LTA: Rugrats Royal Ransom

 I'm feeling nostalgic today. I can't possibly think of a more beautiful day to revisit one of my childhood games... via a longplay. Rugrats Royal Ransom. The GameCube was my shit back in the day, and so was Nickelodeon, and naturally I wanted to find stuff that can appeal to both.

Royal Ransom was released in 2002, and was developed by Avalanche Software. Avalanche were behind the Tak and the Power of Juju games, the N64 version of Mortal Kombat Mythologies Sub Zero, a whole bunch of licenses, don't ask if they're worth playing though. It came out for GameCube and PlayStation 2, and something tells me around this time Nickelodeon were trying to avoid the XBOX as much as possible, the most we got in 2002 was Nickelodeon Party Blast, a pity indeed.

The game wasn't particularly liked, but it wasn't to any extreme degree, at most X-Play in their usual wisdom underthought while going for a version of the game that I didn't own, and you'd think nobody knew about the GameCube back then, I mean until the Wii U it was the lowest selling Nintendo console so, got me there I guess.

Along with nostalgia, Royal Ransom is special for another reason. It was there that I got an introduction to SpongeBob SquarePants: Revenge of the Flying Dutchman through a trailer that was included. By that point I already played Battle for Bikini Bottom and the movie game, and since it wouldn't be for another few years until I got another SpongeBob game for the console, I figured I'd give it a shot, and if you want my quick thoughts on it, I get why people don't like it, but a lot of the complaints people raise are arbitrary, to say the least, and I'd wonder how big of SpongeBob fans they are to miss blatant easter eggs.

Got that out of my system, back from one cash cow to another.

On the premise, Stu builds a giant play palace, Angelica takes over the castle up top and steals the babies' toys and they would travel up to try and get them back, their imagination making each level a journey. Not bad, especially given where the show was at this point, I can see this happening in an episode of the show, beyond Stu managing to pull off something with such a wide scope and nothing blew up or whatever.

The game lets you play as either Tommy, Chuckie, Phil, Lil or Kimi, you don't make the selection at the start, you just have either five going right into it. Some had complained about this because each character is essentially the same, but I think I figured out why they made that choice. To explain, you need to pay a certain number of coins to get into the play palace. If you play a level and lose you get sent back out. Now, what would five different yet similar characters mean in this situation? If you manage to get all five babies onto the play palace, you have additional chances at the levels before you have to pay to get back on again, and since they play the same, once more, extra babies, extra chances. I'd do a mic drop, but I don't own one and that's cliched as hell.

There is some mild variety in each stage, but not that much. While the goals, methods and what not vary, each stage is either some variation of race, wandering from one place to another or finding items and bringing them to designated spots. I'll give it this, there's more to do here than in Fairly Odd Parents Breakin Da Rules, there's more to collect and while core principles of each level are similar, they're not exactly the same. The unique worlds you go to are realized well enough which help keep things different. For example, in the moon section you actually have looser gravity in your jumps.

There is also mild reward for exploration, as along with batteries you find money you can use to pay for extra items.

The goal of this game is to beat enough levels on three sections of the play palace before you get to confront Angelica, to get to the sections you need to collect big batteries which you get after beating said levels, to get to levels you need to collect little batteries you find in the sections or the levels themselves. You're not obligate to beat every single level in this game as long as you get enough big batteries, so that's a plus, as long as you have enough little batteries and you can't stand a certain level, you have the option to skip it, but just to be safe, keep your battery number in check.

Some had complained about the jumping in this game, and to that I have this to say. Either it's a problem with the PS2 version, or somebody's full of shit. The jumping has never been an issue for me, it never hindered me in any way. I know not every game is gonna have precise jumps, but come on, you can do way worse. I also heard some claim this game is buggy as hell, and yeah, there're times you can fall through the floor, but you have to really make the effort to break through. Some minor glitches don't even affect you.

Moving on, the game operates on a difficulty system, and the reason I came back to this was because I played it on easy, and only now saw what normal difficulty was like. I never saw what the hard mode offered, so I'm gonna be referring to normal and easy difficulties herein. The normal difficulty has a high number of items you need to get, items are further away from one another, there're more enemies on screen along with landmines in the form of jack in the boxes. But, as an interesting mechanic you can bounce off the top of them if you so choose.

