DT: Spongebob Movie 2: Sponge out of Water ~ 2015

Apr 12, 201546 min read

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Duckyworth

Published: Apr 12, 2015

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Directors: Paul Tibbit

Rating: U

My Personal Rating:

Hello, my friends! Welcome to the next Duckyworth’s Thoughts review!

Folks, we need to have a little talk today – about an animated series that has been around for about 16 years. The series is, of course, Spongebob Squarepants. I first got into this series when I was about seven years old, and the first three seasons of the show quickly became my favourite cartoon. And fourteen years later, it may not be my NUMBER ONE favourite show anymore – just losing out to Ginga Nagareboshi Gin – but it’s still my second favourite show. And then, as I was nearing the age of ten, something that was like a dream come true for me happened – a MOVIE was released based on the Spongebob Squarepants series. :iconspongebobwowplz: As a nine year old boy who was an avid fan of the show, it was all that I ever wanted, and the weeks before we went to see it at the cinema, I spent 75% of my free time at school watching the trailers on the official Spongebob Movie website over and over again – I think I must have watched the one trailer about twenty times. And then, for my tenth birthday, I went to the cinema with my family to watch the film. How did it go? Well… considering the fact that it’s the ONLY film I went to the cinema TWICE to see during its original cinema run, and the fact that eleven years later, it remains my number one favourite film of all time… I’d say it went very well. Yes, the show and film were staples of my childhood that felt like it would never be tarnished….

And then… THE APOCOLYPSE HAPPENED. What happened, you ask? The next SIX seasons of Spongebob Squarepants happened…. After the film was released, the show began dropping HORRIBLY in quality. True, season four still had a few gems here and there (Shell of a Man, Krusty Towers, Dunces and Dragons etc), but the show was beginning to become a cash cow for Nickelodeon. Worse and worse episodes were being released over the years…. Out of the same show that brought the animation world classic gems like Help Wanted, Band Geeks, Chocolate With Nuts, Pizza Delivery, Graveyard Shift, and Krusty Love came some of the absolute WORST episodes of ANY animated show that, even as a child, I KNEW were pretty damn HORRID. How bad was it, you ask? Well – it started with Good Neighbours. THAT was the first episode where I felt like something was wrong. Then came episodes like Funny Pants, All That Glitters, Stuck in the Wringer, The Splinter, Face Freeze, Toy Store of Doom, The Card, Smooth Jazz in Bikini Bottom, The Thing, Giant Squidward, Boating Buddies, One Coarse Meal, No Hat For Pat (why do people disagree with me on that one? Even if Patrick may not care that he’s being tortured, the torture is STILL horrible to watch, he doesn’t deserve it, Mr Krabs it still HORRIBLY unlikeable in the episode, and it’s creepy how everyone is cheering for Patrick to KILL HIMSELF, even though he hasn’t done anything to deserve it ), Slide Whistle Stooges, Spongebob You’re Fired, Little Yellow Book, Whobob Whatpants, Atlantis Squarepantis, Truth or Square, A Pal For Gary, Demolition Doofus, Pet Sitter Pat, and…. my least favourite animated episode of all time - Are You Happy Now… You know, the episode where they make Squidward look like he’s trying to commit suicide and keep depriving him of the possibility to have a happiest moment, just because he’s Squidward, and Spongebob drives him mentally insane at the end of it? That episode not only spat in the face of continuity because earlier episodes had him have happiest moments, but it was one of the most DEPRESSING episodes I have ever seen in my life. So much, that for two days after watching it, I just felt like all the joy in the world had gone… I had originally quit the show during season 8, after watching the episode Frozen Face Off. The adverts had enraged me for the last time. I had given the show a chance, but they kept lying to me during the adverts, making it seem like an episode had a chance, but then delivering an absolutely HEINOUS episode that threw lies upon lies at me. I thought ‘That’s it! I quit! I gave you a chance, Spongebob, but now – you’re dead to me.’ WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU, SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS?! How could a show that had formed such a great part of my childhood have sunk SO LOW?!

