thewayne | Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?

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Yes, I saw The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie today and did a review for my film club. "Take a strange cartoon, stretch it to 90 minutes, add several music numbers along with live pirates, and you have a lot of fun. King Neptune’s crown is stolen and SpongeBob and Patrick Star go off to rescue it, having to go to Shell Town, risking life and limb and desiccation. David Hassellhoff has a longish part, he obviously had fun doing it. This is a movie both adults and children can enjoy, though perhaps the adults would have to be a little strange. Lots of fun, lots of laughs, definitely recommended. And stay through the credits!"

I had never seen an episode of SpongeBob prior to this movie, but I kept seeing the Coming Attractions and it sucked me in. But they did one thing that annoyed me: they animated teaser spots strictly for teasers, they weren't quite the same scenes in the movie. Still, very funny movie.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

cardigirl.livejournal.com

You're braver than me -- watching a cartoon feature clearly intended for those with single-digit, uh, ages isn't high on my list of desirable passtimes. I don't think I'm a movie-snob, but if I'm going to go to something mindless, give me The Incredibles or National Treasure (which I still haven't seen but want to).

From:

thewayne.livejournal.com

I wouldn't class Incredibles or Nat'l Treasure as mindless, perhaps broadly as mindless escapism, but there's a lot of story behind both and they're not totally 'turn off brain' movies.

I freely admit I have strange film taste. I don't know why I was drawn to the SpongeBob movie, but I enjoyed it. In my library I also have Robin Hood: Men in Tights, Spaceballs, Hot Shots 1 & 2, etc. I do tend to like strange and arguably bad stuff. :-)

From:

cardigirl.livejournal.com

Mindless escapism; yup, that's me. As for the other movies you listed, I saw (and enjoyed) Men in Tights and Spaceballs; haven't heard of Hot Shots.

Please don't take my comments as criticism of your taste in movies -- whatever you like is what you like, and I'm in no position to say that's good or bad. Plenty of more peaceful-minded folks would find my taste in action/adventure movies distressing, after all!

From:

thewayne.livejournal.com

LOL. I think video collections are also a telling aspect of character, and mine are quite varied. There's just occasions where you need stimulation that requires zero thought. I don't see a problem with that as long as it isn't your only source of entertainment.

In a way it's sort of like The Simpsons, superficially stupid, but there's a lot of content there.

From:

cardigirl.livejournal.com

I think video collections are also a telling aspect of character

Meaning I'm a cheap bastard? LOL I hate to spend money on DVDs *or* videos because I know it'll probably be years before I watch them a second time, if ever. Most of the videos I own are things a cousin-in-law sent to my mother while she (cousin) was working for Fox and got the things heavily discounted. It's a spectacularly strange collection that in no way reflects my tastes.

I don't see a problem with that as long as it isn't your only source of entertainment.

Well, I do read books... other than that, er, *ahem* ((shuffle)) (shuffle)). Actually my movie-going took a precipitous nosedive several years ago when I found myself going alone or not at all. The first movie I went to solo, I went crazy because I wanted to talk about it with someone afterward. I figured I just wasn't cut out for seeing movies solo.

Then as time progressed, there were movies I really, really wanted to see -- I went again and, while I'd rather have someone to talk about them with, I've gotten okay with the solo game. I still don't see as many as I would've in years gone by, though.

Your analogy to the Simpsons is a good one. The first time I saw an episode or two, I couldn't believe it was so incredibly bad. Mike watched it, though, so de facto I saw more of it, until eventually I saw past the surface and, like you, found it had some interesting substance. Just a slow learner, I guess.

From:

deborak

Aww, you're missing out! We LOVE SpongeBob! Many jokes in that show are written WAY over the heads of what is assumed to be the appropriate audience. The scripts are very clever. I will probably enjoy the SpongeBob movie better than I did The Incredibles, which I liked but felt relied too heavily on boring situational family-conflict stereotypes.

From:

cardigirl.livejournal.com

The "way over the heads" and "clever scripts" parts are promising, and would be enough to convince me to watch the cartoon. The catch is I don't have cable (like I need another reason to not be working? [grin]). Consider me moved from "against" to "neutral."

From:

deborak

Got a VCR? I can tape a few choice eps for ya if you like. :-) You would probably really enjoy the superhero characters they have on the show (Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy voiced by Ernest Borgnine and Tim Conway) and the adventures they have against their arch enemy (voiced by Charles Nelson Reilly).

From:

cardigirl.livejournal.com

Yup, got a VCR, and I'll take you up on that offer if it isn't too much trouble for you. After your comments and Wayne's, I'm curious.

My only real exposure to SpongeBob was some dreadful car ad that had two kidlets in the back seat of some minivan watching the show and yodeling the theme song. *shudder* It seemed more like Barney than Rocky and Bullwinkle.