The Spongebob Squarepants Movie

Herald rating: * * * *

SpongeBob SquarePants is so important to the cultural life of this young century that if you do not know who or what he is, you probably should not be reading this column.

On the off-chance that some of our readers do not, or do not have grandchildren who can enlighten them: SpongeBob is a brightly coloured young sponge who lives in the seafloor community of Bikini Bottom. He has a friend who is a starfish named Patrick.

Each episode of his show on the Nickelodeon channel - and there are many, many episodes every week and more on a weekend - revolves around the absorbent one's attempts to make something of himself in his undersea world.

Modern marketing and merchandising being what it is, or can lever out of children's pocket-money, it was inevitable that this TV success would be translated into cinema and on to DVD. What must be said is, it's darned good. Much better than the average cash-in generated from these franchises.

The movie's plot has SpongeBob (voice: Tom Kenny) wanting to run Krusty Krab II, the new seafood fast-food diner opened by Bikini Bottom's biggest businessman, Eugene H. Krabs (Clancy Brown). Sorry, kid: you're too young. Squidward Tentacles (Rodger Bumpass) gets the job.

But we got trouble right here in Bikini Bottom. Krabs' rival Plankton wants to steal Eugene's Krabby Patties recipe. To get Krabs out of the way, Plankton steals King Neptune's crown and frames Krabs. Krabs is convicted and faces being reduced to crabsticks.

SpongeBob and Patrick (Bill Fagerbakke) must hie away to the forbidden Shell City, get the crown and give it back to King Neptune (Jeffrey Tambor), save Krabs - and get SpongeBob the top job.

It's all great, harmless fun - see SpongeBob and Patrick get wasted on ice cream at Goofy Goober's nightclub, with morning-after hangovers; watch an unexpected flip from cartoon to live action with a cameo from Baywatch's David Hasselhoff.

Extras on the disk are nicely pitched to interest both the regular viewer and (most likely) his parent/grandparent. The Absorbing Tale Behind The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie is a making-of that includes interviews with major cast members and a lightweight insight into how they transferred the small-screen characters into a big-screen combo of live action and animation. Eight storyboards trace the development of key scenes from scheme to screen as the voice stars rehearse their lines.

Just to remind you that there is a real world under there, and it is in some peril, Jean-Michel Cousteau voices Case of the SpongeBob, which shows genuine sea creatures in their natural habitats, and Saving the Surf, a documentary where the Surfrider Foundation explains pollution in coastal waters.

* DVD, Video rental 7 April