The Need for Speed (2003 film)

***The Need for Speed*** is a 2003 American racing film based on the series of video games by Electronic Arts, directed by Michael Mann and produced by Neal H. Moritz and co-written and co-produced by *SpongeBob SquarePants* creator Stephen Hillenburg. It is the first installment in the *Need for Speed* film franchise. The film features the *SpongeBob* voice cast of Tom Kenny, Bill Fagerbakke, Clancy Brown, Rodger Bumpass and Mr. Lawrence and new actors which include Scarlett Johansson, Jeffrey Tambor, and Alec Baldwin.

In this film, Plankton devises a plan to discredit his business arch-nemesis Mr. Krabs, steal the Krabby Patty secret formula and take over the world by stealing King Neptune's crown and framing Mr. Krabs for the crime. SpongeBob and Patrick team up to retrieve the crown from Shell City to save Mr. Krabs from Neptune's wrath and the oceanic world from Plankton's rule.

Filming locations include Los Angeles and Honolulu. *The Need for Speed* was distributed and released by Warner Bros. Pictures and Paramount Pictures on May 9, 2003 to financial success. The film's budget was an estimated $41 million, grossing $207 million worldwide. Critical reaction was mostly mixed, according to review aggregators Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic, though both Willis and Dickson were praised in their roles and became household names both in the U.S. and internationally, but gained criticism over is similarities to the 2001 film *The Fast and the Furious*.

*The Need for Speed* launched a franchise of sequels, starting with *Need 2 Speed* in 2005.

## Plot

A group of pirates find tickets to *The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie* in a treasure chest and enter a theater to watch the film.

SpongeBob SquarePants cheerfully prepares for the opening ceremony for the Krusty Krab 2, expecting his boss Mr. Krabs to promote him to manager of the new restaurant. Instead, Mr. Krabs names Squidward Tentacles as manager, thinking SpongeBob is too immature to handle the role, much to SpongeBob's disappointment. Meanwhile, Mr. Krabs' business rival, Plankton, complains about his failures to his computer wife Karen, being unable to steal the Krabby Patty Secret Formula. When Karen points out plan "Z", a scheme which he has yet to attempt, Plankton decides to implement it.

That night, SpongeBob drowns his sorrows in ice cream with his best friend Patrick Star. Elsewhere, Plankton steals King Neptune's crown, leaving false evidence to frame Mr. Krabs for the crime, and sends the crown to the distant land of Shell City. The next morning, Neptune barges into the Krusty Krab 2 and threatens Mr. Krabs for his alleged thievery. SpongeBob arrives and chastises Mr. Krabs under the influence of an ice cream headache, but seeing his boss's life at risk, he promises Neptune that he will retrieve the crown from Shell City. Neptune is convinced by his daughter Mindy to spare Mr. Krabs for the time being and freezes him instead, ordering SpongeBob to return with the crown in six days. Soon after SpongeBob and Patrick leave for Shell City, Plankton steals the Krabby Patty formula and uses it to produce and sell Krabby Patties at his restaurant, the Chum Bucket. He also gives away free "Chum Bucket Helmets" to customers, which are actually mind-control devices that Plankton activates to control Bikini Bottom's residents and take over the city.

As their journey continues, SpongeBob and Patrick reach a dangerous, monster-filled trench. Coming to the conclusion that they cannot complete their quest due to their immaturity, they tearfully give up. Mindy arrives at the trench and tells SpongeBob and Patrick of Plankton's plan. She pretends to magically turn them into men by giving them seaweed mustaches. With their confidence boosted, they brave the trench but are confronted by Dennis, a hitman hired by Plankton to eliminate them. Dennis is stepped on by a hardhat diver that SpongeBob and Patrick believe to be a Cyclops. The Cyclops grabs SpongeBob and Patrick, and takes them to his beachside store, revealed to be Shell City.

In the store, SpongeBob and Patrick find the crown, but are dehydrated by the Cyclops' heat lamp and die. Their tears short-circuit the lamp's power cord, and its smoke activates the sprinkler system, reviving them and the other dried sea creatures intended to be sold as souvenirs. As the vengeful sea creatures attack and overwhelm the Cyclops, SpongeBob and Patrick take the crown and head for the beach. There they seem to be trapped when here comes good ol' David Hasselhoff to save the day. He tells them to get on his back while he swims to seemingly the middle of nowhere when Dennis the hitman appears out of nowhere to stop SpongeBob and Patrick. They get the upper hand and then Dennis is no more. David stops swimming and places SpongeBob and Patrick in between his MASSIVE PECKS and shoots them like a cannon down to Bikini Bottom to save the day.

