The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie

The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Stephen Hillenburg
Produced by	Derek Drymon Albie Hecht Stephen Hillenburg Julia Pistor Gina Shay
Written by	Stephen Hillenburg Derek Drymon Tim Hill Kent Osborne Aaron Springer Paul Tibbitt
Starring	Tom Kenny Bill Fagerbakke Doug Lawrence Jeffrey Tambor Scarlett Johansson Clancy Brown Rodger Bumpass Alec Baldwin Neil Ross
Music by	Gregor Narholz
Cinematography	Jerzy Zielinski
Studio	Nickelodeon Movies United Plankton Pictures Viacom International
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date(s)	November 19, 2004 (2004-11-19)
Running time	90 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$30 million
Gross revenue	$140,161,792
Followed by	SpongeBob's Atlantis SquarePantis

The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie is a 2004 animated film based on the Nickelodeon television series SpongeBob SquarePants, released on November 19, 2004. It was produced and distributed in the United States by Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies, and was dedicated in memory of Jules Engel. The film's protagonist, as in the TV series, is SpongeBob SquarePants, who goes on a quest with Patrick Star on a quest to save King Neptune's crown and rescue Bikini Bottom from the evil clutches of Plankton. The film received positive reviews from critics and had its own soundtrack released, as well as its own video game adaption.

Plot

The film starts with a pirate crew, led by Captain Pinty, eagerly awaiting their treasure: tickets to The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie.

SpongeBob SquarePants has a dream of being the Krusty Krab manager and that restaurant is in danger because a customer named Phil has no cheese on his krabby patty, but SpongeBob manages to save the day. SpongeBob wakes up, and happily gets ready for the Krusty Krab 2 opening ceremony, with the hope that Mr. Krabs will promote him to general manager of the new restaurant. At the opening ceremony, SpongeBob is denied the title, which is instead given to Squidward Tentacles, due to being "more mature" than SpongeBob and thinking that he's "just a kid" and is unable to handle the task.

Severely depressed, SpongeBob heads to his favorite restaurant, Goofy Goober. There, he eats numerous sundaes with his friend Patrick Star, and wakes up the next morning with a hangover. Meanwhile, Sheldon J. Plankton, Krabs' business rival, enactes a plot to steal the formula for Krabs' "Krabby Patty" burger; Plankton steals King Neptune's beloved crown and frames Krabs for the crime.

Incensed, Neptune crashes into the Krusty Krab 2 and assaults Krabs. SpongeBob later arrives bad-mouthing Krabs, but instead promises Neptune to retrieve the crown from Shell City, a hazardous location known to all marine life. Spongebob must bring the crown back in 6 days (it was originally 10 until Patrick and Neptune argued it down to 6) or Krabs will fry. So he won't run away, Neptune freezes Krabs with his trident. SpongeBob and Patrick then head off for Shell City.

His rival frozen solid, Plankton steals the Krabby Patty formula with ease. He also sends a hitman named Dennis to pursue SpongeBob and Patrick. Squidward uncovers the truth about Plankton stealing Neptune's crown and attempts to alert the authorities. However, Plankton uses mind-controlling buckets, disguised as souvenirs, to control the residents of Bikini Bottom, including Squidward, and renames the city Planktopolis.

SpongeBob and Patrick pursued by the Shell City's "Cyclops" diver.

On the way to Shell City, SpongeBob and Patrick encounter many death-defying obstacles, but their overt goofiness saves them each time. Finally, they approach a trench filled with carnivorous creatures. Before the two admit defeat, Neptune's daughter, Mindy, appears to give them encouragement by falsely claiming they are men, not boys. Singing a song, SpongeBob and Patrick dance their way across the trench with ease, only to meet Dennis on the other side. Before Dennis steps on them with his giant boot, he is stomped on by a human boot. The human grabs SpongeBob and Patrick and heads off for his store by the beach, which is in fact "Shell City" itself.

When they arrive, SpongeBob and Patrick find the crown, but encounter a lethal drying-out process which nearly kills them. However, their tears short-circuit the heat lamp, which releases smoke and activates the emergency sprinkler system, reviving them, as well as the other dried-out sea creatures being sold as souvenirs. While the sea creatures attack the human, SpongeBob and Patrick take the crown out to the beach. David Hasselhoff offers the two a ride to Bikini Bottom, which they gladly accept.

