What makes me tune-in to every episode of the cartoon seems to get the short end of the stick in Hillenburg's feature film effort. Sure, the opening live-action sequence is absolute genius, the Batman reference is cute, and the David Hasslehoff appearance (however strange) is funny and clever, but that's about where it ends in terms of adult-oriented elements.

Gone are the aspects that I find most appealing about the television show.

The sheer lack of all these pieces of the SpongeBob puzzle is my major issue with The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie. They will love every single bright, shiny, noisy moment of it, but what about us older folks? Where are all the clever little twists, in-jokes, and pop culture references? Where are Nosferatu and John Lurie when you need them? There's no mistaking the fact that the kiddies will eat this one up.

It's almost as if Hillenburg had too much time and too many resources at his disposal, and (possibly at the behest of studio pressure) chose to make a much more child-oriented film than I had expected. As much fun as I had and as many times as I laughed during The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, I just couldn't get over the feeling that it all added up to being slightly disappointing when compared to the episodes on the small screen. That's all fine and great, but what does it have to do with The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie? Well, that nice long introduction is my way of justifying the fact that, while it's a really enjoyable, fun film, it doesn't really live up to the genius of its television counterpart. This is the genius that is Stephen Hillenburg's SpongeBob SquarePants. I mean, how many kids do you know that have any idea who Nosferatu is? How many kids (or adults without the complete set of Criterion Collection DVDs) would understand why it's so funny that John Lurie plays a fisherman in one episode? My point exactly. What held my long-term attraction to the show, however, was the clever dialogue, fairly adult in-jokes, and the pop culture references that no child (let alone most adults) would ever get. What initially attracted me to SpongeBob SquarePants were the silly dialogue and the fact that it seemed so absurd for a sponge (let alone one that looks like something you'd find in your kitchen sink) to be the impetus for a children's cartoon. Sure, these are two very odd moments for me to choose as my reason for being forever hooked into the undersea world of Bikini Bottom, but these moments encompass everything that is so great about the show itself. One involves the surprising appearance of Nosferatu, and the other includes the guest appearance of John Lurie as a fisherman. I can remember exactly the two specific moments when I fell in love with SpongeBob SquarePants as a television cartoon.

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