Spongebob Squarepants: Sponge Out Of Water Movie Review

Spongebob Squarepants: Sponge Out Of Water
My Rating: 4/10

Watching something like Spongebob Squarepants, it is not out of place to expect some funny moments. I loved the original series as a kid and also enjoyed the first film adaptation (That a lot of people did not.) Personally, I thought the first film was both smart and funny. This one is neither.
Sponge Out of Water is, for the most part, kind of boring. There are definitely some good ideas thrown in there, like having Plankton and Spongebob team up! This is such a great idea and I could see something interesting TRYING to break free. But nothing. 

If one were to ask me if I found the film funny, I'd say.... "Well... there was this ONE scene." That's right! One scene made me laugh out loud. It involved a dolphin played by Brit actor, Matt Berry.  It is such an absurd idea with brilliant visuals and a great voice performance from Berry. I give that scene a 10/10. 

The scenes with Zorro himself, Antonio Banderas and a bunch of annoying CGI seagulls were boring and hardly helped push the plot at all. 
The lovable character of the past, Patrick, is now really selfish and deliberately mean to Spongebob. (Although I have since discovered this was actually a development made in the modern TV series between films.)

Sandy the Squirrel is interesting for a few minutes as she becomes somewhat of a conspiracy nut (lol) I would have loved to have seen more of this. 
Squidward is practically not in this film, and when he does appear at the end as a magical super hero he seems to be out of character.

Now I have to talk about the whole CGI aspect of the picture, as it seems to be the most advertised feature. Well, it's fun at first. The characters all get their crazy powers and start blowing stuff up. Once the jokes are done we are just watching the most boring fight scene with Antonio Banderas that just goes on way too long. Boring direction, boring boring boring.

The look of the CGI is fine, but does not really make sense when the characters have been able to travel to the real world without needing to change dimensions in past films/episodes. I admit that's a silly nitpick but it just bugged me. 

All that negativity aside, as a 2d film most of it looks pretty and is refreshing to see on a big screen in these desperate times. The travelling montages are very fun, experimental and have a great tune by Pharrell Williams that kind of speaks for the whole films style. 

But ultimately the film has bad pacing, it's not funny and the plot is only half interesting. But there is a hilarious scene involving a dolphin. 
Go watch the first film if you want to watch something with actual personality. 
"I'm ready, depression. I'm ready, depression."

Rotten Tomatoes Rating:78%
IMDB Rating:6.4/10