On easy, there're some huge changes. Items are either closer together or levels are cut shorter, there're less enemies, the land mines are removed entirely, and that's just obvious ones. To single out two examples, I'll refer to the boss fight at the end of Cone Caper and the final level. The former has you fight a mechanical clown head that would fire projectiles at you, while the final level has you launch boulders at doors covered by gates you can only open by sitting on pressure pads. In easy mode, the clown doesn't attack you, and all you have to do is drive over the pressure pad once and the gate stays down. Another minor change, referring to Temple of the Lamp, in normal difficulty beetles are found nearly everywhere in the open, but in easy mode, the only way to find them is if you break the vases some are hiding in.

I can say with certainty that the difficulty changes are far from arbitrary, there are some serious contrasts between them.

The music is decent, and while Mark Mothersbaugh didn't compose it here, some tracks have the Rugrats charm, or they're just enjoyable to listen to. But there is a caveat, the music loops, and it happens quite soon.

Last thing I'd like to go over is the graphics. For a show that has a particular art direction, and for how it translates to video game graphics, it actually doesn't look too bad, of course it's not great, but you know what? It's already vastly superior to the 2021 Rugrats reboot, and I'd say that no matter what. There is some decent attention to detail in the backgrounds, whether you get to see cars driving on the road in the hub, or you get some decent views and scenery in the actual levels.

Final Thoughts

I can't say for certain that time treated this game well, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy this game. Every level felt like a journey, and hey, that was the bottom line. The game has some weird elements, but either it fits with the show or helps craft a unique identity, which is something I'd give to Revenge of the Flying Dutchman all the same.

Sorry if this came off as a bit disjointed, I wanted to get something out there while the game was still fresh in my head.

LTA: Uncle Gus

 This week in lost media finds, Uncle Gus, among the more elusive Cartoon Network pilots has finally been found. Well, one of two, but you get the picture. In the event it gets taken down again I gave it a watch, and I figured I'd share my thoughts to see where it stands against others and whether or not it had any potential as a series.

The pilot was produced by Lincoln Peirce, aka the guy behind Big Nate which I would've assumed was yet another quirky cartoon the greater cartoon community latched onto, but then I realize it was based on a comic strip Peirce created back in the early-90s, so it seems he's doing just fine these days. Peirce had pitched Uncle Gus to Cartoon Network twice, but allegedly thrice, so it seems there wasn't anything wrong with the pilot itself, it just didn't get as many votes, and the shows that did win out, let's be honest, they deserved it at the end, we got a lot out of them, they're amazing shows and the pilots they stomped had very little longevity in them, a season or two tops.

But back to the pilot, while it never truly caught on, it was able to sustain itself with audiences another way. Gus got to appear in the Shockwave game Cartoon Cartoons: Summer Resort, that is, in that game's first episode, and it seems that honor was given if the pilot managed to get respectable voting numbers. Best way I can explain is to refer to the other characters, Longhair from Longhair and Doubledome, Prickles the Cactus, eponymous and Vivian from Foe Paws... I smell a rig.

Anyway, Foe Paws being the exception, Uncle Gus, Longhair and Prickles both got a second chance in some capacity, the former two getting another pilot made for the second big pick in 2001, and Prickles getting a flash cartoon sequel on Cartoon Network's website. So it certainly had its fans, but I guess some people just weren't able to snag it sooner.

Now that I got that out of the way, let's get into the pilot proper.

The Pilot

Uncle Gus, if it went to series, centers on the unemployed Uncle Gus who lives with his talking anthropomorpic horse Flapjack and his annoying nephew B-Otis, and I'm not saying annoying to be negative, he gets on the nerves of the other two with his tendency to break out into song.

Uncle Gus can be compared to the likes of CatDog and Johnny Bravo, that is, having a lovable loser who can't help but find himself getting in trouble through the best intentions. Uncle Gus is no moron, he's not wacky, obnoxious or means anyone any harm, the worst he can do is indulge, like when he spent his unemployment money on a new TV. Flapjack is otherwise the straight man, but compared to others like him he seems to be a bit more lax on crazier ideas and errs more to Gus' side depending on the situation.

When it comes to pilots, while a premise can help make a pilot stick, the actual content needs to be well enough for the potential to truly show. In the pilot, Gus discovers an old flame, now a zoologist, is still wearing the engagement ring he gave her, and he attempts to determine if she still loves him. Gus and the others wind up breaking into a monkey exhibit where the zoologist is, and after a misunderstanding where the monkeys assume Gus' advances are a challenge, he is forced to fight the monkey's alpha male.