But then…. a miracle happened. Another film was released from the franchise, and the general consensus was… good? Not just good, but people were saying the franchise had finally climbed out of the doldrums and back to the standards that the original show stood for. At first, I was a tad sceptical. I mean – Spongebob had fooled me NUMEROUS times with adverts for their ‘TV movies’, which turned out to be nothing but ratings traps…. But then I heard the original creator, Stephen Hillenburg, had returned to the show. FINALLY, it’s about time someone returned to kick some sense into Zeus Cervus, Casey Alexander, Luke Brookshier, Richard Pursel and their ilk… And I became even more hopeful. After some deliberation, I had decided to myself – ‘Right then, Callum – you may as well give this new film a chance.’ So I went to the cinema, and….. Everyone – I think they’ve finally done it. After SIX HORRIBLE SEASONS of nothing but tripe – Spongebob may FINALLY be crawling out of the darkness and back to the light, slowly but surely. Going in, I KNEW this film wouldn’t be as good as the first one that had become a symbol of my childhood – but part of this film made me feel like a child again…. :happytear: And so, in honour of this gleam of hope that shows there may still be life in the old Sponge yet, let’s take a look at….

SPONGE OUT OF WATER!

So far, the reception for this film seems… mixed, to say the least. Some people say it’s as good as the first film, some are ‘meh’, and some don’t like it at all. What’s my personal standing on it? Well – I’m personally inbetween the first two classes – the film isn’t as good as the first one, in my opinion (because to be perfectly honest – COME ON – after the classic that the first one was, I don’t think the series could make another like it), but I will admit, I was expecting much WORSE. I mean, after a show goes from Band Geeks to Are You Happy Now and yet doesn’t get cancelled, that’s usually a sign the show is doomed to failure. But somehow – I actually ended up laughing at this film – in a good way. Yes – that’s actually one of the reasons why this film so pleasantly surprised me – and this is an important thing – this film is ACTUALLY FUNNY. While the modern episodes like One Coarse Meal, Face Freeze, The Splinter, A Pal For Gary and Pet Sitter Pat just aren’t…. Took you long enough, guys, but you finally grew a funny bone. But I’ll be getting to the jokes this film makes later.

First of all, let’s look at this film’s plot. One thing that some people criticise this film for is that the plot feels like an extended episode of the show. While I do see where they’re coming from with that remark, I have to say…. Is that ALONE a bad thing? I mean, when I saw Shaun the Sheep the Movie and Equestria Girls for the first time, I personally thought THEY felt like extended episodes, and I actually liked those films. If you have a story that is too long to be placed into a normal TV episode, even a two parter, than I personally think it makes more sense to make it as a film. And best of all, if people say that this film is like an extended episode, you have to admit that it’s like the TV films done correctly. In fact, something interesting I noticed about this film is that it seems to take elements from some modern episodes of the show, and manages to improve them surprisingly well. Even though some people may call this laziness and rehashing – I personally feel that this film is taking failed jokes and concepts from earlier episodes and actually finding a way to make them work. Whether that was intentional or not, I personally feel it’s a breath of fresh air that I’m actually finding some reason to be INTERESTED in what’s going on. I found my interest holding MUCH more than I was expecting. So, what’s the story?

A pirate named Burger-Beard travels to the island of Bikini Atoll to obtain a magical book that makes any text written upon it come true. The book tells the story of SpongeBob SquarePants, making a nice little sum up of the premise of the show, in my opinion. In the undersea town of Bikini Bottom, the Krusty Krab is attacked by Plankton. After a military battle with giant foods and condiments, Plankton feigns surrender: he uses a decoy of himself to offer the greedy Mr. Krabs a fake penny, which he hides inside to gain access to Krabs' vault. Plankton steals the formula, leaving a fake in its place. However, just as he is about to escape, SpongeBob catches him. They have a tug of war over the formula, but it magically vanishes before either can claim it. It turns out that the secret formula was actually stolen by Burger-Beard, who wrote in the book that the formula would belong to him. Here’s one thing I like about the film right here – someone ELSE is actually trying to steal the secret formula in this film. I will admit, it wasn’t a problem in the first three seasons and the film, but by the time the EIGHTH season came around, it REALLY wore out its welcome that Plankton was the ONLY one who was trying to steal the Krabby Patty Secret Formula. Come on guys, the Chum Bucket can’t be the ONLY rival business for the Krusty Krab – there must be someone ELSE who takes an interest in destroying the competition by stealing the Krabby Patty secret formula…

