HE'S a sponge, he's square (well, more of a trapezium to be honest) and he wears pants (white Y-fronts).
SpongeBob SquarePants is an unlikely hero for our hi-tech modern era but the absorbent yellow fellow has become a cult figure on the Nickelodeon cartoon series created by Stephen Hillenburg.
Now the residents of the crazy underwater community of Bikini Bottom are about to embark on their most perilous adventure yet in The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie.
Blissful innocent SpongeBob (voiced by Kenny) lives at the bottom of the sea in a pineapple and works in the Krusty Krab diner, run by the irrepressible Eugene Krabs (Brown).
SpongeBob dreams of becoming the manager of the soon-to-be-opened sister outlet Krusty Krab II.
Like the rest of the local community, SpongeBob excitedly rushes to the opening ceremony but is distraught to learn that he has lost out on promotion to curmudgeonly Squidward Tentacles (Bumpass).
The youngster is distraught, but this is only the beginning of his troubles.
Rival fast food mogul Plankton (Lawrence) plots to steal the secret recipe for the legendary Krabby Patty, the diner's signature burger.
His nefarious scheme includes framing Krabs for the theft of King Neptune's priceless crown - a crime punishable by death.
Seeing a chance to redeem himself in his employer's eyes, SpongeBob ventures into the forbidden Shell City to retrieve the missing treasure, aided by his loyal starfish pal Patrick (Fagerbakke).
En route, the dippy duo encounter scary sea monsters, a cool cat hit man called Dennis (Baldwin) and beautiful Mindy the Mermaid (Johansson), who gets SpongeBob in quite a lather.
The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie retains all of the charm and childish exuberance of the television series, with a few surprises.
The eponymous hero is his usual effervescent self, deliriously unaware of the dangers of the real world.
Patrick takes goofy dimwittedness to his usual comic extremes, as when King Neptune (Tambor) tells SpongeBob to 'be back with my crown in exactly ten days' and Patrick gleefully boasts his pal could manage it in six.
Animation throughout bubbles with bright colour, and the lunatic live action-animation finale, including a cameo from David Hasselhoff, is inspired.
DAMON SMITH
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