It could only get bad if he is determined to win her love, but it seems Gus stood no chance. The resolution comes from B-Otis getting nabbed and then after falling from a tree he was on knocks out the gorilla. If the zoologist loved Gus and B-Otis managed to steal her heart then that would not only be unsatisfying but weird as all hell. It turns out that she didn't love him and the only reason she kept the ring on was because she couldn't get it off.

Admittedly I knew the zoologist would not love Gus anymore, but credit to the pilot it proved my expectations wrong on how things would go down, and it seemed Gus was gonna flounder no matter what. It ends with B-Otis taking over Gus' house with the other monkeys, and as Gus and Flapjack were always trying to silence him with the singing, I guess I can see why he'd have them locked out.

How was it?

So, where would I rank Uncle Gus? Does it come close to the unholy three I talked about not too long ago? Nope, not even close.

Referring back to CatDog and Johnny Bravo, the schtick behind each is that both star lovable losers, people who find trouble no matter what they do. We want to see them succeed which is why we keep coming back to them. I feel like Uncle Gus would've fit in comfortably with shows like that. Gus is a likable character for sure, he's not dumb, and we've all been in his shoes at some point in our lives. Some may consider B-Otis annoying, but so do the characters.

Because the show stars an older man character it'd allow it to stand out from other shows like it on Cartoon Network. It just so happened to not make it to the top three. At the very least, this didn't deserve to be lost for so long. Unfortunately, at least in its entirety in English, the second Uncle Gus pilot is still lost, but on the upside, if we can get it located we can give it another shot and see what more we can get out of it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjIWgOjRDaI

Worst CatDog Episode (according to me)

 Previously I talked about Back to School, one of two episodes CatDog fans deemed to be the worst. At least, that's how it seemed. Looking through the show's wiki, it dawned on me that it is in utter disrepair. Any pages with more details tend to throw in some worthless comparisons to other shows and reception based on... nothing by the looks of it.

Apparently most episodes were written with haste due to how many new ones needed to be made, and thus inconsistency is gonna play a factor. Looking back at Back to School, I had complained about it being inconsistent, and it was in many ways. Why is Lola a science teacher when she's a zoologist? I mean granted she is scientifically inclined but this is the first an only instance of her being shown as a teacher. The big one here being that Cat was apparently a graduate already, not just based on the opening, but a flashback in the episode Remain Seated, which shares the same writer. Also here we have two different characters named Sally. If the Sally here was meant to be the same one as It's a Jungle In Here's Sally, it's a lose lose situation basically. Seems like she would’ve been a loose bet as she always deemed him a loser, still question Dog’s smugness toward the end, I mean what’s up with that?

But these in mind elevate that episode to… meh. It works for a typical conclusion to a CatDog episode, and the fact that the a-segment was Kooky Prank Day helps balance things out quite nicely.

Trespassing is another episode fans deem to be the worst, allegedly. There're times where Cat doesn't deserve to go through hell, but the end kinda helps things where he isn't devastated, he just basically accepted it, like yea, things can only get worse, and I know it.

So with that out of the way, I've found two episodes that I'd consider to be the worst episodes of the show, at least in my opinion, one of which has just edged it out. Climb Every CatDog and Just Say CatDog Sent Ya, the former being a runner up.

Runner Up: Climb Every CatDog

Now, this episode was originally going to be my pick for the worst, and it was owed to its conclusion. While Cat managed to best the rival of the week, it all came crashing down when Dunglap managed to get first, and take what I said about Trespassing and do the opposite. What's the joke? Is Cat's sadness supposed to be our joy? What were they going for here?

It was an unpleasant end, but that was it, an end. The journey was fine enough and hey, the only thing that went wrong was someone else getting what Cat wanted at the end, I guess. It just felt kinda off, but oh well, it was etched out.

Just Say CatDog Sent Ya

This one hurt, especially since this is one of a few episodes I remember watching growing up, that always hits harder than it has any right to.

The defining factor against it was that it felt like Cat was poised to fail at the end. They had an idea to how things would be screwed up by the end, but it seems they ran out of time to do more. Dog eats all of Cat's stock, Winslow delivers a crushing blow by selling Burger Bones, and CatDog get chased off by the Greasers. It's the kind of episode that would confirm claims of mean-spiritedness.

I'm not saying this episode is mean however, it just felt disjointed and almost rushed even, and it wound up making characters come off in a worse way, well Dog kinda does that as he did what was particularly selfish. Just the fact that the next episode has Cat do something selfish and get punished at the end for it really shows how little balance there was between segments.