Without the secret formula, SpongeBob cannot make more Krabby Patties, and the customers become ravenous. Only SpongeBob believes that Plankton is innocent of stealing the formula, and when all of Bikini Bottom turns on them, SpongeBob rescues Plankton with a giant soap bubble that he and Plankton fly away in. Bikini Bottom is soon reduced to a post-apocalyptic wasteland because of the absence of the cherished and much-relied-on Krabby Patty. ……Yeah, reading that, this sounds an awful bit like the terrible episode WhoBob WhatPants, doesn’t it? So… what makes this plot point work in this film whereas it fails miserably in WhoBob WhatPants? The answer, in my opinion, is context. In that horrible episode I just mentioned, all of Spongebob’s supposed ‘friends’ act incredibly mean spirited to Spongebob through things Spongebob did BY ACCIDENT, and because of his absence, Krabby Patties aren’t being made and the city goes into a riot. That didn’t work there because one, it was absolutely CRUEL why Spongebob was forced to leave town, and two, if Spongebob was essential to the city, why on earth would they force Spongebob out of town? Here – the reason that the Krabby Patties aren’t being made is not due to Spongebob being kicked out of town, but rather for something that NO-ONE had control over. It makes more sense, and it’s also much less mean spirited.

SpongeBob proposes he and Plankton team up to get the formula back; he attempts to show Plankton the meaning of teamwork, but he doesn't quite understand. Here’s another thing I like the idea of – Spongebob and Plankton teaming up. I personally really enjoy the plot where a villain teams up with a hero to stop an even greater evil. And so, Plankton and Spongebob have to team up to bring the true culprit to justice, and bring back order to Bikini Bottom.

Like I said, the film is in NO WAY as strong as the first film, and I can see what people mean by the plot of the show just feeling like an extended episode of the show, and being nowhere near as grand as the first film. Also – here’s a little bit of the criticism I have to make for the plot. The plot that takes place BEFORE the characters go on land is definitely less entertaining than when they do reach land. It’s by no means BORING, and unlike those horrible TV films, what goes on DOES actually have something to do with the plot, instead of being filled with ton upon ton of pointless filler. But it does really feel like they put main focus on the CGI parts in the advertisements on purpose. But on the plus side, it is a nice little way to have to buildup to the CGI parts. And I have to agree with everyone who says that the CGI parts are the best parts in the film. But with that said, the scene where Spongebob and Plankton team up makes way for a scene that would be absolutely HORRIBLE in the hands of Family Guy, but actually manages to be a joke that’s tolerable at least, and actually funny at best – where Spongebob tries to explain what teamwork (or te-am-work, as Plankton puts it ) is to Plankton. And that’s not the only good thing to come out of the first part of the film either. They assemble a time machine to try to head back in time to the time before the formula disappeared, to retrieve the real formula and bring it back to the future, but accidentally travel far into the future, where they meet Bubbles, a magical dolphin whose job it is to oversee the cosmos. This character is actually a character who helps to progress the plot – and as such, unlike the Season 5 – 9 specials, the character isn’t a pointless add on to fill up time and add nothing of substance – you know, like Jack Kahuna Laguna (Spongebob Vs The Big One), Lord Royal Highness (Atlantis Squarepantis) and god knows who else…

And of course, there quite a few good jokes to be had in the first hour or so of the film. For example, when Spongebob and Mr Krabs find out all of the Krabby Patties are gone, Spongebob first screams in a high pitched tone, and then when Mr Krabs sees that the Patties have all gone, he screams in the same way. And even though the climax has the best action in the film, there’s a surprisingly COOL action scene in the first quarter, where Plankton starts bombarding the Krusty Krab with food based weaponry, and Spongebob and Patrick fight back in an all out food fight – and a much BETTER kind of food fight than whatever that horrible film that came out in 2012 was. This involves some pretty cool imagery such as heavy duty pickle guns, spud guns, shooting mayonnaise and even a full blown tank from Plankton! And also, Scooter gets a rather funny moment when he says ‘it’s raining chips!’, ‘it’s raining pickles!’, and finally – ‘it’s raining - *slam* tanks….’ I also found it pretty damn funny when Patrick notices that things aren’t looking too good, and then he runs off saying ‘I just remembered – I don’t work for Mr Krabs!’ I’m not going to lie, I laughed quite a bit at that scene.

