The film begins with a live-action sequence of a pirate crew eagerly awaiting their treasure: tickets to "The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie". When they recover it, they sail to the movie theater and sit down at the front row seats to watch the film. In the movie proper, SpongeBob has a dream of becoming the manager of the Krusty Krab restaurant. SpongeBob wakes up and happily prepares for the Krusty Krab 2 opening ceremony, with the hope that his boss Mr. Krabs will promote him as manager of the new restaurant. At the ceremony, the title is instead given to his co-worker Squidward Tentacles. Mr. Krabs says that Squidward is more mature and that SpongeBob is "just a kid" who is unable to handle the task.