The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie

Dir: Stephen Hillenburg, Mark Osborne

2004

****

The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie came out at the peak of SpongeBob SquarePants mania. However, unlike most movie versions of popular TV shows, it was so much more than just a couple of episodes pushed together or extended. What it does do, that so many movie versions of animations tend to do, is enter into the real world but unlike the rest, it really works. What I love about SpongeBob SquarePants is just how silly it all is. There really aren't lessons to be learned from SpongeBob cartoons, they're simple, have old school animation, and are always funny and very very silly. It's the sort of nonsense kids really should be watching. Being the big movie version there are a few cameo voices including Jeffrey Tambor as King Neptune, Scarlett Johansson as his daughter Princess Mindy and Alec Baldwin as a hitman hired by a plankton. It's all good, very entertaining, something for all ages to enjoy, it's bigger, better yadda yadda yadda. The big thing that makes The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie so great though is one scene in particular and that's the one and only live action cameo. Writer, director and SpongeBob creator Stephen Hillenburg wanted to end the film with something special and that is exactly what he delivers. Finding themselves stranded on a beach and miles away from their home in Bikini Bottom, SpongBob and Patrick come across David Hasselhoff running towards them in full Baywatch mode. He then offers them a ride on his back, promising to swim them all the way home, which he does at high speed. It is one of the greatest things I have ever seen in the history of cinema. Hillenburg was very happy with his idea and sold it without much effort to the other writers and storyboard artists. A huge 12-foot, 340 kg life-like model of Hasselhoff in a swim stance was built for $100,000 before anyone had even asked the Hoff if it was okay with him. Luckily The Hoffmiester has a great sense of humour and while he was said to be a little taken aback by the huge model of himself (which he ended up keeping) he thought the script was funny and was happy to be part of it. The rest is history. It's the finale of all finales, I was amused, astonished and utterly captivated by what they did and I genuinely think it was a special moment in the history of cinema.