The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out of Water

Fever Dream: The Movie

I'll admit it: Spongebob is a guilty pleasure of mine.  I know I'm not alone.  A delightfully weird cartoon that hearkens back to the spastic stylings of previous Nicktoon notables like John K and Joe Murray, with the occasional marine biology joke thrown in?  Awesome.  Granted, it took a bit of a dive ahhahahahaoh God stop hitting me for a few seasons once Paul Tibbit took over showrunner duties from creator Stephen Hillenberg, but even today, it endures.

...s-somehow.  I did mention John K, didn't I?

And y'know what else?  The first movie is actually pretty damn funny.  It's infused with every ounce of sugar-rush intensity from the cartoon and has jokes so stupid and out of left field that you just have to laugh. It's everything you'd want from a show that effortlessly appeals to kids and certain botany-enthusiast adults alike.  And much like the show, it's got a killer soundtrack (although think less Tinny Tim and more Twisted Sister).  It was actually intended to serve as the series grand finale, and it shows.

I was as surprised as anyone when a sequel was announced.  Even more surprised was I by the 3D animation used to show Spongebob and the gang in our world.  After all, the same happened in the first movie and it retained the original art style, so why not here? I wanted to be mildly annoyed by this, as it seems like the most common route taken by big-screen live-action adaptation of kiddie properties these days: unconvincing CGI renditions of beloved characters have ~wacky~ adventures in the real world instead of whichever fantastic one they come from. But man...look at this.

It's gorgeous and perfectly captures the manic energy of the show. Special mention goes to the lighting, which is hard to pull off on CGI characters in broad daylight scenes looking at you, Hobbit. Not to mention it's all a perfect translation of the original character designs; not a single detail's been changed, they look like toys come to life.  But for anyone still unconvinced, worry not: despite the heavy emphasis on these scenes in just about every trailer and TV spot, all the titular out of water scenes only take up the last 15-20 minutes of the movie.  The rest of the movie is traditionally animated and feels like a feature-length episode which, while it has some excellent scenes, feels like a feature-length episode.

So what's the story?  Once again, Plankton is trying to steal the Krabby Patty formula. They quickly subvert this oh-so-often retread plot pretty quickly however, for Plankton is not the only one trying to get his microscopic hands on the formuoli.  A live-action pirate by the name of Burgerbeard (played by of all people, Antonio Banderas who I'm quite convinced has lost his mind) gets it first by rewriting a seemingly-magical storybook in which any text in it becomes real. He serves as both antagonist and narrator for this twisted tale, which is kind of neat.

Evidently Krabby Patties are the only thing keeping Bikini Bottom together because without it, things descend into Mad Max-levels of utter anarchy inside of a week.  Spongebob and Plankton, the only witnesses to the formula's literal disappearance into thin air, have to team up to not only find and bring it back, but restore order in the undersea borough. The plot becomes a little disjointed at this point. Although it's actually pretty entertaining watching the apocalyptic exploits of Bikini Bottom, it doesn't last long and one gets the feeling that they came up with different set pieces and concepts for this movie and didn't quite know how to join them together. Random is the name of the game in Sponge Out of Water and there doesn't seem to be any wrong answers. You've got Burgerbeard, war movie tropes, a magic book, time travel, superpowers, a nightmarishly sweet world made of candy and sunshine, the apocalypse, and a magical space dolphin.  Oh wait, did I forget the magic space dolphin?  

Magic. Space. Dolphin.

Animated in stop-motion and voiced by Matt Berry (The IT Crowd, The Mighty Boosh), Bubbles the dolphin holds a position not unlike Marvel Comics' The Watcher, observing the universe for all eternity.  Due to an incident involving a long-overdue bathroom break that ends in the destruction of Venus and Saturn (don't ask, just watch it), Bubbles suddenly becomes available to helps our heroes and does so by giving them the power to breathe on land.  I've got to admit, the space-and-time travel sequences to and from Bubbles' domain are a feast for the eyes.  Botanists, take note.  

I'd go so far as to argue that the much-talked about segment with the characters (Spongebob and Patrick are joined this time by Plankton, Mr. Krabs, Squidward, and Sandy) in CGI is the best part of the movie.  Impressive animation aside, the gags involving their interaction with the real world are clever and pretty entertaining.  The superpowered showdown for the formula between Spongebob & Co. and Burgerbeard is every bit as silly and energetic as you'd expect it to be.  

I'm sure there's a lot that I left out but to be honest, that's because there's a lot going on.  Like I said, it seems like the writers didn't discard any ideas they came up with, no matter how hit-or-miss.  It's hard not to compare Spongebob's second silver screen outing with the first one, because the first one managed to take something as deranged as Spongebob and stretch it out into a coherent feature-length experience that's still fun to watch today.  That's not to say that this one is bad, not by any means.  Kids will surely enjoy its' fast pace and slapstick comedy and adults...well, guess.  It's a pretty solid rental; watch it when you've got nothing else to do.

One more thing: this one actually has MY LEG!! in it.