'The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie'

I love SpongeBob SquarePants. So, it was no surprise that I loved The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie. The feature film takes the silliness of the cartoon and spreads it out quite effectively over the movie. I loved the campy turn by David Hasselhoff, and Alec Baldwin delivers a solid performance as Dennis. But the other "stars" didn't deliver the laughs that our regular friends--Sandy, Gary, Squidward--would have. Nonetheless, it's a great film for fans and families.

I was really looking forward to seeing how Steve Hillenburg and friends transformed the cartoon into a feature length film. For the most part, they did a great job, better than most teams who make movies of their cartoons.

The silliness that I love in SpongeBob SquarePants was still there. And the naive optimism of SpongeBob himself, and Patrick's, shall we say, challenges, remained intact. The idea of whether they're adults or children was explored to much hilarity.

What I didn't like is that someone, probably the studio, insisted that the movie have some big names attached, like Jeffrey Tambor as King Neptune, Scarlett Johansson as his daughter Mindy and Alec Baldwin as Dennis, the hit man. Of these, Baldwin's performance was strongest because his voice was nearly unrecognizable, and he clearly had fun with the role. Jeffrey Tambor also did a good job. He has that kind of bombastic sense of humor that worked well. But Johansson, though a fine actress, was not cut out for voice work in a cartoon that calls for camp and zaniness.

Why didn't they use more of Squidward, Mr. Krabs, Gary, Mrs. Puff and all our other favorite secondary characters? Why does Hollywood think they have to mess with a successful TV formula when a show becomes a movie?

The standout guest star was, of course, David Hasselhoff as himself. He must have a great sense of humor.

The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie was a funny, fine cartoon film, and a wonderful family film. There are laughs for kids and adults, just like in the TV show.