This episode, even Dog's Strange Condition just leave a bad taste in my mouth, like two dire experiences for the price of one, an episode that has a more fleshed out conclusion followed by an episode that leans in on the worst aspect of Cat, implication of favoritism, or I just didn't like it very much.

Final Thoughts

While Cat gets the worst outcome in most episodes, sometimes he deserves it, other times he achieves what he sets out to accomplish but the success turns out to be worse in the end. This and even the b-segment feel off, I mean even Back to School felt more in line even if the writers conveniently forgot Cat did graduate. I'm just saying if Dog had to get his degree and decided to bully Cat to relive his glory days then learn a lesson, and if you really want the classic Cat ending have Dog steal Sally be my guest.

But Just Say CatDog Sent Ya was not enjoyable, not even the jokes landed much, and Steven Banks can do way better. And that's the best way I can sum up the episode. It's a typical CatDog episode... but they can do better.

A Case Study on the SpongeBob SquarePants Movie

I loved the SpongeBob Movie, first one to be precise. I saw it when it was new, I was around eight at the time, I played the console and GBA games, it was a great flick. But, you heard so bad is good, is The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie destined to be a prime example of so good it's bad? I'm gonna go over the fundamentals of this film, or at least those I can find, and we'll see what happens.

So Good It's Bad

Perhaps I should explain since the concept could be better defined. We all know what so bad it's good is, obviously. When it comes to so good it's bad, it centers on a good movie that gets a lot of attention and praise. The bad comes when it gets way too much attention, so much so that it transcends beyond being a good movie, and gradually those who rarely if ever saw the film would base their views on public perception alone and not understand what made the movie so good to begin with.

Ocean Man became a meme, case closed on transcendence. What's the joke? That it plays at the end of a movie? Hilarious. I know nobody's gonna explain. Not to mention there're people who complain about the film's Rotten Tomatoes score. I mean, critic scores don't mean shit, does it make any difference how highly SpongeBob scores?

Transcendence is also dangerous because with praise comes detractors, those who have their nose closer to the asphalt and would claim that The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, while good, isn't great, and for one, that can be lost on a lot of people, and for another, the bigger they are the harder they fall. For instance, I loved Teen Titans growing up, but that show is riddled with problems. If more people are made aware of a show or movie's flaws then there'll be a growing minority turned majority that would declare it to suck years later.

And if you want an example of that, take a look at Sonic Adventure 2. The game was praised to high heavens and for a time a lot of people bashed on it, calling it terrible. Had it not been a SpongeBob related film, we would've seen backlash sooner.

What Actually is the SpongeBob Movie?

The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, in a few statements, came out at the right place at the right time. It was released in the mid-2000s when most of the internet was still young and hype was gradually built upon in previous years. It served as the last chapter in what is considered the golden age of the series. It was directed by Stephen Hillenburg, a man who is shrouded in irony. He claimed he never wanted SpongeBob to be a success, and he has to put up with an onslaught of devoted fans who cram words into his mouth every day.

If you take away the elements above, what does this movie have that others do not? What makes this movie transcend beyond others. Honestly, at most it feels like the typical cartoon movie roadtrip. You may say the mystique and scope of the film outdid others, but when it comes to SpongeBob, anything is possible and the mystique kinda wears off when you realize the show did similar things before. Going into reality, they did that in Pressure, meeting a live action person, how can one forget Tom Kenny's shower scene?

Point is, everything that happens in the SpongeBob Movie feels like it is entirely possible. It was already a surrealistic show and okay, there's a difference between something being expected and expecting something to happen, but it's not impossible for something like that to happen.

Films like Beavis and Butthead Do America and the first two Rugrats movies handle this a bit better because they've gone beyond what's considered normal for them, while also adding to the show's more emotional moments. The SpongeBob Movie had a grand adventure that seemed possible, while Rugrats not only had a change in their environments, but the prospect of babies attempting to make it through such environments with constant odds against them really adds to the impact.

On Beavis and Butthead, they rarely ever left Highland so the prospect of a road trip film is made more palatable. Yes the situations seem like they would happen in the previous episodes but the scope is amped up to a much higher degree.

Okay it sounds like I'm just waxing praise over movies I like more than the SpongeBob movie, but once more, an impact a movie adaptation has depends solely on what the series was like before, and once more it feels like what happens in the SpongeBob movie is not out of the realm of possibility for previous episodes. He has tangled with Neptune before, among other things.

