Tag: Tom Kenny

All hail another cartoon superstar who shines brightly in the animation galaxy. Well, he’s been shining for more than fifteen years now, actually. But in the realm of ‘toon icons, this lil’ guy is pretty unique. He’s not part of the group that were created during Hollywood’s “golden age” to star in pre-feature film short subjects, this includes Felix the Cat and Mickey Mouse in the 1920’s right through to the 1960s’ with the Pink Panther (of course, a few jumped from the printed page to the big screen like Popeye the Sailor and Casper the Friendly Ghost). This fella’s an off-shoot of the made-for-TV superstars that include Rocket J Squirrel and his pal Bullwinkle J. Moose, the Simpsons, and the colossal roster of characters from Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera’s company (Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear, the Flintstones, and Scooby Doo). While they debuted on old-fashioned broadcast networks, he’s from a basic cable network. Not the first to make the jump to movies (Beavis and Butthead, South Park and the Rugrats beat him to it), but perhaps he’s the most successful. It’s that “he lives in a pineapple under the sea”, marine biologist/animator Stephen Hillenburg creation Spongebob Squarepants. After making his big screen splash over ten years ago, the lil’ guy and his Bikini Bottom buddies finally return in THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SPONGE OUT OF WATER (cue the piccolo shanty music).

The film begins, not in the world of animation, but on the real ocean as a rickety wooden ship, piloted by the cinnamon whiskered Burger-Beard the pirate (Antonio Banderas), sails toward a desolate island. Once there, BB makes like Indiana Jones and sidesteps a series of booby traps in order to steal a treasure from the grip of a buccaneer’s skeleton. And what is his booty? Why it’s a book! The local seagulls that surround the ship are puzzled. So, BB reads from the book to the confused feathered audience. It’s a story about the denizens of Bikini Bottom, on the floor of the sea, and their love of the fabled Crabby Patty that’s only available at the Crusty Crab restaurant and cooked to mouth-watering perfection by grill-master Spongebob Squarepants (voiced by Tom Kenny). Everybody’s happy about this, except one-eyed, tiny Plankton (Mr. Lawrence), the envious owner of that rival eatery, the Chum Bucket. His plan to steal the sandwich’s secret formula recipe plunges the little burg into chaos and soon our yellow hero is time-trippin’, planet-skippin’, and traveling to the scariest place of all, dry land-the surface word, to confront that despicable Burger-Beard and restore peace to his home.

Since there’s only one actor we get to hear and see, let’s start with Banderas as the shifty, sea-farein’ bad guy. He looks as if he’s having a blast, like a grown-up kid playing ‘dress-up pirate’. There’s a sprightly, playful quality in his performance that’s only hinted at in his action films (the Desperado flicks and THE EXPENDABLES 3) and almost fully utilized in the SPY KIDS series and as the voice of PUSS IN BOOTS. You almost wonder if he’s paying the producers to act in this. Now, this isn’t to dismiss the wonderful voice work from the seasoned pros behind the mike which help make the sea’s denizens spring to vivid life. Kenny projects that wide-eyed, innocent, child-like enthusiasm as the title hero, sort of the absorbent off-spring of Uncle Walt’s mouse and Pee-Wee Herman or Ed Grimley. Lawrence is very funny as the creepy cartoon nemesis that is forced to become a reluctant ally (“what is this T M Work?”). Kudos to Bill Fagerbakke as Bob’s equally naive, but perhaps less bright, best bud Patrick the starfish. His devolution into hungry, angry savagery, complete with a hammer taped to his forehead, is quite funny. Cluncy Brown expertly voices Bob’s profit-obsessed boss Mr. Crab, who’s not a crabby as the always grumpy Squidward given an acerbic tone by Roger Bumpass. The best character arc may be that of Sandy Cheeks, a dive-suit wearing squirrel voiced by Carolyn Lawrence, who quickly transforms from sunshiny, chunky-cheeked cherub into bug-eyed, raving shrew due to burger deprivation. After a decade and a half together, this crew is an unpredictable delight.

Also delightful is the eye-popping color (even in the realcandy-hued seaside-town backdrops late in the story) utilized in the film under the direction of Paul Tibbitt. The use of 3D with animation has often been hit or miss with the rendering often made dark or murky. Not the case here, particularly with the under-the-waves sequences. My only fault with the film may be with the marketing campaign. Trailers, posters, and commercials have shown off footage of Bob and his pals as a psudeo-superhero team in the Avengers/X-Men mold fully rendered in rounded computer generated images (CGI). They do look swell, but they really don’t make an appearance until the final third act (perhaps the last 20 minutes). The events at Bikini Bottom are done in the same classic “cell” animation as in the original TV series, but with the addition of 3D , so that the mouths, noses, and other features rest on different levels, making the characters resemble a drawing come to life, trying to lift itself off the easel or desk. Plus we are treated to many different types of animation. There’s cell, the “super” CGI (with the Bob squad looking like toys escaping from a playpen), the realistic CGI of the pirate’s seagulls, stop-motion puppet style of a helpful space observer (a great nod to a Marvel Comic cosmic player), and some trippy graphic YELLOW SUBMARINE/2001 animation (love seeing Bob and Plankton squeezed and stretched). This is one of the few films that does benefit from the extra D and worth the price. But the eye candy would be all for naught without the very witty script from Tibbitt, Glenn Berger, Jonathon Aibel, and creator Hillenburg that batters and often breaks the fourth wall. And, at just over ninety minutes, it never dips or drags (much like the golden age animation classics). THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SPONGE OUT OF WATER is truly an entertainment for all ages, so make a splash and dive right into this funny, fast-paced adventure. Laughs ahoy, mateys!

4 Out of 5