The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie

The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie is a 2004 American animated adventure comedy film based on the television series SpongeBob SquarePants created by Stephen Hillenburg, who co-wrote and directed the film. It features the series' regular voice cast, including Tom Kenny, Bill Fagerbakke, Clancy Brown, Rodger Bumpass and Mr. Lawrence, who are joined by Alec Baldwin, Scarlett Johansson, and Jeffrey Tambor, with David Hasselhoff appearing in live-action as himself. In the film, Plankton enacts a plan to discredit his business rival Mr. Krabs, steal the Krabby Patty secret formula and take over the world by stealing King Neptune's crown and framing Mr. Krabs for the theft.
Hillenburg accepted an offer for a film adaptation of SpongeBob SquarePants from Paramount Pictures in 2002, after turning it down multiple times the previous year. He assembled a team from the show's writing staff, including himself, Derek Drymon, Tim Hill, Kent Osborne, Aaron Springer, and Paul Tibbitt, and structured the film as a mythical hero's journey that would bring SpongeBob and Patrick to the surface. Originally intended to be the series finale of the show, the film marked the last time Hillenburg was showrunner before Tibbitt took his place.
The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie premiered at the Grauman's Chinese Theatre on November 14, 2004, and was released in the United States on November 19 by Paramount. It received generally positive reviews and grossed $141 million on a $30 million budget. It is the first in a series of SpongeBob films.

Plot

opens a second location of the Krusty Krab, right next to the original. His fry cook, SpongeBob SquarePants, hopes to be promoted to manager of the new restaurant, but Krabs instead selects his co-worker, Squidward Tentacles, explaining to SpongeBob that he is a "kid" who is too immature to handle the position. Depressed, SpongeBob goes to the Goofy Goober ice cream parlor, where he indulges himself with ice cream with his best friend Patrick Star and wakes up the following morning with a hangover.
Krabs' rival Plankton, owner of the Chum Bucket restaurant, initiates "Plan Z" in an attempt to obtain the Krabby Patty secret formula and take over the world. He steals King Neptune's crown, sends it to Shell City, and frames Krabs for the theft. Neptune confronts Krabs about his stolen crown and is convinced of Krabs' guilt when a hungover SpongeBob smears him. Recovering from his hangover, SpongeBob promises Neptune that he will retrieve the crown from Shell City. Neptune freezes Krabs, telling SpongeBob to return in ten days or Krabs will be executed. Neptune's daughter, Mindy, encourages SpongeBob and Patrick but warns them of dangers surrounding Shell City, including "the Cyclops", a monster who kidnaps sea creatures.
SpongeBob and Patrick head for Shell City in the Patty Wagon, a Krabby Patty-shaped car stored underneath the restaurant. After the duo leave Bikini Bottom, Plankton steals the formula from the frozen Krabs and uses it to sell Krabby Patties. He distributes free helmets with the Krabby Patties that brainwash customers into doing Plankton's bidding, subsequently taking over Bikini Bottom and hiring a hitman named Dennis to prevent SpongeBob and Patrick from returning with the crown.
SpongeBob and Patrick encounter a hazardous trench, lose the Patty Wagon, and contemplate giving up. Mindy, whom Patrick has a crush on, appears and encourages them by applying fake mustaches made of seaweed, convincing them that she magically turned them from kids into men. Armed with newfound confidence, the two successfully traverse the trench and encounter Dennis on the other side. He demonstrates that the mustaches are fake, and prepares to squash the duo with his boot but is suddenly stepped on by a much larger boot belonging to the "Cyclops", a human diver, who abducts SpongeBob and Patrick.
The duo are placed under a heat lamp by the Cyclops, learning that they have arrived in "Shell City", a gift shop selling dried sea creatures. Proud that they reached their destination, they shed tears just before drying up, which short-circuit the lamp and activate the emergency sprinklers, reviving the two alongside the other dried sea creatures. While the sea creatures attack the Cyclops, SpongeBob and Patrick take the crown to the beach, where David Hasselhoff offers them a ride home. Dennis catches up and fights them on Hasselhoff's back, ultimately falling into the sea as Hasselhoff passes under a catamaran.
Neptune arrives to execute Krabs, but SpongeBob and Patrick return with the crown just in time. Plankton drops a mind-control helmet on Neptune and surrounds SpongeBob, Patrick, and Mindy with his army of slaves. SpongeBob, embracing the fact that he's accomplished so much despite being a kid, uses the power of rock and roll to play "Goofy Goober Rock", freeing Neptune and the citizens of Bikini Bottom from Plankton's control. As Plankton is arrested by the police, Neptune unfreezes Krabs and the two make amends. Krabs then appoints SpongeBob as the manager of the Krusty Krab 2.