And even without the SpongeBob spit and polish, you're left with a typical cartoon movie road trip type film, a cliche people would mock in general, but make exceptions to.

Then of course there's the overall message, which wasn't so much compelling was it was just hitting the right notes for people, like a more friendly form of gaslighting to make you think it's more than it actually is. It's not bad, don't get me wrong, but it's not transcendence material. What is Nickelodeon? A kids network. What is SpongeBob Movie trying to teach? That it's fun to be a kid and even a kid can brave the biggest challenges. At worst it feels like a reaffirmation of Nickelodeon's mission statement, one a lot agree with.

A message doesn't have to be compelling if everyone happens to agree with it, and because a lot of people that saw it were kids, okay 90% along with the big adult following people like to bring up a lot, it left a much bigger impact clearly still felt to this day. It hit the right notes, and while it's not a bad message, there's a fine line between a genuine message, and one that is by design.

Then there's the film's humor. Humor is the saving grace of any film that takes an overdone premise near verbatim. Yes, the SpongeBob movie is hilarious, I'd never deny it that, but when you take into account when it was released, during the show's golden age, I'm like no shit it's hilarious, it was back when Stephen was still heavily involved, they were able to give it all, or they had to for the sake of getting more asses in theaters.

Comparing the movie to the show's jokes... how different are they in principle? Once more we have jokes and gags that could be seen in the show itself had the idea come to them. Of course people would object to nitpicking jokes, but I'd like to point out how one works in theory, but makes little sense. You know that joke where Patrick pulls out the magical bag of winds toward the end, and we see this big thing in his pants? It seems like a very simple joke in prospect, though some would point out that it was a callback to a similar gag in Squidville, but, they somehow do and don't do it, and people are forced to figure the rest out. Just saying.

There's also the big moment, that is the big emotional moment, and I'm gonna surely be hanged for it but... I didn't feel anything. I'm sorry, but i feel that fake-out death at Shell City was either hollow or not executed very well. Maybe it was the fact that main characters never die in these things, maybe it's because those feeling emotions are those pirates watching it, maybe it's the fact that it only happens for a minute or so and then all is well, I dunno, it just didn't feel right. Rugrats Movie again. They did a similar thing with Spike toward the end, but the way they did it had more impact in my opinion, him giving his life to protect the babies, and they hang on it just long enough to make you believe they went that far. Hell, Rugrats in Paris, the entire thing dealt with Chuckie wanting a mother in his life, a big element to his character from even the show.

I'm not saying The SpongeBob Movie scene was bad, it just wasn't as great as other emotional moments in Nickelodeon movies, but that's my opinion.

As another little thing, let's go over the animation a bit. It looks fine, but compared to others it feels a little more.. budget, compared to other movies. For perspective, The Rugrats Movie and Rugrats in Paris came out years before The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, and it looks like more money went into the animation. Referring back to Beavis and Butthead Do America, the show already had some pretty basic animation, so even if any changes from the series to the film seem limited it's not as bad because it still technically went beyond what's normal for the show's animation.

Here, it feels like a slightly higher TV budget. For perspective, the animation is just slightly above that on the Hey Arnold Movie, and that was initially intended for television. I guess the reason they went with that kind of animation was so that it would mesh better with the live-action scenery in most of the scenes, to mixed results. The 2D animation looks fairly stiff, and given that SpongeBob supplanted their previous cash cow in Rugrats you'd think more effort would be put into it.

You may say the animation is forgivable because of the scope and use of live-action, I'd say they were a little too far ahead on it. Makes you think they decided to go the 3D route in the second film when the characters entered reality, or, went out of the water. I'm not saying the SpongeBob Movie was cheap, it just kinda looked that way and didn't age entirely well on that front.

Now, people are allowed to turn a blind eye on poor animation and familiar tropes if the humor and story is strong enough to justify it, I mean just look at what happened with Hoodwinked. And of course good animation doesn't always mean the rest of the movie is good, Toy Story 4 beckons, don't get it twisted.

Way I see it, this movie is great for SpongeBob fans, but otherwise okay for people outside of it. You can watch it plenty of times but it's not necessarily one that would hold up under heavy scrutiny, and it wouldn't have to come to that if this movie hasn't been held up on such a high pedestal. High standards are a two way street, if you make something out to be better than it actually is, keen eyes will catch on, and you're gonna have to put up with those contrarian commentators, represent.

