit icy stuff at you. It's called "Three…Thousand Miles to Shell City." I don't know why I never finished it, I think it was because it too hard for me or because I didn't earn enough Goofy Goober tokens to get that Bash move to advance further, and I didn't know to earn more tokens or I didn't feel earning more tokens.
There were other games I also didn't finish, this wasn't the only one, I also didn't finish Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie, or Attack of the Twonkies, or The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night, or Crash of the Titans, or Transformers: The Game, or SpongeBob SquarePants: Creature From the Krusty Krab 🧽. There's probably some others that I played and also didn't finish, but those are the ones that came to mind. At least I finished the Konquest mode of Mortal Kombat: Armageddon.
I wouldn't get the see what the rest of the game was like until years after I saw walkthroughs and longplays of it on YouTube. The same goes for nearly of all of the games I played as a kid, but didn't finish. But, I knew about the story of the movie before I even watched it thanks to the game. And as a result, I kind of have more nostalgia for the game than I do the movie.
I especially liked the tutorial level, which is a recreation of the dream sequence 💭 at the beginning of the movie where SpongeBob 🧽 dreams 💭 about himself being the manager of the Krusty Krab 2, and he has to put cheese on a Krabby Patty 🍔 because they forgot to put cheese on there, and that's like a huge crisis. Can't have a Krabby Patty 🍔 without cheese, it's almost as bad as having one without pickles. I remember quoting Mr. Krabs's line, "No cheese!" All the time. Even my grandparents got in it since I kept saying that all the time. It's also the reason why, for the longest time, I didn't like having cheese on my hamburgers 🍔. Nowadays, I don't care if I have cheese my hamburgers 🍔 or not. If it comes with it, fine, I'll eat it.
This movie is by far the best SpongeBob 🧽 movie ever made. Like, of the ones that have been made so far, this one is the best, and I don't think there's anyone who would disagree with me. The only other SpongeBob 🧽 movie that I've seen in The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water 🧽💦, and while I do like that movie, it still doesn't quite hold a candle to this one. I've never seen The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run 🧽, but I'm not interested in watching mostly because it didn't look that good to me.
Especially compared to some of the original versions of the movie that were proposed and were scrapped, like the pitch that involved SpongeBob 🧽 and the gang fighting off an invasion of alien cats 🐱, and was going to reveal that Gary 🐌 is actually an alien too, and was also going to feature Nicolas Cage as the President of United States 🇺🇸 with Jeff Goldblum as one of his top advisers. Yes, we did almost get a SpongeBob 🧽 movie with Nicolas Cage and Jeff Goldblum. We really missed out.
I also haven't seen the newest movie, Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie 🐿️, but I can already see that people are already dunking it online, ever since it released last week on Friday August 2, 2024. People were already dunking on it when was leaked back in February. But, I'll see for myself if it's really as bad as people say it is. I'm only watching it because Sandy 🐿️ is my favorite character in the show.
Speaking of Sandy 🐿️, one of the few criticisms that I have of this movie is that Sandy 🐿️ and a couple of the other key characters in the show didn't really get their time to shine. The movie mostly just focuses on SpongeBob 🧽 and Patrick, and also has Mr. Krabs (who's frozen for most of the movie 🥶) and Squidward, and of course, Plankton's the main antagonist and Karen 🖥️'s with him, but that's really about it.
We don't get much of Mrs. Puff 🐡 or Sandy 🐿️ or even Larry the Lobster 🦞. We see Mrs. Puff 🐡 and Sandy 🐿️ together in one scene at the beginning, then we see them after they've turned into Bucket Heads 🪣 working as slaves for Plankton, and then we see them be freed by SpongeBob 🧽 at the end. If this movie really was meant to be the finale to the series, it is a bit of letdown that we didn't get much closure with those characters, especially with Mrs. Puff 🐡. We never see SpongeBob 🧽 get his license 🪪, which is weird because we see him driving the Patty Wagon 🍔 and he does just fine. I know that he says, "You don't need license 🪪 to drive a sandwich 🍔," but still, if he could drive that good, why hasn't he been able to get his license 🪪?
