SpongeBob Fantasticpants

We've been waiting a long time for that fellow who lives in a pineapple under the sea to pop out and show his porous yellow face. Waiting. Wondering. Hoping that Nickelodeon would not screw up one of their greatest cartoon franchises with a full-length feature, as they did with "Rugrats".

Thankfully, SpongeBob Squarepants comes to the rescue, producing a hilarious 88-minute laughfest saturated with color and bubble soap. It's amazing what that small, formally clothed member of the porifera family"that's sponge for you non-scientific folk"can do. And he does it side-splittingly well.

Instead of opening in front of Spongebob's fruity domicile, "The SpongeBob Squarepants Movie" begins at the unveiling of the new Krusty Krabs 2. Obviously, our hero SpongeBob Squarepants (voiced by Tom Kenny) is ecstatic because he wants to be the manager. He's been the employee of the month a gazillion times. But, appalling tragedy strikes, and Mr. Krabs (voiced by Clancy Brown) picks SpongeBob's snotty neighbor, Squidward (voiced by Rodger Bumpass), as manager. According to Krabs, SpongeBob just isn't mature enough to manage his own Krusty Krabs. And thus SpongeBob sets off with best buddy Patrick, a pink starfish, (voiced by Bill Fagerbakke) to prove his maturity in trial after hilarious trial.

Although the movie may sound like the usual antics in an average "SpongeBob" episode, it isn't. "The SpongeBob Squarepants Movie" is complete with everything a loyal "SpongeBob" fan could wish for: from humorous dialogue to the typical tropical decor and, of course, SpongeBob's nautical nonsense. Expect everything funny from SpongeBob. His sporadically hilarious and lovingly kooky nature heightens every scene to pure laugh-out-loud enjoyment. Along with Patrick, who persistently swings in to deliver zany one-liners, the duo certainly creates a cacophony of children's cackles.

The "SpongeBob" movie is not all laughs, which is surprisingly entertaining. Like a good tribute to a series, it has a teary"and proper"final goodbye to that lovable Sponge, which would even make the manliest swash-buckling pirate shed a tear.

There are some disappointments. In the show, Squidward provides a duller, less energetic foil to SpongeBob, a dynamic that offers a lot of laughs. But in the film, he only has a handful of lines. Another endearing character, Sandy the lovable Squirrel from Texas (Carolyn Lawrence), hardly appears on screen.

Instead, Scarlett Johansson pops up everywhere as Mindy, a magical mermaid who guides SpongeBob and Patrick on their quest via periodic intervention. Johansson's voice is naturally dreamy, but she made Mindy's voice toneless and unimaginative. Mindy would live up to her loveliness if only Johansson breathed life into her.

Despite its minor flaws, the lack of interesting minor characters and ubiquity of boring ones, "The SpongeBob Squarepants Movie" still provides all the sidesplitting comedy and cutesy flair expected from our yellow and porous friend. What's more, "The SpongeBob Squarepants Movie" is actually a movie, as opposed to a continuation of a series parlayed onto the big-screen. Consequently, SpongeBob has managed to save a wonderful show from possible popularity suicide.