Directed by Paul Tibbit
Starring: Antonio Banderas
Featuring the Voices of: Tom Kenny, Bill Fagerbakke, Rodger Bumpass, Clancy Brown, Carolyn Lawrence, Mr. Lawrence
Rated PG for mild action and rude humor.
93 minutes
Verdict: Spongebob Squarepants' second outing on the big screen is perfectly decent children's fare and even has the occasional big laugh, not to mention the all-too-welcome presence of a mostly traditionally-animated production, but it's also woefully lacking in the subversive zaniness and heart of the first Spongebob movie, and of the better TV episodes.
YOU MAY ENJOY THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SPONGE OUT OF WATER IF YOU LIKED:
THE SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS MOVIE (2004)
JIMMY NEUTRON: BOY GENIUS (2001)
THE RUGRATS MOVIE (1998)
RANGO (2011)
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES (2014)
From 1999 to 2004, Stephen Hillenburg's Nickelodeon children's animated series Spongebob Squarepants was a a far, far better show than a show of it's kind ought to have been. Markedly subversive and sharp-witted, with just enough heart for substance (but not enough that you'd notice if you weren't looking for it), the "absorbent, yellow and porous" cultural phenomenon even provoked evangelical groups to accuse the show of promoting homosexuality to children. That's how you know it's good. But by Season 4, before which showrunner/series creator Stephen Hillenburg resigned (staying on as executive producer), and writer Paul Tibbit took over as showrunner, the series became a pale imitation of its former self. It became what everyone should have expected the show to be in the first place, a kid's show, loud and colorful, with maybe a good joke here or there, but nothing special. Comparable to the dividing point to the series, in contrast to the hilarious and goofy surrealism of the Hillengurg-directed THE SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS MOVIE released over a decade ago, the Tibbit-directed THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SPONGE OUT OF WATER is a mere kid's movie. It's a decent kid's movie, and does its darnedest to emulate what made the the first three seasons and first feature film starring its characters so special, but it always seems to be grasping at smoke.
Down in the depths of the seafloor community of Bikini Bottom, Spongebob (voiced by Tom Kenny) and his fast food proprietor boss, Mr. Krabs (voiced by Tom Clancy) zealously guard the secret formula to Krabs' Krabby Patty, an addictive burger around which everyone's lives revolve, and which rival restaurateur Plankton (voiced by Mr. Lawrence) would do anything to get his hands on. When the secret formula to the Krabby Patty suddenly vanishes though, all of Bikini Bottom descends into madness, and the number-one suspect, Plankton, is at as much a loss as everyone else. So Spongebob makes the unpopular decision to team up with Plankton and find out what happened to the secret formula, an investigation that will pit them against the pirate Burger Beard (played in live action by Antonio Banderas).
While the marketing has cynically focused almost entirely on the movie's third-act CGI sequences, the movie is refreshingly mostly in the traditionally animated realm, a nearly extinct medium for mainstream family films today. To be fair, the CGI is quite good, and definitely interesting to look at, but feel unnecessary and obligatory to the marketing department.
In the end though, THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SPONGE OUT OF WATER is simply a children's movie, and the opinions of just about anyone older than eight or nine years old aren't particularly relevant. If you're a parent accompanying children, it's only 93 minutes long, and it's not painful. It's just not something that parents will enjoy nearly as much as the kids the movie is aimed at.
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