“Back around high school, I used to really really like Spongebob. My Dad, LOVED Spongebob. We had this routine every Sunday morning for a few years. Spongebob would be on from 9-10, and we’d usually have just woken up somewhere in the 8 o’clock hour. We’d watch those two back to back eps of the Bob. Then we’d get ready for Church and get there by 11. I don’t know how many times my Mom would come and yell at us about why we weren’t getting ready yet, and we’d always assure her we would as soon as Spongebob was over.
One time (and this is one of my favorite stories about my Daddy) I just wasn’t feeling it for whatever reason. Simply didn’t wanna watch Spongebob that day. After I woke up, I stayed in my room and put on a movie or something. Soon after 9 there’s a light knock on my door. “”Spongebob?”” “”Nah, not today”” “”But…Spongebob?!”” “”I don’t feel like it”” “”Spongebob!”” At which point the then 55 year old man on the other side of my door who never makes a fuss over anything starts whining and fake crying. We watched Spongebob that morning.
When I started seeing the trailers for the new Spongebob movie, I wasn’t sure what to make of em. Something just didn’t seem right. Maybe he lost his charm. Maybe it was too long since I’d watched him regularly. Maybe this whole live action mess wouldn’t work. I decided I’d only see it if I really had no other options. But then, as the opening weekend drew nearer and I realized that there weren’t may alternatives, I thought of my Daddy. And I remembered how excited he was for the first Spongebob movie. I was already in college. The film opened around Thanksgiving, but I wouldn’t be home until Christmas. We both prayed it would last that long in the theater. And it did, and we went, and much fun was had. I couldn’t help but think that I had to see the new one for him. In a way, he’d be watching this one with me too.
In the week leading up to the film, while I was still on the fence, I checked out a couple of reviews, to see what the general feeling was. A lot of it was pretty positive. The consensus seemed to be that if you like Spongebob, you’ll enjoy the movie. If you don’t like him, then you ain’t gonna be doing yourself any favors by going. I have to agree with the consensus.
Once things got going (and we got past the framework setting scene), I was transported back to Sunday mornings in high school. I’d forgotten why I’d fallen in love with that absorbent little sea creature. Suddenly, before my eyes, it came back to me. He’s so cute and innocent and funny and good hearted. There were so many throwbacks and references to things lost in the inner most spaces of my memory. I was happy to reconnect with this old friend.
I’ll admit, once we got to the out of water part, it did lose me some. In part, it had all just gone on too long (again, I wasn’t used to more than an hour of my porous little buddy), and also at that point the plot kind of stalled in favor for a big action sequence, playing with the new environment. Still, it was otherwise a very happily spent hour and a half, and I left with a smile on my face and a theme song in my head.”