Kids DVDs

By Jonathan Berohn

Just in time for spring and summer road trips, the movie studios have conveniently released 3 new kids DVDs (although you’ve gotta figure it’s more marketing than coincidence, but I digress): Shark Tale, the SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, and The Incredibles.  In a happy confluence of factors, all 3 are actually worth watching—both for the kids and the adults.  If you’re not traveling anywhere, this could pose a bit of a conundrum if you don’t feel like shelling out the 45-60 bucks all 3 will set you back, but if you have a long trip ahead of you, you’re in luck—the perfect diversion has arrived.

Animation Overload

Interestingly enough, all 3 movies are animated films.  Of course, it seems to have been true for a while now that most of the best kids’ films (Harry Potter and Lemony Snicket notwithstanding) are animated rather than live action. This probably has more than a little something to do with the fact that fancy special effects are far more expensive in live action films.  In animated movies all you have to do is have the computer or the artist render or draw something different.  Even though all 3 are animated, they definitely have different feels to them.  SpongeBob, for example, uses (largely) traditional animation—going for the full cartoon effect.  Both The Incredibles and Shark Tale, on the other hand, use computer animation to great effect to construct their own uniquely rich worlds.

SpongeBob

OK—let me first say that half the fun of buying the SpongeBob movie—in addition, of course to the joy of being a hero to your kids…ahem—is the simple fact that, in your own small way, you get to thumb your nose at the sudden outpouring or rightwing criticism of SpongeBob and his sidekick Patrick for being…well…gay.  In addition to the old Seinfeld standby of “not that there’s anything wrong with that,” this attack on Sponge has the additional advantage of being completely ridiculous.  Being—or at least pretending to be—a somewhat responsible parent, I actually watch some of the shows my kids like (purely for supervisory reasons of course…I don’t like cartoons at all…nope).  My only conclusion about this whole controversy is that either the fanatics who are attacking SpongeBob have either never seen the show or are so wrapped up in their cocoon of homophobia that they’ve never seen an actual gay person.  Either way, to complain that SpongeBob is anything but silly shows far more flaws in their character than in SpongeBob’s.  I must say he’s kind of whiny and inane, but that’s another story.

As for the movie—of yeah—there’s supposed to be a review in here, too—it delivers on all the promises that today’s young viewers expect SpongeBob to keep.  In other words, it’s silly, full of crazy situations and ridiculous danger, and somehow SpongeBob and his trusty starfish sidekick Patrick manage to stumble into success at the end of the movie.  This, of course, is more than enough for all the little SpongeBob fans out there, who are really only looking for more of what they see on TV.  Fortunately for those of us who are a touch more discerning in their movies—half an hour of SpongeBob is one thing; 90 minutes is another story—there are some added touches to keep us from, well…driving a nail into your eye.  The soundtrack is actually kind of fun—especially the selection from Flaming Lips.  And the movie makes great use of some live action scenes.  I won’t spoil the plot for you, but let’s just say that David Hasselhoff makes a great cameo.

Shark Tale

Shark Tale also follows one of the old kid movie standby plots.  Disappointed son runs away and eventually comes back as the hero.  As with Shakespeare, though (and I fully apologize to the Bard for even thinking about using him and Shark Tale in the same sentence—I will penitently recite Hamlet’s soliloquy 20 times when I’m done here) the plot is almost incidental to the movie’s appeal.  Unlike Shakespeare, it’s not so much the characters as it is the visuals.  Shark Tales’ underwater cities are amazingly clever and enthralling.

The dialogue though is a little over the top.  There’s a mob theme running through the whole movie (naturally enough with Robert DeNiro along for the ride), and most of the jokes—being inspired by the Godfather—go right over the kids’ heads.  This isn’t so much a problem in the theater, but during home viewing it’s not always easy to come up with a way to explain a joke.  In any case, kids still love the film, and the mob jokes do keep adults amused.

The Incredibles

The Incredibles is another computer animation film that sort of goes the opposite direction of Shark Tale.  As much as an animated film about superheroes can, it takes a rather minimalist approach to graphics.  This approach actually works quite well in helping to set the tone for a movie that is about redeeming yourself from drudgery and embracing the superhero within.  The voice actors are great—especially Craig T. Nelson, and the humor seems to strike the perfect note between keeping the kids happy and the adults entertained.  All in all, the Incredibles is clearly the best of the three movies reviewed here.  This isn’t surprising, of course, considering that it just won the best animated film Oscar.