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The Movie:
I've never understood the phenomenon that is "Spongebob Squarepants", just like I never understood "Pokemon". I guess, as someone who grew up watching reruns of "Tom and Jerry", "The Jetsons" and other animated fare in the 80's, all of these new animated creatures seem a little too hyper, a little too...well, "hyper" actually sums it up pretty well.
Despite all this, I sat down to watch the "Spongebob Squarepants" movie, hoping to figure out what all the fuss is about. The movie focuses on SpongeBob (voice by Tom Kenny), who works for Eugene H. Krabs (Clancy Brown), a successful sea businesscreature. Spongebob dreams of being the manager of Krusty Krab II, but gets passed up, because his boss thinks that he's still "just a kid."
When Krabs gets into trouble after losing King Neptune (voiced by Jeffrey Tambor)'s crown, Spongebob has only a matter of time to head into a dangerous territory of the sea in order to find the crown. Meanwhile, the evil Plankton(Doug Lawrence) is getting together another evil plan involving mind control, and might be behind the crown's disappearance.
While I haven't gained much of an appreciation for "Squarepants" after watching the film, I must say that it was better than I'd expected. Some of the jokes are absurdly hilarious and, despite the animation's rather basic nature, some of the funkier backgrounds are interesting. Still, this isn't going to be confused with a Pixar production - the animation and story are fine, but lack depth. It's cotton candy entertainment for kids.
The DVD
VIDEO: The only version that came in for review was the full frame edition of "Spongebob Squarepants". There is a widescreen version available, too - and I'd recommend seeing Spongebob and friends in their widescreen glory. As for this presentation, it actually looked quite good, quality-wise. Sharpness and detail for both the animated and live-action scenes were quite good, as the image seemed consistently crisp and well-defined.
Some slight edge enhancement was spotted at times, but no instances of print flaws or pixelation were spotted. The film's warm, bright colors looked well-saturated and crisp, with no smearing or other faults.
SOUND: "Spongebob" is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 here, and the soundtrack is fine, but unremarkable. The surrounds get some work for ambience and reinforcement of the music, but they don't have anything too noteworthy to contribute. The majority of the audio is nicely spread across the front speakers, and audio quality remained pleasant. Dialogue was well-recorded, as were music and effects.
EXTRAS: We get an 18-minute "making of" featurette, a "Saving the Surf" PSA, the film's teaser trailer, animatics, previews for other Paramount movies and an undersea featurette with Jean-Michel Cousteau.
Final Thoughts: Overall, I thought "Spongebob" was rather forgettable, but actually quite funny at times and better than I'd thought it would be. Paramount's DVD edition provides good audio/video quality and a few nice supplements. Recommended for fans.
Film Grade
The Film ***
DVD Grades
Video 87/B
Audio: 87/B
Extras: 72/C
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