I was sitting across from this young dad, while the kid who was with him (I don’t want to assume that it was his daughter) was running around the family cinema. Since I have my own kid with me (who is in the spectrum) – I actually prefer watching in the family cinema, since it’s okay for the kids to be a bit rowdy – the cinema was created with kids and families in mind anyway.
So, going back to the young dad – he was watching the film, and it was pretty obvious that he was familiar with the ‘Spongebob lore’ – he could identify nods to the series and previous iterations. And I thought that it was nice that he can share something that he grew up watching with the next generation (again, not assuming that the child that he was with was his kid, could be his niece). He probably enjoyed the movie more than the kid.
I myself am not the demographic for this – it was my younger siblings who watched Spongebob growing up – I am only vaguely aware of the characters, and the memes and the jokes. I do like Gary, he’s my favorite.
Still, I found myself impressed with the colorful animation on the big screen. Seeing the little details on Spongebob, I couldn’t help but marvel at the smaller and darker spots on his ‘sponge’. Anyone who grew up with the series would surely marvel at how it translated on the big screen.
My favorite parts would probably be seeing Mr. Krab’s soft side as he launches on a rescue mission to save Spongebob – and the lesson that being big and tall doesn’t automatically mean being brave. We can still keep our optimism, our child-like innocence and wonder and still be brave enough to face the world.