There is a strong chance many of you out there will feel a bit old with what I am about to say. Back in 1999, I was six years old. The reason I bring this up is because the television program “SpongeBob SquarePants” started airing that year. As a kid who watched a ton of cartoons, “SpongeBob” was one of my favorites, and to this day, I can still go back and watch those first three or four seasons not only with nostalgia but legitimate enjoyment. The writing, animation, and vocal performances on that show are unique, vibrant, and, most importantly, really funny. The jokes drift from the silliest of silly to the driest of wit. Not a week goes by without me quoting it at least half a dozen times.
Despite my love for those early years, the recent seasons, which I check up on now and again, have not been the greatest. The jokes drift a lot more to the kiddy side of things and now the show is entering its sixteenth year, it felt like wheels were spinning but the car was in park. So, when a film version of it was announced, I was not all that interested. When trailers started coming out and I learned some of the film was on land with CG animation, I thought they had jumped the shark entirely. Turns out, I was wrong. The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water shows there is still humor to be mined from the residents of Bikini Bottom.
The setup for this tale is a rather commonplace in the series. Plankton (Mr. Lawrence) is trying to steal the secret formula for the Krabby Patty, the most delicious burger in the world. The battle comes down to SpongeBob (Tom Kenny) and Plankton doing tug of war with the formula when, suddenly, it vanishes from their hands without explanation. The loss of the formula plunges Bikini Bottom into a leather-clad apocalypse with SpongeBob and Plankton being forced to team (or T.M.) up to find out what happened. Unbeknownst to all of them, however, is a pirate (Antonio Banderas) controlling the whole story with a book.
A massive part of the marketing for the film has been the primary SpongeBob characters going on dry land to retrieve back the formula. Hell, “Sponge Out of Water” is part of the title. You would think that would be the majority of the film. Thankfully, that is not the case. 75% of the film is the traditional, 2D animation of the show, with them leaving the ocean saved for the climax. This allows the story to exist in an extremely well defined world where gags are ripe for the picking.
Whether it be Plankton’s sly putdowns or Patrick’s (Bill Fagerbakke) constant stupidity, every character is consistently funny. By now, the people working on this film know these collection of characters inside and out. They know what traits each one has to make for the best joke.
The jokes are not just of the verbal type, a problem that plagues a lot of comedies today. The directors (Paul Tibbitt for the animation and Mike Mitchell for the live action) use the visual aspect of film to get laughs. From camera moves to creative framing to the perfect instance to cut, they have a deft hand at finding humor everywhere.
Well, I shouldn’t say “they”. The Tibbitt animation sequences are far more successful than the Mitchell live action stuff. When the group does leave the ocean in the third act, the jokes come much more slowly, as they now are devoting time to the plot. There is a big action climax that I could take or leave. It was not particularly exciting, and I just wanted them to wrap it up. The strength here is not in the story.
I won’t say this is the best SpongeBob material out there. Those first couple of seasons are still far above the quality here (even when the film redoes a few jokes from that time), but that does not mean it was an unsuccessful time in the theater. If you are totally unfamiliar with this world, which at this point is your own fault, I do not know how this will play for you. It does depend a lot on you knowing who these people are and their relationships to one another. But you have had sixteen years of episodes to know them, and I think it is a fair assumption for the filmmakers to make. It boils down to I laughed a lot. It is not the greatest story and the climax is overdone, but I laughed. It’s not the best SpongeBob, but it’s very good SpongeBob.
