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Review

If you can picture a young Ren & Stimpy, with all of their surreal gross-out antics intact but without the hard cynical edge, you might begin to understand the delightful animated appeal of SpongeBob SquarePants. He's a sunnily naïve boy who lives under the sea in Bikini Bottom, and has no higher ambition than to rise the ranks of the local Krusty Krab fast food joint. Standing in his way is the nebbishy Squidward ("You can't fool me, I listen to public radio!"), and the fact that everyone thinks SpongeBob is just a kid. Well, he is, of course, but in this expanded 80-minute adventure he gets a chance to prove himself by rescuing King Neptune's crown from the dangerous environs of Shell City. Like Pee-wee, his big adventure (with even less mature best friend Patrick in tow) involves converting some hard-edged patrons to their kidlike worldview. There's a wicked, anything-goes sense of humor in every scene, and the admittedly episodic film moves at a frenzied pace. The only carp might be that, slightly improved animation aside, it's not much different from a typical TV episode. But when you have episodes as good as SpongeBob's to build on, why mess with it? Don't miss the especially absurd opening, with live-action pirates clamoring to make it to the theater on time to post-modernly watch the very same movie as you.

 -- David Gorgos