Also, let’s talk about the characterisation of the show’s characters in this film. First of all, I’d like to talk about Patrick Star, the character I think needs talking about the most – a character who, in the recent seasons of the show, had devolved from one of my FAVOURITE animated characters to one of my most HATED animated characters…. The character had turned from a lovable idiot into a braindead sociopath who was either MUCH too idiotic or endlessly cruel towards everyone…. And in this film…. It really feels like they LEARNED HOW TO WRITE HIM. But... thankfully, Patrick isn't that bad in this movie. I don't it's the best characterization for the guy, but he doesn't do anything heinous, or cause problems with his stupidity and never make up for them, and, as seen in the trailer, he actually shows concern for Spongebob when he gets hurt. I mean, Patrick does do some things that may seem a bit mean, but first of all – the reason why he does things like report Spongebob to the mob who want to attack Spongebob is that he, like the mob, had been turned into devolved psychos because the Krabby Patty wasn’t around, and they were turning insane because of it. Also, jokes like the time when he used the time machine when Spongebob and Plankton had just come back from the past was because it LOOKED LIKE A PICTURE BOOTH – and Patrick was trying to get his picture taken – you see, that’s BELIEVABLE stupidity, and seen as the time machine was made out of a picture booth, it makes more sense why he mistook it for one. Also, there are many other instances in this film where Patrick’s stupidity seems GENUINE, and not like some horrid scheme of his to get reactions from other people. Remember that one scene in that horrid episode The Card?

Patrick: ‘Spongebob, you can’t always expect my usual brand of stupidity…. I like to mix it up – keep you on your toes’.

Yeah – that line right there flat out made it clear that in that episode, Patrick’s idiotic actions were INTENTIONAL. But in this film, Patrick’s stupid actions seem like his original personality – as in, he’s not doing it on purpose. Well, true, there is one instance that does make me feel a bit like saying ‘Patrick… what are you doing? ‘ That instance is in the climax when Spongebob and his friends have been knocked out by the villain, and Spongebob Is saying ‘We all failed’ and Patrick starts saying ‘Actually, it was pretty much all your fault, Spongebob’. I don’t know why, but for some reason, that line feels a bit off to me. But other than that, Patrick, and most of the other characters for that matter, are close to their original personalities. Took them long enough.

Speaking of which – I actually found Mr Krabs tolerable in this film. Mr Krabs is another character that changed from one of my favourite characters into one of the WORST pieces of living scum that you could conceive – going from a character who simply loved money into someone who would WILLINGLY drive someone to suicide (One Coarse Meal ), and even try to KILL someone to get money from their pain and misery (No Hat For Pat – once again, why do people disagree with me when I say I hate that episode? ) Something that some may people take offence at is the way that Mr Krabs puts Plankton through a torture scene to figure out where the Krabby Patty Secret Formula has gone. Okay – here’s why I don’t take offence towards this scene. First of all, the ‘torture’ is nowhere NEAR as horrible as what Mr Krabs put Patrick through in No Hat For Pat, Plankton in One Coarse Meal, or that one episode where Mr Krabs puts Gary through hell when he develops the power to attract money. Second, the method of torture that Mr Krabs uses is telling a joke, which causes Spongebob to laugh. Unlike Funny Pants or that annoying scene at the beginning of Are You Happy Now, where Spongebob’s annoyingly reading over his happiest memories, Spongebob’s laughter is only held on for as long as necessary. Third, considering the fact that Plankton tried to essentially BOMB the Krusty Krab, this is pretty tame stuff in comparison, so it’s not like Mr Krabs is driving Plankton to suicide over attempted thievery or anything…. Mr Krabs is his cheap self, but like Spongebob, he never commits any heinous actions that make him unlikable. He just wants to get what's rightfully his back.

Also, the scene where Mr Krabs tries to sacrifice Spongebob and Plankton to the sandwich gods may cause some people to get angry. But I’d say that’s like the scenes where the townsfolk start going insane because they’ve been deprived of the Krabby Patty – it’s not for monetary causes, and not something Mr Krabs is willingly doing with a RIGHT FRAME OF MIND, but caused by insanity. You know, like that hilarious scene in Squeaky Boots where Mr Krabs starts going crazy due to the constant squeaking? At least the film is making it clear that the characters AREN’T THINKING STRAIGHT when they’re doing things like this. Plus, something that I have been waiting for YEARS came back in this scene – a ‘my leg’ joke. YES! Thank you for coming home!

The next character I’d like to talk about is one who got a MUCH better chance than she did in the first film, and in some cases, is a genuine improvement from the first film. Yes, that’s right, Sandy Cheeks actually gets a ROLE in this film! While the first film is the superior one, one thing that did bother me regarding the first film is that Sandy barely got any screentime at all….

WHY in tarnation did ah only get TWO LINES in tha last dagnabbin’ film, Nickelodeon?!