Maybe it's like a psychological thing where he's able to drive the Patty Wagon 🍔 just fine because it doesn't look like a boat 🚤, so he's not stressing out that he has to get it just right in order to pass some test, which is the reason he fails every single time. Kind of like how in the Season 4 episode, "Mrs. Puff 🐡, You're Fired," that new driving instructor teaches SpongeBob 🧽 how to drive with a blindfold on, and he gets so good at it, that he literally cannot drive without a blindfold covering his eyes. He's been conditioned too much not to use it, and when he doesn't have a blindfold on, he loses all his confidence and he becomes the nervous wreck behind the wheel that he was before.
But, speaking of finale, this brings me to another point that I want to make about this movie, and part of the reason why it is so good. It's the finality of it. The movie feels like a finale, a conclusive end to a series that had gone on for three seasons up until that point. Even if it didn't actually end up being the finale, it still likes it, and I think that's a big reason why feels so different from the SpongeBob 🧽 movies that came after.
Canonically speaking, it is still the very last thing that happens within the SpongeBob 🧽 timeline, not that you could even make a coherent timeline out of this show. There are so many people out there, especially online who try to make it seem like SpongeBob 🧽 is a show with continuity, and a coherent timeline, but it isn't. It doesn't have continuity, and it doesn't have a coherent timeline because none of the people who worked on this show in the beginning, for the first three seasons (the golden years as some fans call it), really didn't care about any of that stuff. They just wanted to tell jokes, and be funny, that's it. They wouldn't concerned about how all this fits together, and whether or not has continuity or lore that makes sense if you were to scrutinize it.
No matter how you slice it, it just doesn't add up. There's contradiction after contradiction, inconsistency after inconsistency. I mean, King Neptune hasn't even been the same character throughout the show. The King Neptune in the show is a completely different character from the King Neptune in this movie. The movie King Neptune, as in, the one from this movie specifically, looks different, sounds different, and acts different from the show King Neptune.
The King Neptune in this movie actually has a daughter, whereas the one in the show isn't indicated to have any kids. It's never been hinted at. Speaking of his daughter, I do believe Mindy has even appeared in an episode of the show, in like Season 9 or 10, even though that's all supposed to be before the movie takes place, meaning it's before SpongeBob 🧽 and Patrick met her, but we see her.
She doesn't talk though, since Scarlett Johansson became much more expensive in the intervening years in-between the first movie and the character's appearance in the show, and she doesn't interact with SpongeBob 🧽 and Patrick. She's kind of just in the background, so, I guess it's fine.
But, it's hard to believe that it was ScarJo that voiced her. Of course, this was before she was ever Black Widow in the MCU, and before she became this household name, and even after that, I still quite put the dots together that it was her until years later. Had this movie made more in the 2010s when the MCU was at the peak of its popularity and financial success 🤑, I think they would've made a bigger deal out of the fact that she was in this movie. Just like they did with David Hasselhoff playing himself in this movie or like how they did Keanu Reeves appearing in Sponge on the Run 🧽 as some kind of tumbleweed wizard.
This is also where it was established that Patrick has a thing for mermaids 🧜♀️ since I believe this was the first time we saw Patrick crush over a mermaid 🧜♀️. That's kind of just become a character trait of his that keeps coming back now and again. Even in the most recent SpongeBob 🧽 video game, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake 🧽🔮.
That's another thing I noticed about this movie fairly recently even before I rewatched it, that it's the only SpongeBob 🧽 movie that has the name, "SquarePants" in the title. All of the other SpongeBob 🧽 movies, except Saving Bikini Bottom of course, are just The SpongeBob Movie 🧽 and then whatever subtitle they came out. Even the next theatrical SpongeBob 🧽 movie that's coming out next year, is also just called The SpongeBob Movie 🧽. They only used "SquarePants" for the subtitle, so the full title of the movie is The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants 🧽. It's set to come out in December 2025, which made it the first SpongeBob 🧽 movie since this movie to not be released in either the summer or the spring.
