The Spongebob Squarepants Movie

Sherm Cohen, Stephen Hillenburg and Mark Osborne

BY Peter KnegtPublished Nov 1, 2004

It is often a daunting task to adapt a television series into a full-length film. Not only do you have to please the core audience of the series, but you also have to broaden the appeal to a mass audience that doesn't necessarily watch the series. Just ask the people over at The Simpsons, who have been attempting to do so for a decade now, how difficult this is.

Spongebob Squarepants is obviously not as popular as The Simpsons (or at least as The Simpsons was ten years ago) but it has a substantial fan base amongst children and a small cult following with teens and young adults. And The Spongebob Squarepants Movie manages a decent job in its adaptation.

Emphasising a grand plot (involving Mr. Squarepants' quest to find a missing crown to save his undersea town, Bikini Bottom) and adding some new characters (voiced by Scarlett Johannsen, Alec Baldwin and Jeffrey Tambor), The Spongebob Squarepants Movie distinguishes itself from the series while maintaining Spongebob's trademark humour. But it works only to a degree. For the under-12 crowd, it fulfils every need they would have for this film. But outside of that age range, audiences might be disappointed.

Though there are certainly a few jokes and situations reserved for Spongebob's older fan base (including a long sequence shot in mixed live action/animation cinematography, featuring David Hasselhoff, which feels very outdated), the film might feel a bit immature for many. (Paramount)

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