Sandy Cheeks does get quite a few funny moments in this film – starting off with a scene where she buys the last Krabby Patty before Burger-Beard steals them. An incredibly starved Patrick comes up to the outside of her teadome, and Sandy sees him slavering over the Krabby Patty, and slowly moves the burger back and forth. The way that she just looks at Patrick while she does this cracked me up quite a bit. The final page of Burger Beard’s book, which has been discarded in the ocean, lands on the tree dome of Sandy – and the next scene after this ends up with a scene which reminded me a bit of Gollum from Lord of the Rings… Crazed by the lack of Krabby Patties, Sandy, who has pasted sketches and drawings of Krabby Patties on her treedome, thinks the page is a sign from the "sandwich gods", and suggests a sacrifice be made to appease them. Is it weird to say that I thought Sandy’s design when she had devolved into a hermit and started going crazy. But as well as this, Sandy does contribute quite a bit to the plot, and it’s a breath of fresh air from her being sadly left out of the action in the first film.

Also, Gary may not have too big a role in the film, but there is funny moment with him when the whole city starts devolving into a state of mental breakdown due to Krabby Patty deprivation – he becomes the King of Snails, who start chasing Spongebob and Plankton…. Very slowly.

Plankton, as always, makes me laugh quite a bit, and next to Squidward, he’s probably one of the characters who have suffered LESS from flanderisation over the years. I’ll talk a bit more about these two when I talk about the superhero climax, because I enjoyed their moments there the most. But I will say this – in the end credits, I LOVED the part where Squidward says ‘Time for a little interpretive dance’, and then he does the dance from Culture Shock. That cracked me up a LOT. Squidward is his usual sarcastic, mellow, and boastful self, and the movie does a good job at cutting him some slack every once in a while, while also pulling off some decent comedy by having any time something bad happens to him be the result of karma.

Finally, Spongebob himself…… Thank you for coming home, Spongebob. Spongebob is his usual naive, childish, and optimistic self and never really comes off as annoying at any times. This is the best characterization for the little yellow guy I've seen in quite a while. One of the funniest moments of the film is when Plankton tries going into Spongebob’s brain and see if he can find out what the formula is, and he instead comes across a much FUNNIER alternative to that episode The Inside Job, where I personally got a few horrifying frights when Plankton started turning into Spongebob and Patrick – yeah, those scenes were quite terrifying to me. Instead of creepily transforming into Spongebob and Patrick in horribly drawn out sequences, we get a look into Spongebob’s psyche…. Kind of a look into a Ren and Stimpy-esque weird world of sickly sweet goodness and innocence. And seeing Plankton come face to face with the sweetness was quite funny to me.

Going into this movie, I KNEW that the character aspect was going to be the part of the movie that would either make it or break it for me. The characters, and how flanderized they've become, was my biggest issue with Spongebob ever since the release of the original movie. However, thankfully, everyone here is written pretty well.

And now, onto the new characters of the film.

First off – the villain of the film, Burger-Beard, played by Antonia Banderas. After reading an interview with Antonia Banderas in a newspaper about a week before I went to see the film, it is pretty clear that Antonia Banderas was getting tired out a bit by the beard pasted to his face, he’s nowhere NEAR as held back as Michael Myers was in The Cat in the Hat remake….. Also, he may not be my favourite villain – he’s nowhere near as threatening as the villains were in the first film (Plankton, Dennis, the Frogfish, the thugs, and the Cyclops were pretty intimidating), but he gets some entertaining moments. Credit to Banderas that he makes a very clichéd role into something pretty entertaining and brings entertainment value in buckets. The film starts off with Burgerbeard travelling to Bikini Atoll, looking for a mystical book that makes any text written upon it come true. Now, that’s actually an interesting little idea – Bikini Atoll has been shown a few times in the show, but the characters never actually went into the jungle area This takes place in a scene that I think may be a bit of an homage to Pirates of the Caribbean and Indiana Jones films – Burgerbeard eludes all kinds of booby traps on the island. His seagull minions removed the final page of the book and rewritten the story so that he gets the formula, converts his ship into a food truck to sell Krabby Patties at a beach community named Salty Shoals. Now, I will be perfectly honest here – the seagulls annoyed me. Yeah, one of the lesser aspects of the film were DEFINITELY the seagulls. Let’s face it, guys, that scene where they point their butts towards Burger Beard and threaten to ‘open fire’ on him did make me cringe slightly…. Hey, not every joke will be a hit. Luckily, there are many more hits than misses in this film.

