The SpongeBob Movie:
Sponge Out Of Water

2.5 Waffles!

In a mix of animation and live action, SpongeBob SquarePants (voice by Tom Kenny) still lives in a pineapple under the sea, but can he save Bikini Bottom when an evil pirate, Burger Beard (Antonio Banderas), steals the secret Krabby Patty recipe, which sends the entire undersea world into a post-apocalyptic terror?

When will they just get to the story?

The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out Of Water is a funny sequel, but it is light on story, heavy on the antics and too slow to get to what the entire audience wants and has been promised. Starting off like a zany episode of the TV show, director Paul Tibbitt and the writing team, after a short little intro of Burger Beard, leap into the crazy, sometimes dark, scenario of a Bikini Bottom gone wild!

Anarchy reigns as the audience learns Krabby Patties contain a secret ingredient that keeps them all happy. Without the delicious treats, everyone starts getting crabby and going bonkers, which has its appeal to kids and adults. We all love to see people act nuts, but some moments, like the crowd calling for the sacrifice of a beloved figure in the movie, could be pushing it a bit too far for the young ones.

Kids will love the wild, outrageous, imaginative behavior peppered with some psychedelic moments, and adults will get some giggles along with them (especially at the all-too-self-aware jokes), but it feels like a horribly designed plan to draw out the movie long enough to be considered a full length feature film (and charge you full length feature film prices for it). Instead of filling the movie with more story, the audience just sees SpongeBob and his cohorts going round and round in circles until the big moment you have all been waiting for.

The driving, compelling reason we want to see The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out Of Water is to witness our favorite heroes emerge from the sea and interact with our world. IT’S IN THE TITLE!!!! I hope you are ready to wait about 2/3rds of the movie to get there.

It’s a massive relief once SpongeBob and the gang find themselves on land, which gives the creative team new inspiration as we see the characters confused by this new world and looking stunning in 3-D. Tibbitt and the writing team could have had so much more fun with this, but all of this is rushed to get to the action and resolve the story.

No one can resist SpongeBob’s goofy charm, so you can’t go wrong by stepping into this world.

The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out Of Water is rated PG for mild action and rude humor.