Nostalgia and Timing

The movie is gonna be 20 years old in 2024. Those who saw it growing up would become part of the internet soon after. It's certainly a nostalgic movie, and I can attest it was nostalgic to me. But nostalgia is a double edged sword, it can affect your judgement on just about anything. For perspective, you wanna know what movies made me nostalgic? The live action Cat in the Hat movie, Joe’s Apartment, the first two Rugrats Movies, the Hey Arnold Movie, the 2003 Haunted Mansion movie, The Master of Disguise, Hulk, Spawn, Kangaroo Jack, the first live action Scooby-Doo movie, Final Destination 3, Little Nicky and Catwoman, movies I grew up watching or was exposed to constantly through trailers or posters, and people hate the shit out of them.

See what I mean? Nostalgia can help, and it can hurt too, especially when it's used in the wrong places. For instance, let's refer to Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. When you take a deeper look at the film, you'd realize it is fundamentally flawed, and the only things that truly carry it are quite honestly minimal. This seems like the kind of film that would be riffed on by Mystery Science Theater 3000 with how low tech and weird it is.

But you may be saying, well it's a great success, it's in the Library of Congress and Roger Ebert likes it. I mean he likes Speed 2 so your argument's invalid on that front. But to be serious, the reason Willy Wonka became so beloved was because of constant exposure. It was used by television networks to fill air time, allowing more people to see it. I mean if you want to know more, check out this video by Media Mementos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pw2vRbewluA

For a little perspective, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory was made as a commercial for Wonka brand candy with none of the soul from the book with which it was based off of, much like how the SpongeBob SquarePants movie was made to capitalize on the success of the show, like other Nickelodeon properties, it just happened to also allow for some passion to be put into it.

My point is that a movie's reputation can be cemented through nostalgia, and thus the greater implications behind a movie's reason for being can gradually be lost. Since this movie came out in 2004 before social media truly took off, along with SpongeBob's constant exposure at that time even to now, it had time to set in for everybody, and it just got bigger, and bigger, and bigger, and nothing helped to moderate it. It wasn’t something overlooked at first, it was beloved from the start and that kept going.

I swear if someone says this movie is underrated-

A movie can get better with age, and the SpongeBob movie stagnates in this regard. The smarter the movie, the more likely you can pick up on undertones you never found before. Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle for instance, as a kid I just saw it as a funny stoner flick, but years later I realize it not only subverts tropes but has commentary in regard to racism. I bring that movie up as both it and the SpongeBob movie came out the same year.

A truly great movie has something that encourages people to come back to it time and time again, whether you pick up on hidden subtext or it had a grand impact. I feel that while the SpongeBob SquarePants movie had some impact, it's not nearly as strong as people make it out to be. You get what you paid for the first time, and you'll get it again the next few times. Had this not come out the time it did, would it have made the same kind of impact? I mean look at what happened with the later two films- er, the second. Nobody seems to like it as much. Now, if this SpongeBob movie came out in more recent years, in a time when people preached the word of Hillenburg, would they be able to accept a King Neptune that looks different? The sudden introduction of his daughter if Clash of Triton came before it? There being a Krusty Krab 2? The use of celebrities?

It all comes crumbling down when it comes to tropes and cliches that people like to make fun of. People mock the road trip element of most animated adaptations, people complain about celebrity incorporations (just look at Sponge on the Run), and since this is SpongeBob you have people who lose their shit over minor continuity errors. It seems like a recipe for disaster if you ask me.

Final Thoughts

I don't hate the SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, but I also don't think it's as great as everything claims it to be. It had the unfortunate curse of being a SpongeBob-related thing to come out during the Hillenburg age, and thus it was around longer to really set in for people. If you take away the nostalgia and old SpongeBob appeal, what've you got? A generic road trip film that people considered cliche, incredibly stiff animation that falls below even older Nickelodeon films, humor and a scope that doesn't even go beyond what the show was already known for, and a fairly generic moral that feels like it doesn't exist from a geniune standpoint, what's the most obvious moral we can come up with that would appeal to our kid audience?

It's another case study on how the higher up a film or show is held, the more likely cracks in its foundation begin to show, and the naysayers begin to rise. The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie is too big for its own good, and even the nostalgia I had for it has worn out. Frankly the only thing that made me nostalgic was the closing credits, and shock of all shocks Ocean Man has become played out for me ever since it became a meme.

But those are my thoughts, what's yours?