The team locates Burger-Beard who, using the book, banishes them to Pelican Island. Using Squidward's ink (‘It happens to me when I’m nervous’ – the way Squidward said that was strangely cute ) and the final page, SpongeBob gives way to quite possibly the best superhero team up since Mermaidman and Barnacleboy V, and as good as that episode is, it’s an upgrade that they’re not all beaten without a fight. Spongebob transforms himself and the others into superheroes with special powers- The Invincibubble (SpongeBob), Mr. Superawesomeness (Patrick), Sour Note (Squidward), The Rodent (Sandy), and Sir Pinch-a-Lot (Mr. Krabs). Let me say this right now – I absolutely LOVED this climax and the powers that each character received. Spongebob has a bubble wand on his head that allows him to blow bubbles at a high speed and rate, allowing him to trap cannonballs and render them non-threatening, Patrick has the power to control ice cream – which may not seem like much, but can prove to be a very impressive power indeed, Squidward makes discordant music that has the ability to render people defenceless, Sandy has rodent powers which are actually more awesome than they sound – it makes her act more like a real life squirrel – and I did get laugh when she has to climb up the chain on Burger Beard’s ship to get to the villain, but because she’s acting more like a real life squirrel, she climbs up the chain at the speed of a real life squirrel , and Mr Krabs gets probably the most awesome looking (and oddly ironic) design – he turns into Krab-Borg! The heroes all take part in an awesome battle against Burger Beard, complete with lots of awesome looking powers, chase scenes and slapstick. My favourite moments here are probably Sir Pinch-A-Lot’s rocket claw powers, that scene where Patrick summons ice cream, looks all epic and then just eats it, and the part where Spongebob traps the cannonballs in bubbles. Also, I really like the effects on Burger Beard’s ship – especially when the mass of cannons come out in a way that reminds me of the scene in The Mask when Jim Carrey whips out all those guns and then says ‘Do you feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?’ .

And one of the coolest parts about the climax is what Plankton does. When I first saw this film, I feared that Plankton was going to become a backstabber, but instead, he becomes the hero who saves the day. Plankton, who'd been left on Pelican Island, becomes a muscle-bound hero named Plank-Ton – and while I would USUALLY find that kind of character design disturbing, I find it abstractly hilarious seeing Plankton’s head on that body – it reminds me of that episode of Dexter’s Laboratory where Mandark’s head gets shrunk for some reason - and comes to assist them. Alright! It’s like Big Hero 6, except the aquatic version! After retrieving the formula, Plank-Ton and Invincibubble work together to create one final attack that sends Burger-Beard all the way to Bikini Atoll – and it is rather cool seeing them team up to do this – a villain teaming up with a hero to stop a greater evil. I will admit that the CGI on Burger Beard being held up by Plank-Ton is slightly… less impressive than the rest of the CGI, but that’s minor. Plankton, having learned the values of teamwork, returns the secret formula to Mr. Krabs and the gang uses the final page's magic to return home to Bikini Bottom. This results in another amusing moment when Squidward wants to keep his muscles, but unlike most of the other episodes when Squidward REMAINS sad after he loses something, Spongebob lets him keep a six pack. I wonder if he could add that to his handsome face - :iconhandsomesquidplz:. With Krabby Patties back, Bikini Bottom returns to order, and Plankton re-assumes his role as business rival, bringing things back to the "status quo". Now – I understand why some people may take a bit of offence at this ending, because one thing that a lot of people dislike about Modern Spongebob episodes is that they NEVER let any change come into the story – Spongebob You’re Fired is the biggest example of this – the stories just tend to stick to status quos and NEVER allow themselves to change at all. However, there is one episode of Spongebob, Friend or Foe, which I feel has a similar ending to this, and I can feel a similar tone. In that episode, Mr Krabs and Plankton team up to stop a rival company and discover why it’s so popular. It’s one of the best of the post-movie episodes, and it ends with Mr Krabs and Plankton returning to their status quo after the rival company closes. But it feels like a nice ending, because they’re laughing as they return to the status quo, and Mr Krabs gives Plankton a head start. It’s a pretty funny ending, in my opinion, and this film’s ending reminds me of it.