At the Krusty Krab 2, King Neptune arrives to execute Mr. Krabs, but SpongeBob and Patrick return with the crown just before he is able to do so. They confront Plankton, who drops a mind-control bucket on Neptune, enslaving him. Before Plankton can direct Neptune to kill them, SpongeBob accepts his childlike nature and bursts into song, transforming into an electric guitar-wielding wizard. He shoots lasers from his guitar, destroying the mind-controlling helmets and freeing Neptune and Bikini Bottom's residents from Plankton's rule. Plankton tries to escape, but is stepped on and crushed by other citizens. Plankton is arrested and Neptune thanks SpongeBob for his bravery. Neptune thaws out Mr. Krabs, who makes SpongeBob manager of the Krusty Krab 2 in gratitude.

In a post-credits scene, the pirates which have been watching the film are told by an usher to leave the theater.

## Cast

* Tom Kenny as SpongeBob SquarePants
* Bill Fagerbakke as Patrick Star
* Clancy Brown as Mr. Krabs
* Rodger Bumpass as Squidward Tentacles
* Mr. Lawrence as Plankton
* Jeffrey Tambor as King Neptune
* Scarlett Johansson as Princess Mindy
* Alec Baldwin as Dennis
* Jill Talley as Karen
* Carolyn Lawrence as Sandy Cheeks
* Mary Jo Catlett as Mrs. Puff
* Lori Alan as Pearl Krabs
* Dee Bradley Baker as Perch Perkins
* Carlos Alazraqui as King Neptune's squire
* Aaron Hendry as the Cyclops
	+ Neil Ross (voice)
* Stephen Hillenburg as the voice of the Parrot
* Kristopher Logan as Squinty the Pirate
* D.P. FitzGerald as Bonesy the Pirate
* Cole McKay as Scruffy the Pirate
* Dylan Haggerty as Stitches the Pirate
* Bart McCarthy as Captain Bart the Pirate
* Henry Kingi as Inky the Pirate
* Michael Patrick Bell as Fisherman
* Mageina Tovah as Usher

## Production

### Development and writing

In 1997, Warner Bros. Pictures bought the rights for a film adaptation of the 1994 *Need for Speed* video game. In 1998, Michael Mann was chosen to direct the film. Mann became interested in the concept after watching a couple of sports racing documents. In May 1999, the animated series *SpongeBob SquarePants* premiered on Nickelodeon. Gorge Gantins and his brother John became fans of the series and had the thought of SpongeBob appearing in a *Need for Speed* film. The team made a deal with Nickelodeon and *SpongeBob SquarePants* series creator Stephen Hillenburg to allow the character to appear in the film on one condition; the film has to be unrelated to the series.

### Animation

While Man handled the live-action scenes, Hillenburg was appointed as the film's animation scene diretor. Approximately 50 people work together in animating and producing the animated scenes. This was the same technic used in animating and producing an episode of *SpongeBob SquarePants*. There were a number of stages involved in the making of the film, beginning with a rough animation process of ideas drawn on Post-it notes. The writers drew, working from rough outlines rather than scripts (which made the humor more visual than verbal). Hillenburg said, "It's in the characters' extreme body language, in how they slither capriciously around the deadpan frames." The storyboard artists, including Sherm Cohen, then illustrated ideas conceived by the writers. In the series Tom Yasumi and Andrew Overtoom do the animatics, but director Hillenburg and writer Derek Drymon did the animatics for the film. Yasumi and Overtoom were the film's animation-timing directors, concentrating on the sheets. *The Need for Speed* was animated at Rough Draft Studios in South Korea. The animators worked semi-digitally; pencil-drawn poses would be composited into layouts in Photoshop

### Filming

The film was shot in various locations within Los Angeles and Honolulu.

### Music

The film's score was composed by music producer BT, along with Gregor Narholz. The score was mixed with electronica with hip-hop and industrial influences.

## Release

### Box office

*The Need for Speed* opened in 2,889 theaters on May 9, 2003, grossing $16.8 million on it's opening day. The film earned the #1 spot with $39.8 million on it's opening weekend. *The Need for Speed*Template:'s opening weekend gross was 8.8% higher than *Pokémon: The First Movie*Template:'s $31 million, but was far behind *Lara Croft: Tomb Raider*Template:'s $48.2 million. During its run, the film made a domestic total of $114,425,285 domestically, $93,153,000 internationally, and $207,578,285 worldwide, on a budget of $41 million, making it a financial success. It was Original Film's second best film of 2003 behind *2 Fast 2 Furious*.

### Reception

The film received generally mixed reviews, earning a 53% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with 29 out of 155 critics giving it a positive review with an average rating of 3.9/10; the consensus states: "With stock characters and a preposterous plot, this noisily diverting video game adaptation fulfills a Need for Speed and little else." On Metacritic it holds a score of 61 based on 38 reviews, indicating generally mixed or average reviews.

Critics considered *The Need for Speed* to be heavily derivative of the 2001 film, *The Fast and the Furious*. *USA Today* suggested that it was "the most wildly derivative movie in ages", while *Variety* described it as "ultimately done in by the persistent stench of been-there-seen-that".

### Home media

*The Need for Speed* was released on DVD on January 2, 2004.

## Sequels

*Main article: Need for Speed (film series)*