The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie
The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie is, well, a movie based on the Nickelodeon cartoon SpongeBob SquarePants. And as expected for a movie based on one of Nickelodeon's programs, it's a big damn one. Check out the radar here.
In the film, Mr. Krabs opens up a second Krusty Krab restaurant, and SpongeBob is heavily anticipating being promoted to manager of the new restaurant. But to his dismay, Squidward gets the job instead because SpongeBob is supposedly not mature enough for the job. Meanwhile, Plankton finally stops fooling around and enacts his greatest plan to steal the secret Krabby Patty formula -- he steals King Neptune's crown, sends it to the dangerous Shell City, and frames Mr. Krabs for it. When Neptune finds his crown missing, he crashes the Krusty Krab 2 and charges Krabs for the theft, but SpongeBob is willing to travel to Shell City to retrieve the crown, so Neptune gives him six days to find it, during which he has Krabs frozen.
While SpongeBob and Patrick head off on their adventure, Plankton makes it past the frozen Krabs and successfully steals the Krabby Patty formula. He then gives away bucket-helmets with all the Krabby Patties he sells, which then turn his customers into his monument-building slaves. Can SpongeBob and Patrick successfully retrieve Neptune's crown and save Bikini Bottom...?
A sequel was released in 2015. Another follow-up film was announced shortly after the success of the second, but it has been pushed back several times; as of the end of 2017, it is currently scheduled for a 2020 premiere.
Tropes used in The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie include:
- Absurdly Bright Light: off King Neptune's bald head
- Adam Westing: David Hasselhoff as a super-swimming lifeguard. "I'm David Hasselhoff!"
- "Hooray!"
- Adult Child: Deconstructed at first, Reconstructed later.
- Always a Bigger Boot
- An Aesop: Lampshaded and subverted.
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Squidward says he's going to report Plankton to King Neptune because he "made one fatal mistake -- you messed with my paycheck!"
- Also, when Plankton reads over his final plan to steal the Krabby Patty formula. "It's evil, it's diabolical, *sniffs* it's lemon-scented!"
- Badass Mustache: Princess Mindy makes a pair of these out of seaweed to convince SpongeBob and Patrick that they have become men.
- Then used in a throwaway gag courtesy of Dennis; he notes the obviously fake mustaches, pulls them off the pair's faces, and then shows them what a real mustache looks like. He pulls down his bandana, revealing his clean-shaven face. He then proceeds to grow a particularly bushy one through sheer force of will in an instant.
- "Is he a mermaid?"
- Then used in a throwaway gag courtesy of Dennis; he notes the obviously fake mustaches, pulls them off the pair's faces, and then shows them what a real mustache looks like. He pulls down his bandana, revealing his clean-shaven face. He then proceeds to grow a particularly bushy one through sheer force of will in an instant.
- Bad Guy Bar: The Thug Tug
- Bar Brawl
- Blowing a Raspberry: This is the extent of SpongeBob telling off Mr. Krabs for thinking he's still a kid.
- The Caligula: King Neptune shows signs of this
- Comically Small Bribe: SpongeBob attempts to bribe Dennis with "Goober Dollars". He isn't impressed.
- Dark Reprise: SpongeBob and Patrick's tearful rendition of the Goofy Goober theme as they dry out.
- Darker and Edgier
- Demoted to Extra: Any character from the show who isn't SpongeBob, Patrick and Plankton. Squidward, Mrs. Puff and Sandy only show up a few times (despite all being credited in the film's "Main Cast"), and Mr. Krabs spends the movie frozen. Pearl and Gary make cameos. Karen plays a pivotal role, telling Plankton about Plan Z and activating the mind control helmets, but she doesn't have much screen time, either. It's not too surprising that the creators decided not to make the next SpongeBob movie a buddy film.
- Deranged Animation
- Dream Sequence: The opening scene.
- Drunk on Milk: In this case, a milk product rather than liquid milk; specifically, ice cream.
- Dystopia Justifies the Means: What Plankton does to Bikini Bottom
- Egopolis: After enslaving all of Bikini Bottom with his mind controlling helmets, Plankton converted it into Planktopolis, complete with giant stone statues of himself.
- Faux Affably Evil: Dennis.
- Flat Character: Princess Mindy. If you think about it, she's really not much more than a plot device. Her only contributions to the story were to be a love interest for Patrick, stop her father from killing Mr. Krabs, give SpongeBob and Patrick their "mustaches", and stall her father long enough for SpongeBob to come back with the crown.