We also have Bubbles the Dolphin, overseer of the universe. This character is voiced by Matt Berry, a voice actor who always manages to do BRILLIANT Christopher Walken impressions – I’m CERTAIN that it’s the same guy who voiced The Great Worm Spirit in Earthworm Jim. If it’s NOT Christopher Walken, it’s a damn impressive impression of him. And oddly enough, Bubbles reminds me quite a bit of The Great Worm Spirit at times – an abstract entity which has power over the whole universe, but sometimes uses the position to have fun with it. Spongebob and Plankton come across Bubbles when their time machine sends them into the distant future. Instead of coming across Spongetron, a land where everything is chrome, or an endless plane of whiteness (SB-129 references ), they come across an odd looking dimensional window, where Bubbles the dolphin has been forced to overlook everything that happens in the universe. As Spongebob and Plankton are the first people to have arrived in this place, Bubbles asks them a favour to make sure nothing bad happens. This can only end so well…. Spongebob and Plankton do so, but because… you know, they have no mystical power at all, they watch on, Spongebob oblivious to what’s going on, as Saturn and Jupiter collide. Believe it or not – I laughed quite a bit at that – it actually reminds me of that moment in Ren and Stimpy where Ren has a fantasy about blowing up part of the Earth…... In fact, some of the random stuff in this film has a bit of a similar feel to Ren and Stimpy, Earthworm Jim, Adventure Time, Regular Show or Rick and Morty – it may be random in places, but it’s in a good way, in my opinion. And the way Spongebob tries to sweep part of the two DESTROYED PLANETS under a rug is rather amusing. Later on in the film, where Spongebob and his friends have travelled along way, but have no way of making it to the surface where Burgerbeard is on their own, Bubbles returns because SpongeBob, who'd neglected to keep Saturn and Jupiter from colliding, cost him his job as overseer of the universe. See, unlike many of the OTHER modern Spongebob Specials, the new characters HAVE A POINT AND PROGRESS THE STORY. However, he hated the job and is glad to be out of it, and thanks SpongeBob by allowing him and his friends Patrick, Mr. Krabs, Squidward and Sandy the ability to breathe on land. Plankton joins also, stowed away in SpongeBob's sock. Hmm….. okay, a little bit of a question I have here – why is it that Spongebob and Patrick can breath on dry land in the first movie and in Pressure, but not in Sandy’s Treedome or here? Well – with Sandy’s treedome, I can kind of see why that may be the case, because Sandy said that her air is the driest purest air in the whole sea, but…. why here? Anyway, another little comment here – another kind of scene that I’m often not too partial about is scenes where characters are in a larger character’s mouth. I know that may sound like an odd kind of scene for me to rather impartial towards – but it’s probably due to the ungodly amount of VORE online. I can’t even help it – even when I search for tame things online, it comes up on Google Images. But luckily, it’s nowhere near as icky as other scenes I saw involving scenes where characters are inside the mouths of other characters. It reminds me of the scene in Help! I’m a Fish when the fish were using the whale’s mouth as a kind of bus.

During the movie's final scene, Burger-Beard, who lands back on Bikini Atoll, face sticking out of the sand, and his seagull cronies perform a rendition of the SpongeBob SquarePants theme song. And in a pretty weird animation change – Burger Beard’s face gets covered by a portrait and he turns into Painty the pirate – and…. HOLD ON A MINUTE…. Was Burger Beard modelled after Paint the Pirate? However, just before they can finish, Bubbles the dolphin (who finds the song to be annoying) appears and interrupts them. And then they end on a bit of an odd move…. A rap battle between Bubbles and the seagulls. If I remember correctly, it’s not the WORST rap battle ever… but it’s definitely not fit a match for Epic Rap Battles of History… But for the rest of the music in the film, I personally really enjoyed the music in this film. That…. Weird rap battle at the end may have been a bit lame, but it wasn’t enough to make me lose respect for the rest of the music.

Now, what word, in my opinion, best describes this movie? Weird. It's just constant weirdness upon weirdness upon weirdness, but then again SpongeBob has always been weird it's just that here the weirdness has been cranked up to ten, and I love it! There's a lot that doesn't exactly make sense but it's one of those cases when you shouldn't question the craziness and just sit back and enjoy the ride. After watching some episodes of Rick and Morty, I’ve come to realise just how much I find this kind of story telling funny – and best of all, unlike Uncle Grandpa, it’s the GOOD kind of randomness.

