The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water – Movie Review

Year: 2015

Director: Paul Tibbitt

Writers: Stephen Hillenburg, Paul Tibbitt

Producer: Paul Tibbitt, Mary Parent

Actors: Tom Kenny, Bill Fagerbakke, Mr. Lawrence, Antonio Banderas

Genre: Family/Animation/Comedy

Studio: Paramount

Let’s try this again.

People have had many complicated relationships with other people throughout their lives. Most of the time, those relationships are going to become irreparable when it gets too damaged. For me, I’ve had my share of those. You should never talk about those on the Internet, where anyone can see it. I will talk about one of them here, because it has to do with SpongeBob SquarePants.

This is a cartoon that premiered on Nickelodeon in 1999. Admittedly, I enjoyed it in the beginning. Why wouldn’t I? I was 9 back then. Nickelodeon was one of the only five networks I watched during that time, and if that show was a Nicktoon, you bet I was going to tune in.

Of course, in 2004, I was going into high school and growing out of Nickelodeon. So I began to drift away from the shows on Nickelodeon, and I wasn’t too invested in watching Drake & Josh. Even with that, I wasn’t prepared to hate The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie so much. It not only turned me away from SpongeBob SquarePants, but it also revealed and exploited every problem with the show as a whole. It was repetitive, obnoxious, idiotic, childish, and absolutely painful. This was where the SpongeBob SquarePants franchise jumped the shark. Sure, it did make a lot of money, and it kept the show going. SpongeBob SquarePants is now the longest-running program on Nickelodeon and it continues to gain popularity in reruns, merchandising, and Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards victories. However, all the problems with the movie were carried over into all the subsequent episodes. If you ask anyone that has ever watched the show, they will all tell you that every episode post-2004 has sucked. You’d get the same answer from me. I have a 9-year-old sister that watches SpongeBob, and the only time I’ve ever watched it is when I’m at home and she has it on. When that happens, I go into hate-watch mode, even when that episode airs again on reruns.

At the turn of the decade, SpongeBob has declined in ratings, and some live-action teen shows like iCarly, Big Time Rush, and Victorious overtook it as the most popular shows on Nickelodeon. While it remained the network’s flagship show, it couldn’t keep up with the rising popularity of iCarly, Big Time Rush, and Victorious. Not to mention, a lot of people caught on to the fact that it is garbage now. This year, after all those shows ended and the network’s current live-action teen-oriented content has struggled to catch on, SpongeBob is back on top at Nickelodeon, so the producers decided to seize the opportunity by making another SpongeBob movie. I practically skipped going to see it in the theaters, given my hatred for the show and my initial opinion of the previews. But now that it is out on video, and I had recently witnessed the outcome of the last time a sequel to a Nicktoon movie was released in theaters, I caved in and checked out The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water. Is there anything good in it?

Yeah. You can say that. The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water did exceed my expectations, given there was hardly any. It’s a very exciting adventure that challenges most of the characters and creates heroic storylines. Not to mention, it did a lot better in the animation than what I anticipated. I can’t say that it’s a great film, but it’s an improvement over the first SpongeBob movie, and I can’t really hate it.

Score: 61/100

Recommendation: SpongeBob fans and anyone curious to see if this show has a future can do worse than Sponge Out of Water.

The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie – Movie Review

Year: 2004

Director: Stephen Hillenburg

Writers: Derek Drymon, Tim Hill, Stephen Hillenburg, Kent Osborne, Aaron Springer, Paul Tibbitt

Producer: Stephen Hillenburg, Julia Pistor

Actors: Tom Kenny, Bill Fagerbakke, Alec Baldwin, Scarlett Johansson

Genre: Family/Animation/Comedy

Studio: Paramount

There are times when kids television shows want to branch their businesses further in order to make more money. Sure, merchandising is always the most efficient way to go, but right now, I’m here to talk about the moment when the show puts out an hour-and-a-half movie. Some of those movies can either successfully keep the franchise growing more, or they can tremendously destroy it and mark the beginning of the end for a show. It’s a tricky situation, but the move never ends well for cartoons on Nickelodeon, otherwise known as Nicktoons.

The financial outcome of the movie has always been a make-or-break situation for a Nicktoon’s future. Hey! Arnold did a theatrical movie in 2002, and it did terrible with critics and audiences. The Wild Thornberrys also had a movie that was released in 2002, and it experienced a similar outcome. Rugrats, which was once the biggest show on Nickelodeon, did a trilogy, and it eventually drove the show to its demise (The first two movies were good; the third one blew chunks). After Rugrats went on the decline, the new biggest show on Nickelodeon became SpongeBob SquarePants. Premiering on Nickelodeon back in 1999, the show starred its title character, a happy sponge that lives in an underwater town called Bikini Bottom. His friends include absent-minded best friend Patrick Star, money-hungry boss Mr. Krabs, land squirrel Sandy Cheeks, pet snail Gary, grumpy next-door neighbor Squidward Tentacles, and sometimes nemesis Plankton.

It took the top spot on Nickelodeon around its second year, and it hasn’t looked back since. Its ratings have been constantly big, the merchandise has grossed billions of dollars, the syndicated airings are everywhere, and it has a huge award collection, including 6 Annie Awards, 2 Daytime Emmys, and 12 of the past 13 trophies for Favorite Cartoon at the Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards. The bad news is that most of the SpongeBob episodes are absolutely terrible in content. I am not a SpongeBob fan whatsoever. While Rugrats was a perfect show for kids and adults, The Wild Thornberrys featured brilliant characters and voice actors, and Hey! Arnold had morally positive messages that hold up even stronger 20 years later, SpongeBob SquarePants has annoying, unbearable, idiotic, childish characters with no redeeming qualities. So how does a supposedly kind, harmless, friendly sponge bother me in the worst way possible?

Well, I have the 2004 movie to thank for that. The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie is not only terrible, but it also reveals and exploits every problem with the show as a whole. It’s repetitive, obnoxious, idiotic, childish, and absolutely painful. Those traits that I used to describe the show and its characters have always been present in its early years. Back then, it wasn’t a big problem. You can overlook those qualities because that’s part of its humor. It never has any intention to harm anyone, it has charm and personality, it can benefit the story in some of the episodes, it can even spur a hilarious joke sometimes, and quite frankly, it was too stupid to hate. Those qualities were okay back then. Here, they are all at maximum level, and you begin to realize that these characters are terrible people, even for non-human cartoons.

Score: 2/100

Recommendation: None