Delayed Reaction: Spongebob Squarepants: The Movie

The Pitch: Spongebob Squarepants is super popular. That could be monetized for a movie.

How I Came Into It: I've never seen a full episode of Spongebob Squarepants, a record maintained now in equal parts by a lack of interest in it and a desire to pointlessly maintain that streak. I don't doubt that it's good. It just never interested me. The popularity of it is undeniable and the movie is on my big list of movies. The second movie just came out in theaters, so it was as good a time as any to see this. Besides, I'd seen eight of the first ten movies from Nickelodeon* and liked most of them.

*The missing two: The Wild Thornberrys Movie and Rugrats Go Wild. Apparerntly, I have been with the Thornberrys.

Why I Saw It: (Club 50) I can see why people like this franchise. It's a lot of the same humor as something like Ren and Stimpy. The jokes are weird, at times meta, and don't talk down to the audience. The movie introduces me to the characters and story well. It didn't rely on a prior knowledge of it to know what was going on. Adding Scar Jo and Jeffrey Tambor (among others) gave it a feel of stepping up their game for the movie.

Why I Wish I Hadn't: I never blindly had no interest in watching Spongebob Squarepants. I don't watch it for the same reason that I don't seek out Ren & Stimpy reruns or ever turn to Adult Swim. Animation in general, and the prevailing style of kid-friendly humor, just isn't my thing. While it isn't a movie that sets out to exclude new viewers, it is designed to reward fans of the series. It reminded me a lot of watching Serenity before I'd seen Firefly. There's something that's lost in the process.

Verdict (?): Weakly Don't Recommend