No matter how old we are, anyone born in the 1990s onwards has seen an episode of Spongebob Squarepants at some point in their life. Growing up a Nickelodeon kid, Spongebob was my favorite show. So naturally I was excited in 2004 when The SpongeBob Squarepants Movie came out. What that movie did right is that it raised the stakes from the TV series while still maintaining the spirit of the show. The Simpsons Movie also did this well.
Yet with regards to Spongebob, as the years went by I grew out of the show into more adult catered shows, like The Walking Dead and Breaking Bad. Yet over the summer, I saw a display for a new Spongebob movie at the theater. Skeptical by the CGI rendered characters versus the traditionally animated ones I grew up with, I had no plans of seeing it. Yet that was before I became a published movie critic, and since February is the dumping ground of movies with little else coming out, I figured why not take a trip to the theater to see how the show I loved as a child would fare on the big screen for a second time.
Based on the marketing, I assumed that most of the film would be the CGI characters for most of the time. Yet rather the traditionally animated characters are present for most of the film. For those not familiar with the property (but who isn’t?), the SpongeBob universe takes place in the underwater town of Bikini Bottom, where the sponge Spongebob works at the Krusty Krab, a fast food restaurant managed by Mr. Krabs. The signature menu item is the Krabby Patty, a beloved burger that Mr. Krab’s business rival Plankton is always trying to steal. So Sponge out of Water starts the formulaic plot of many episodes in that Plankton is trying to steal the secret recipe of the Krabby Patty.
In the middle of the heist, the secret recipe suddenly vanishes into thin air at no fault of Plankton. Without the recipe, Spongebob cannot make Krabby Patties, and the entire town goes into a Mad Max state of chaos and anarchy. So, Spongebob and Plankton team up to go on a time traveling adventure to find the recipe before it vanishes. In doing so, they manage to gain superpowers for all of the main characters as they take to the surface and fight a pirate who has gained a magical book through he can control the fate of Bikini Bottom.
If this sounds convoluted, it’s because it is. Sponge out of Water is a kid’s movie, and is subject to logical fallacies. Yet obvious logical fallacies is part of the charm of the show. While watching the movie, I was delighted to see the characters I grew up with on the big screen as I did eleven years ago. While the pacing at times was very slow, I still enjoyed most of this film as will most fans of the show. While far from a masterpiece, Sponge out of Water is self-aware enough to embrace in its silliness. I certainly would not spend the time to watch Sponge out of Water a second time, but it is worth a watch for fans of SpongeBob even if it is not the highest quality of cinema.
