SpongeBob SquarePants — Atlantis SquarePantis

This collection of SpongeBob cartoons has a distinct musical theme, underlined by the main offering, “Atlantis SquarePantis,” a 2-part episode that just aired. SpongeBob and friends travel to Atlantis on a song-powered bus (but of course!) and witness the many marvels of the lost city. Their tour guide is Lord Royal Highness (voiced by David Bowie). The action is cheerfully episodic, and many of the song sequences are very funny (one highlight being Sandy’s ditty which occurs with the cast transported into a 1991 video game). The other shorts are pretty fun, too, with the highlight being “Sing a Song of Patrick,” wherein the starfish writes his own pop tune, with hilariously catastrophic results.

Audio

Par for the course for these releases. The audio is the usual 2.0, and is certainly up to the job. There is nothing particularly exceptional, of course, but nothing objectionable either, though I do with the mix on “Sing a Song of Patrick” were a bit stronger, as the uproarious lyrics of the song are frequently hard to make out. Still, for the most part, the track is just fine.

Video

And the usual holds here as well. The colours are extremely bright, the image is perfectly steady and free of grain, or shimmer. Some rastering, however, is visible, and though it isn’t enough to hurt enjoyment (and isn’t visible on smaller screens), it’s still a little bit of a flaw. Otherwise, though, things look great.

Special Features

There are two featurettes here, one a tour of the Korean studios where the series is animated, and the other a typical promo piece for the Atlantis special. On top of this is a huge whack of trailers for other Nick releases.

Closing Thoughts

Package-wise, this is a fairly typical release, but the musical theme is a lot of fun.