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THE
SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS MOVIE
I had heard the raves from grown-up fans - that the show was an irresistible combination of kooky characters and innocently wry wit - and the comments hold true for the lovable yellow sponge's arrival on the big screen. For those who are as relatively clueless as I was, SpongeBob is a lovably clueless sponge who lives at the bottom of the ocean in a place called Bikini Bottom. A loyal burger flipper at the popular local greasy spoon, the Krusty Krab, SpongeBob goes through his days happily serving customers and, occasionally, saving the world from the evil clutches Plankton. At the start of his big screen debut, SpongeBob is gearing up for the grand opening of his boss' second eating establishment, aptly named Krusty Krab 2. Eager to be crowned manager of the Krusty Krab 2, SpongeBob shows up to the ceremonies busting with excitement. After all, who better deserves the job that the Employee of the Month for the past few years? Of course life is full of disappointment as eager SpongeBob soon learns when his boss, Mr. Krabs, awards the job to his fellow employee, Squidward Tentacles. And how could such a corporate tragedy occur? Well, according to Mr. Krabs, SpongeBob is "just a kid." Thankfully SpongeBob has his chance to prove his boss, and the rest of Bikini Bottom, wrong. After Plankton discovers he's gone through his entire filing cabinet of evil schemes, covering everything from A to Y, his wife points out that he still has a Z folder to use. So, in an attempt to turn his empty restaurant, the Scum Bucket, into a popular joint like the Krusty Krab, Plankton frames Mr. Krabs as the thief who stole Neptune's crown. When SpongeBob volunteers to venture to the dangerous netherworld far beyond the bounds of Bikini Bottom in order to rescue the crown, and save Mr. Krabs, he signs on for an adventure that will prove he's as much man as the next sponge. Accompanied by Patrick Starfish, SpongeBob overcomes angry bar-goers, a hit man named Dennis and a fish-eating creature posing as old lady giving away ice cream. Although "SpongeBob" is rife with kiddie humor that will likely amuse the under-five-set more than others, the movie is filled with irresistible characters and a wonderfully quirky sensibility. After all, how often can you say you saw a cartoon starfish and sponge hitching a ride out to see on the back of David Hasselhoff in something other than an acid flashback?
Zemeckis, whose well known for incorporating special effects into non-action films like "Forrest Gump" and "Death Becomes Her," has always straddled the line between being a director more interested in computers than characters. Aided by his longtime lead actor, Tom Hanks (who appears in digitized animated glory here), Zemeckis delivers some dazzling animated imagery in "Polar Express," even if the good-hearted story leaves you a little chilly. In the press notes for the film Zemeckis says that his goal with the movie was to create a "moving oil painting" to match the visual landscape created by the book's lauded author and illustrator, Chris Van Allsburg. To do this Zemeckis used a process by which live actors were turned into animated images with their every movement converted into complimentary actions by cartoon counterparts.
The result is a more eerie, lifelike version of cartoons: the characters look strikingly like human beings down to their eyelashes & pores (all of which you can see at some point in the film). Although these characters occasionally move like Frankenstein (and some are definitely cuter than others - with our little hero being the most palatable-looking of the tikes on his train), they look impressively alive.
Although the digital wizardry here is not necessarily new - Richard Linklater digitized real actors and actions to create a trippy dreamscape in "Waking Life" and the 2001 flop, "Final Fantasy," boasted lifelike animation strikingly similar to what's found in "Polar Express" - it is impressive at turns. About a skeptical little boy who's whisked off to the North Pole via locomotive on Christmas Eve, "Polar Express" is staged quite literally like an imaginary roller coaster ride every kid wishes he could take. The little hero, who's begun to have his doubts about whether there really is a Santa Claus, boards a mysterious train that arrives in front of house on the night before Christmas.
Filled with other little boys and girls - who are also in their pajamas - the train is run by a mysterious conductor played by Hanks. And, while the most inventive and enjoyable visuals occur once the party arrives at the North Pole, the ride there is fraught with tense action (the train continually goes off track and loses its ability to brake) sure to delight the young-ins.
Although
the film is blessed with a wildly imaginative premise and some wonderful
animated images of nature - the best being a montage in which Zemeckis pulls the
camera off his runaway train to follow the path of a lost golden boarding ticket
as it drifts over snow-capped evergreens, gushing streams and a pack of wolves -
the humanoid toons are less enthralling. While it is mildly interesting to see
Hanks' digitized doppelganger, it's not intriguing enough. For all its
supposedly high-tech animation, "Polar Express" remains something strictly for
the little ones.
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