On the way, Dennis catches up to them, but is struck by a catamaran back into the sea. Back at the Krusty Krab 2, Neptune arrives to execute Krabs, while Plankton eagerly watches. In the nick of time, SpongeBob and Patrick return with the crown, save Krabs, and then confront Plankton. In turn, Plankton activates the mind buckets. Just as Plankton believes he is triumphant, SpongeBob, cherishing the fact he is just a kid and that he accomplished a lot in the past six days, uses his imagination to play the Goofy Goober theme in the form of a rock song, using his guitar to free Plankton's slaves. Realizing defeat once again, Plankton tries to escape, but is trampled by Bikini Bottom's citizens.

Plankton is arrested and incarcerated. King Neptune thanks Mindy for her bravery and unfreezes Krabs, who graciously gives the title of general manager of the Krusty Krab 2 to SpongeBob. In the end credits, SpongeBob is seen doing jobs and chores for Mr. Krabs with an oversized Krusty Krab employee hat.

After the film's end credits, a theater usher forces the Captain Pinty and his pirate crew to leave.

Cast

• Tom Kenny as SpongeBob SquarePants, the hero of the film. Promised to King Neptune that he will get his crown back from the forbidden Shell City. Kenny also voices SpongeBob's pet snail Gary along with other miscellaneous voices.
• Bill Fagerbakke as Patrick Star, SpongeBob's best friend and second hero of the film. Travels with SpongeBob to retreat King Neptune's crown. Fagerbakke also provides other miscellaneous voices in the film.
• Doug Lawrence as Sheldon J. Plankton, the main villain of the film. He is the proprietor of the Chum Bucket restaurant and is a business rival of Krabs who seeks to steal the formula for Krabs' "Krabby Patty" and boost the attendance of his own restaurant. He achieves this goal with "Plan Z" by stealing King Neptune's crown, selling it off to Shell City and framing Mr. Krabs for the crime. Lawrence also provides other miscellaneous voices in the film.
• Clancy Brown as Eugene H. Krabs, the founder and proprietor of the Krusty Krab restaurant.
• Scarlett Johansson as Princess Mindy, the daughter of King Neptune. Unlike her father, Mindy is much sweeter to everyone.
• Jeffrey Tambor as King Neptune, the almighty ruler of the water and seas.
• Rodger Bumpass as Squidward Tentacles, a neighbor of SpongeBob and the cashier of the Krusty Krab restaurant. He was the first to realize that Plankton actually framed Mr. Krabs for stealing King Neptune's crown. Bumpass also provides one other miscellaneous voice in the film.
• Alec Baldwin as Dennis the Hitman, an assassin sent by Plankton to do away with SpongeBob and Patrick in their quest to retrieve Neptune's crown.
• Neil Ross as the Cyclops,^[1] a diver who captures SpongeBob and Patrick to make them into antiques.
• David Hasselhoff appears as himself, helping SpongeBob and Patrick return to Bikini Bottom after they have retrieved Neptune's crown.
• Jill Talley as Karen, Plankton's computer wife.
• Carlos Alazraqui as King Neptune's squire. He appears in brief parts and is usually hit on the head by King Neptune's golden pitchfork.
• Carolyn Lawrence as Sandy Cheeks, SpongeBob's squirrel friend.
• Mary Jo Catlett as Mrs. Puff, SpongeBob's driving instructer.
• Lori Alan as Pearl, Mr. Krabs' teenage daughter.

Release

Home media

The DVD was released on March 1, 2005.

Reception

Box office

The film opened at number two behind Disney's National Treasure, earning $32,018,216 over the weekend on 4,300 screens at 3,212 theaters and averaging about $9,968 per venue or an average of $7,446 per screen, however the film then dropped a larger than expected 44% over the Thanksgiving weekend, then dropped 57% the next weekend. The opening weekend would end up making up 37.48% of the film's final gross. The film closed on March 24, 2005, having been unsuccessful at outgrossing its holiday animated competitors, The Incredibles from Disney/Pixar, and The Polar Express from Warner Bros. Pictures. It still made a huge profit for both distributor Paramount Pictures and producer Nickelodeon Movies, having earned $85,417,988 in the United States and $140,161,792 worldwide, while being produced on a modest $30 million budget.^[2]

Critical response

The film was well received by critics and fans. Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a "Fresh" rating of 68% based on 120 reviews.^[3] Selected top critics gave the film and a 70% "Fresh" rating based on 33 reviews.^[4] Metacritic gave the film a score of 66% based on 32 reviews, indicating "Generally favorable reviews".^[5]

Soundtrack

See also

• The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie Game

References

External links

• Official Nickelodeon film website
• The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie at the Internet Movie Database
• The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie at Rotten Tomatoes
• The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie at the Big Cartoon DataBase
• The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie at the SpongeBob SquarePants Wikia.