This may have been a blockbuster, but it wasn't released in summer during the summer movie season, though it would've been perfect for that. Instead, it came out in November, which is why the poster that I used says "Thanksgiving 2004." But, it wasn't going to be the only SpongeBob 🧽 movie to be released during the holiday season, as Sponge on the Run 🧽 was also probably going to be released during the holidays back when it was still called It's a Wonderful Sponge 🧽, and was going to be a riff on It's a Wonderful Life presumably. But, now this movie is no longer the only SpongeBob 🧽 movie to come out during the holidays now that Search for SquarePants is set to come out in December of next year.
BTW, did you know that there's a Plankton movie that's to come out the same year as Search for SquarePants? I just found out now while I was writing this, isn't that crazy? It's even going to be written by Mr. Lawrence, the guy who voices Plankton on the show (as well as voice Larry 🦞), and is a veteran creative on the show, often being a writer and storyboard artist. He's been there since the beginning, so that's cool. I have no idea what it's going to be about, but I'm sure it'll be decent with talent like Mr. Lawrence at the helm.
Plankton is a big reason why this movie feels so special and it has a certain of level of finality to it, despite it not being the finale to the series like Stephen Hillenburg originally intended. This is probably the most evil and the most competent Plankton has ever been. He actually achieves his goal of stealing the Krabby Patty secret formula 🍔 and using it to make Krabby Patties 🍔 to sell at his restaurant, the Chum Bucket 🪣, and even takes over the entire town, renaming it to Planktopolis, and enslaving the entire population with his mind-controlling bucket helmets 🪣. He literally becomes a dictator in this movie. In the game, he's even more of a dictator complete with radio towers and TV screens that spread his propaganda far and wide. He actually seems like more of a legitimate threat rather than some loser who we all just laugh at for having a stupid and petty end goal and failing at achieving that goal at every turn.
But, even the new villain they introduced specifically for this movie, Dennis is pretty cool too. Even though my opinion of Alec Baldwin has worsened in recent years ever since the Rust incident, he does do a good job voicing Dennis in this movie, a role he only really took for his daughter. The reason that pretty every big name actor agrees to be in one of these kid's movies, to be in something that their kids can actually watch. That's the reason why William H. Macy agreed to be in Jurassic Park III, and that's not even a kid's movie. It's more of a teen movie. Baldwin really gave Dennis this intimidating presence. I'm so glad that they brought him back in the show, even if it was just for a short cameo as was the case with Mindy. Oh, and the Cyclops was cool too, I liked the Cyclops.
Out of the four SpongeBob 🧽 movies that have been made so far, this is the only one that actually had something to say. Whereas the other SpongeBob 🧽 movies were just content with having fun, and not really delving into the characters that much, It had an actual message it was trying to deliver behind all of the comedy, and it was actually trying to develop the characters in a way that they hadn't really been before or since. This whole movie's about how SpongeBob 🧽 is a kid, or rather he's an adult who acts like a kid.
Everyone in the movie doubts him, and talks down to him, telling him that he can't something because he's a kid, and that only a man can to do these things. Mr. Krab decides against him the manager job at the new Krusty Krab 2, which was built right next door to the original, and gives to Squidward because he doesn't think that SpongeBob 🧽 is mature enough to handle a responsibility as running a fast food restaurant. And at first, SpongeBob 🧽 believes it, and starts doubting himself, even to the point where Mindy has to trick him and Patrick into thinking that she turned them into men so that they could have the confidence to go into the trench, and continue the journey to Shell City.
But at some point, SpongeBob 🧽 realizes that it's okay for him to be a kid, that it's okay for him to just be himself, and in the end, it is through being the kid that he is that he actually manages to save the day. And of course, Mr. Krabs finally gives him the manager job at the Krusty Krab 2 after he proved that he could handle such a responsibility by going on this huge adventure, and saving Bikini Bottom from Plankton's dreaded Plan Z while being himself, which is a kid. And also because Squidward didn't even want the job as manager and was willing to give it up to SpongeBob 🧽.
So, the big takeaway of the movie is that sometimes, it is good to be a kid, or at least, it's good to be a kid at heart if you're an adult because even kids can achieve great things and be the real heroes when all of the "adults in the room" are no match and fail. I'm sure of people, especially those in the cartoon space, could get behind that message because of adults who do watch cartoons are often told they're immature for watching cartoons, that cartoons have no real value beyond just ways for parents to distract their kids for a few minutes, and that they should stop watching them, and just watch more "grown-up" stuff like Breaking Bad, or Game of Thrones, or Euphoria, or Succession, or whatever.