- Fluffy the Terrible: Plankton sends a hitman named Dennis after SpongeBob and Patrick.
- Framing Device: A band of pirates go to a movie theater to see the movie.
- Grand Finale: According to Word of God, all episodes made after the movie take place before it, so it's still (chronologically) the Grand Finale.
- So technically, they spoiled the entire series for us?
- What about that episode where Plankton escapes prison, makes another attempt to steal the formula and ends up being arrested again?
- At the end he's taken to a prison for those as small as he. In the episode, he may be in a high security section, but it's a standard jail.
- Harmless Freezing: Although he can't stop Plankton from stealing the formula in his frozen state, Krabs still manages to show reaction to things going on.
- Heterosexual Life Partners: SpongeBob and Patrick. And how.
- Humans Are Cthulhu:
- The "Cyclops" (actually a deep-sea diver). He just wants to collect sea creatures to sell as souvenirs - but that includes SpongeBob and Patrick, much to their confusion.
- David Hasselhoff, however, is an aversion.
- Insistent Terminology: As it says on the main SpongeBob page, King Neptune is not bald, he is thinning.
- Is This Thing Still On??
- Kill It with Fire: King Neptune tries to do this to Mr. Krabs
- Knight of Cerebus: Dennis.
- Love At First Sight: Patrick is infatuated with Neptune's daughter Mindy.
- Lower Deck Episode: A Nickelodeon Magazine special promoting the film included a comic story showing Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy trying (and failing) to stop Plankton during the events of the movie.
- Magic Feather: the seaweed moustaches.
- Naked People Are Funny
- Never Say "Die": Averted. The words "kill" and "die" are used several times. The scene in Shell City has Spongebob stress the words "dead" and "killed" as if to tell the audience "Yes we're defying this trope and using the actual word in a movie for kids."
- Not Quite Dead: Dennis gets crushed by the Cyclops when he first catches up with Spongebob and Patrick. He comes back afterwards for the final showdown.
- Not So Harmless: Plankton.
- Ocular Gushers
- Off-Model: But in a good way; the film seems to follow the John Kricfalusi method of staying less on-model and more in-character.
- Oh Crap: The "Cyclops" has this reaction when the animals in his shop begin to revive and he realizes they're about to beat the tar out of him.
- Older Than They Look: According to SpongeBob, he has won the Employee of the Month Award 376 times in a row. This means he has been working for over 31 years. Assuming that he started work at age 16, this means he could be 47 years old or older!
- Omnicidal Maniac: Plankton vows to destroy everyone.
- Please Keep Your Hat On
- The Power of Rock: SpongeBob breaks Plankton's hypnosis with a rock remix of the Goofy Goober song.
- Psycho for Hire: Dennis outright says that he's a hitman because he loves his job.
- Roger Rabbit Effect: The sequence between the "Cyclops" (a maniacal diver) capturing SpongeBob and Patrick, and them returning to Bikini Bottom.
- Sarcastic Clapping: Plankton after SpongeBob and Patrick make it back.
- Series Fauxnale: This film was meant to serve as the closing to the show, but Nickelodeon insisted on putting the series back in production.
- Shout-Out: The "nut bar" at Goofy Goober's has pictures of Pogo and Popeye comics.
- Surreal Humour: "Hooray! Bubble Party!"
- Swiss Army Tears: What ultimately saves SpongeBob and Patrick from their Disney Death.
- Team Rocket Wins
- Testosterone Poisoning: Lots of examples.
- The "Now That We're Men" song.
- Dennis growing his Badass Mustache in an instant to prove how much manlier he was than SpongeBob and Patrick.
- Every scene with David Hasselhoff. Every. Single. Scene.
- Tom the Dark Lord: We have a vile, dangerous bounty hunter, and his name is... Dennis.
- The Un-Reveal: Plankton finally finds out the Krabby Patty formula, but we don't.
- Welcome to the Big City
- What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?: The opening scene features a dramatic scene based around the "crisis" of a customer being given a Krabby Patty without cheese, complete with a slow-motion sequence of SpongeBob putting some cheese into the patty. It's a Dream Sequence, but still...
- Your Princess Is in Another Castle: Spongebob and Patrick get Neptune's crown back and seemingly save the day... Then Plankton reveals he had a backup plan and just takes control of Neptune.