For those of you not familiar with the pre-teen pop culture phenomenon known as SpongeBob SquarePants, here's a three-point primer:

1.) He's the star of an animated Nickelodeon TV show.

2.) He's a somewhat imbecilic sponge who lives in a pineapple at the bottom of the ocean.

3.) Some people think he's a gay icon.

If that last item surprises or alarms you, it shouldn't. Pop icons linked to the gay community are about as common as varicose veins in a retirement home and include such cartoonish luminaries as Batman, the characters in “Top Gun” and rapper-turned-actor Mark Wahlberg.

What's more, if any gay subtexts do reside in Bob's big-screen debut, “The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie,” they're submerged under so many layers of unfiltered weirdness that even a trained VH1 talking head would have difficulty lifting them to the surface.

More to the point, kids love SpongeBob, and his hilarious, google- eyed antics are likely to squeeze a few laughs out of their adult chaperones, too.

When King Neptune's crown is stolen, SpongeBob and oafish starfish sidekick Patrick leave the cozy confines of Bikini Bottom for a forbidden wasteland known as Shell City, where the crown is reputedly hidden.

SpongeBob volunteers for this dangerous mission to prove his mettle as a man. Passed over for promotion at the local Krusty Krab fast food joint for being too ‘‘goofy’’ and immature, Bob (voiced by comedian Tom Kenny) is a hard-working if rambunctious lad who just wants his due.

Unbeknownst to Bob, the mission is really part of a fiendish scheme hatched by Plankton, a Crusty Crab competitor whose Chum Bucket franchise stands to gain from Bob's absence.

Like Karl Rove reincarnated as a microscopic squid, Plankton also plans to achieve world domination by using mind control to turn the good citizens of Bikini Bottom into faceless, obedient cows. The peril of totalitarianism is a recurring theme in the SpongeBob universe, created by Stephen Hillenburg, who also shares writing and directing duties on the movie; many of the episodes are pro-liberty screeds preaching the primacy of individualism, freedom and fair play.

Therein may lie the appeal of SpongeBob for gay audiences, if such appeal exists at all. Bob encounters discrimination at work, is treated with mild contempt by ‘‘adults’’ and finds himself infantilized by culture in general. And why? Because he happens to have a fondness for kitsch, is a fussy dresser and his best friend has a somewhat unhealthy fixation on his own underwear.

Children, of course, will relate to SpongeBob for many of the same reasons. If the character's lifestyle seems a little too alternative at times, parents should fall back on the usual policy: Don't ask, don't tell.