‘SpongeBob Movie’ is what kids films should be – fun

Feb. 12, 2015 | G. Michael Dobbs
news@thereminder.com

SpongeBob Squarepants hits three dimensions on the big screen.
Reminder Publications submitted photo

An amazing documentary and an animated feature I loved are both in this week’s film review column.

In theaters: The SpongeBob Movie: A Sponge Out of Water

I’ve loved animation since I was a wee boy and beardless youth and I’ve made covering animation part of my professional activities for years. At times I’ve despaired that producers of animation features are stuck in formats that produce well intentioned, but boring, Broadway-style musicals.

Animation can be used to tell any story, but it has a real capacity for humor and I’ve been craving for a funny cartoon – no big songs, no big message, no tearful moments. Show me the jokes.

My prayers were answered with the at-times silly, at times clever new SpongeBob movie.

Now some folks either don’t get SpongeBob or somehow are repulsed by the character and I doubt that I can convert anyone who has already dismissed the character. If you do have an open mind and if you are looking to be amused for 90 minutes, then this new movie may be for you.

The plot revolves around the secret recipe of Crabby Patties, the most revered food of the undersea town of Bikini Bottom being stolen by a pirate played by great relish by Antonio Bandaras. SpongeBob, his friends and even the villainous Plankton all must make their face to the surface world to retrieve the formula and restore order to Bikini Bottom. In the process, the heroes become three-dimensional.

The film is inventive and the moms and kids who sat near me all seemed to be laughing – a good sign. I think this is that rare kid film that adults won’t be dreading to sit through with their children.
   
At the Bing Arts Center: King: A Filmed Record … Montgomery to Memphis

In 1970, film producer Ely Landau released this nearly three hour-long look at the life and career of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to theaters as a one-time only event. Theaters that ran the film donated its box office receipts to a charity in King’s name.

Landau may not be remembered very well today, but he was a serious and innovative film producer best known for a series of movie events called “The American Film Theatre” consisting of filmed versions of plays that had very limited runs in theaters.

His movie on King came about two years after the civil rights leader’s assassination and it is a masterful work. For many years, this film has not been available in its full version and has been restored by the Library of Congress.

Although Landau used a number of well known actors to perform spoken words selections as bridges between sequences, they are almost unnecessary in the presentation of archival footage that shows the birth of King’s career in civil rights during the Montgomery, AL, bus boycott in 1955 to his assassination.

The footage and the audio Landau collected and assembled are incredibly powerful. Despite criticism from other African-Americans, King stuck to the principles of non-violence and used the Christian tenant of loving an enemy as a powerful tool for change.

The film does not flinch in showing how the white power structure in the South reacted to King’s efforts. The footage from Birmingham, AL, is particularly brutal, but necessary to establish the historic precedent.

Although a person my age certainly is aware of the events depicted in this film, viewing the footage is still a revelation.

I’ve not seen the new movie “Selma” as yet, but I can’t imagine it has the power of authenticity that his documentary has.

The showing at the Bing Arts Center, 716 Sumner Ave. Springfield, will be Feb. 20 at 7 p.m. Admission is $7.50, $5 for students. Doors will open at 6:30 p.m.

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