Patrick isn't a jerk in this movie, which is always a plus. I hate it whenever the show makes him a jerk. A character who's dumb and a jerk is always a bad combination, so I'm glad that they avoided that for this movie. He's also stupid, but not also stupid that he becomes unbearable. With a character like Patrick, who's dim-witted, you do kind of need to strike a certain balance with them where they are dumb, but they aren't so dumb that they become unbearable to the audience and negatively impact the plot because their stupidity just becomes that much of a liability. And you can't have it be where none of the events of your movie could happen if this dim-witted character wasn't there being stupid, and messing things up for everyone.
They definitely struck that balance with Patrick in this movie, and this is definitely one of the best showcasings for Patrick in the entire franchise. It shows the best of him, the best that he could be when they don't use his stupidity as a crutch for humor when they can't come up with any clever gags. You could definitely see why SpongeBob 🧽 would become friends with this guy if he's like the version of him that's in this movie. Other times in the show, they write him in such a way that you question why these two would even become friends in the first place. But not here, their friendship makes perfect sense because this Patrick is dumb, but is also a really good friend.
The marketing for this movie really did go a long way in selling this movie, and making seem like a big event. I especially like the first couple of trailers, which were all serious and then became really silly and fun once they reveal that they're for a SpongeBob 🧽 movie. Like, the first teaser trailer starts out like a Hunt for Red October or Crimson Tide-style submarine thriller, and it's revealed that the sub is actually just a bath toy that SpongeBob 🧽 is playing with while taking a bath 🛁, it's great.
And then, there's another trailer, which is also really serious, which has narration that asks all of these big life questions like "Are we alone in the universe?" "Is there life after death?" Until it finally asks, "Who lives under a pineapple 🍍 under the sea?" That's a really classic trailer. I remember that one a lot because it was only featured as an extra on the game that you could unlock, but also because it shown a lot on Nickelodeon DVDs 📀.
This movie also created a couple of memes, which, while they aren't really used in the mainstream anymore, they are still used sometimes within the SpongeBob 🧽 community. You got the faces that SpongeBob 🧽 and Patrick make when they see the frogfish get eaten by this bigger fish, and then of course, you got the use of the song, "Ocean Man" for the end credits. I do actually think "Ocean Man" is a good song, I do enjoy listening to it unironically out of the context of it being a meme.
Would I recommend this movie 20 years later? Heck yeah, I would, especially if you're a SpongeBob fan 🧽. Even though I'm pretty sure that most SpongeBob fans 🧽 have probably already seen this movie, especially those who grew up on SpongeBob 🧽 and are adults now. Though, I am sure there are some SpongeBob 🧽 fans out there who haven't seen this movie before, especially the younger fans. If you are one of those people, then check this out, you won't be disappointed.
Although, I should say that you're under the age of 18, 17 at least, you probably shouldn't be reading this anyway, since I do use adult language here, and mention some adult themes as I do in all of my blog posts. I'm not worried though, since no one under 20 reads my blog. In fact, no one currently reads my blog. I wish that people would.
Even if this movie didn’t end up being the finale to the series, it does represent an end to an era. The end of the “classic era” or “golden age” of SpongeBob 🧽, which again, was really those first three seasons. This movie brought that era to a close, and ushered in a new era, the so-called “Post-Movie era,” which in and of itself was followed by the “Post-Sequel era,” which began after Sponge Out of Water 🧽💦 came out. Who wouldn’t want to miss that, to miss the end of the classic era or “Pre-Movie” era of SpongeBob 🧽?
But, even if you aren't already a fan of the show, I would still recommend this movie because it does kind of work as good entry point to the series for anyone who's a newcomer. I mean, it is how Timothy of TimothyReacts and Clariss of CLARISS on YouTube got into SpongeBob 🧽. They both watched this movie first, and then watched the show, and are still doing reactions to it to this day, going by season by season in release order. They're currently on Season 5 right now since they recently reacted to "Spy Buddies," which is a Season 5 episode.
Comments
Post a Comment