Cast

Other characters from the television series also appear in the film, including Pearl Krabs, voiced by Lori Alan. Other supporting voice actors include Carlos Alazraqui, Dee Bradley Baker, Sirena Irwin, Thomas F. Wilson, and Joshua Seth.
Aaron Hendry portrays the Cyclops physically while Neil Ross provides the character's voice. In a post-credits scene, Mageina Tovah portrays a theater usher.
Crew members Derek Drymon, Stephen Hillenburg, and Aaron Springer make vocal cameo appearances.

Production

Development

and Paramount Pictures had approached series creator Stephen Hillenburg for a film based on SpongeBob SquarePants, but he refused for more than a year. Hillenburg was concerned, after watching The Iron Giant and Toy Story with his son, about the challenge of SpongeBob and Patrick doing something more cinematically consequential and inspiring without losing what he called the SpongeBob "cadence". Hillenburg believed that the film's story "had to be SpongeBob in a great adventure. That's where the comedy's coming from, having these two naïve characters, SpongeBob and Patrick, a doofus and an idiot, on this incredibly dangerous heroic odyssey with all the odds against them."

I never wanted to do a movie because I didn't think that what we wanted to say needed to be in a movie. I like the short form for animation. Then this story idea came up that lent itself to a longer format. You can't do a road trip adventure in a short form.

— Stephen Hillenburg

In 2002, Hillenburg and the show's staff stopped making episodes to work on the film after the show's third season was completed. When news of production on the film was announced, the show's staff made a joke plot for the film which had SpongeBob rescue Patrick from a fisherman in Florida; a reference to the plot of Finding Nemo. Hillenburg directed and produced the film, and also co-wrote the screenplay with five other writer-animators from the show over a three-month period in a room of a former Glendale, California bank. At the beginning of the series, Hillenburg screened a number of silent shorts and work by two modern comic actors: Jerry Lewis and Pee-wee Herman, both obvious inspirations for SpongeBob. For the film, the writers created a mythical hero's quest: the search for a stolen crown, which brings SpongeBob and Patrick to the surface. Bill Fagerbakke said about the plot, "It's just nuts. I'm continually dazzled and delighted with what these guys came up with."
When the film was completed, Hillenburg wanted to end the series "so it wouldn't jump the shark", citing concerns among Nickelodeon executives that the show "had peaked". However, Nickelodeon could not afford to end the show due to its massive financial success. As a result, Hillenburg resigned as the series' showrunner, appointing writer, director, and storyboard artist Paul Tibbitt to succeed him, as Tibbitt was one of Hillenburg's favorite crew members and was "totally trusted". Tibbitt would remain showrunner until he was succeeded in 2015 by the show's creative director Vincent Waller and staff writer Marc Ceccarelli. He also acted as an executive producer from 2008 to 2018. While Hillenburg was no longer involved in the writing process or directly overall running the show on a day-to-day basis, he reviewed each episode and submitted suggestions: "I figure when I'm pretty old I can still paint I don't know about running shows." In 2015, Hillenburg returned to the show following the completion of the second film as an executive producer, having greater creative input and attending crew meetings until his death on November 26, 2018.
The film was dedicated to Jules Engel, Hillenburg's mentor when he studied experimental animation at the California Institute of the Arts, who died in 2003.

Casting

The film stars the series' main cast members: Tom Kenny as SpongeBob SquarePants, Gary the Snail, and the French Narrator, Bill Fagerbakke as Patrick Star, Rodger Bumpass as Squidward Tentacles, Clancy Brown as Mr. Krabs, Mr. Lawrence as Plankton, Jill Talley as Karen, Carolyn Lawrence as Sandy Cheeks, Mary Jo Catlett as Mrs. Puff, and Lori Alan as Pearl Krabs. It also features Dee Bradley Baker as Perch Perkins, Carlos Alazraqui as King Neptune's squire, Aaron Hendry as the Cyclops, and Neil Ross as the voice of the Cyclops. In addition to the series' cast, the film stars Scarlett Johansson, Jeffrey Tambor, and Alec Baldwin who voice Princess Mindy, King Neptune, and Dennis, respectively, with a cameo appearance by David Hasselhoff.
Johansson accepted the role because she liked cartoons and was a fan of The Ren & Stimpy Show. When Tambor signed for his voice cameo, he noted the similarities between himself and the character King Neptune, including the fact that he himself is bald. Stephen Hillenburg said that Baldwin recorded his character Dennis from New York over the phone.
Hasselhoff accepted the role when his daughters, Taylor-Ann and Hayley, urged him as the two were big fans of the show. Hasselhoff enjoyed his cameo, noting that to this day, kids would still recognize him from his cameo in the film, adding that they "didn't see Baywatch and Knight Rider".