Another thing I should talk about is the animation. Despite what the trailers and ads would make you believe the movie doesn't have a lot of CGI, heck, it doesn't even appear until some time into the third act…. But in my opinion, even though, as I said before, the CGI parts are the most entertaining part of the film, it’s REALLY a refresher to FINALLY see another 2D film at the cinema. How long has it been since I last saw a 2D animated film at the cinema? WAY too long, if you ask me. Most of the movie is done with traditional 2D animation and it is really nice to look at. While it's not exactly Disney-quality animation, it's definitely a step up from the usual TV stuff. And like the first movie, any weird facial expressions they throw in are used SPARINGLY. Remember that hilarious ‘unsure’ face that Squidward Tentacles made in Just One Bite? Well, the weird faces in these films are more like THAT, and are nowhere near as bad as those horrifying facial expressions in Face Freeze and Whobob Whatpants. So, rather than wanting to do THIS - , I instead laugh at them. The animation crew clearly put a lot of detail into the animation, particularly the backgrounds. These are probably the nicest backgrounds I've ever seen in a SpongeBob production. The CGI animation is very impressive too - instead of trying to make the characters look hyper realistic, they just take the normal 2D designs and make them 3D. They still look and move as cartoony as their 2D designs, and that's the way it should be done (Now if only the rest of Hollywood would take a note from that… ).

This is definitely a HUGE Step Up from the TV Movies.

It is not as good as the first film, but it was a lot of fun.

I liked the movie. Sure, it's nothing compared to the first film, but it still holds up well to the heart and comedy of the classic episodes, even though the CGI scenes in the trailer were pretty much false advertising. It helps that they did bring back the show's original creator anyway to work on the story.

:iconsayzplz: The film may not be perfect, but it is decent in its own right. Although, I find it disturbing that Squidward gets abs. Also, it is pretty ironic that Mr. Krabs becomes a robot, because in previous episodes, Spongebob mistook him for a robot.

Now that's how all things Spongebob should be

So I see you enjoyed the movie, eh? (Can't wait to see your review! )

That was a beautiful film. XD

I'll just quote my own review of the movie:

"Sponge out of Water is no masterpiece, with some underused characters, lack of subplots and other minor stuff, but it still has well executed live action scenes, good jokes, very likable characters, and a serviceable story...It’s not perfect at all, but the good stuff is so awesome it makes up for the flaws. B+"

Similar to my review of Shaun the Sheep The Movie, I may do a follow up review on this one, because it has been over a week since I saw this film at the time I wrote this review – and it may allow me to comment a bit more on some things that I didn’t comment on in as much detail here. This review is being written from my memories of the film, and with all the harsh words that some haters online say about this film, I have to say, this film MORE than exceeded my expectations. There are still some tweaks to be made here and there, some minor annoyances, and jokes that fall a bit flat at times, but with the character’s personalities being vastly improved from seasons 4-9, the story being a fun little romp that may move and meander a bit in places but still kept me interested throughout and at no point made me want to say ‘I give up’, and some really funny jokes and action filled moments, I’m saying that I’m really happy I saw this film. I’m not sure whether there’s too much we could really LEARN as such from this film, as it’s nowhere near as memorable or powerful as the first film, but after SIX horrible seasons of Spongebob one after another where the show ended up hitting rock bottom and digging even deeper into a pit of black horror, it’s DEFINITELY a breath of fresh air. I’ll personally be buying this film on DVD when it’s released, and I’ll not be watching it as often as the first film, but I’ll say it again – this film made me feel partially like a child again while watching it. It’s also a film that I recommend at least watching, to make your own conclusions and see that at long last, after 11 years of blackness and horror – the Spongebob series may at LONG LAST be climbing out of the doldrums, and back to the warmth of the light that’s been deprived from it for so long. In that sense – maybe THAT’S the true reason why the film is called ‘Sponge Out Of Water’ – because Spongebob has FINALLY leaped out of the blood coated waters of the Styx, and has finally climbed back onto the staircase to a land of promise.

Speaking of climbing out of the forgotten obscure depths and back into the light where it finally belongs – next time, I’ll be diving into the depths of the forgotten feature length animations out there, and bringing a film that I feel deserves more appreciation. The next film will be a little German film based on the Grimm’s Fairy Tale ‘The Musicians of Bremen’, and a film that I had personally remembered bits of pieces of for fifteen years, but now, I have finally found it again – a little film called ‘The Fearless Five’.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m in the mood for a Triple Gooberberry Sunrise….. See you all next time!

UPCOMING REVIEWS

171. The Fearless Four

172. The Magic Voyage

173. The True Story of Puss ‘n Boots

174. Bolt

175. The Fox and the Hound 2

176. Chirin No Suzu

177. Rock-A-Doodle

178. The Pebble and The Penguin

179. Daisy – A Hen Into The Wild

180. The Secret of NIMH 2: Timmy to the Rescue