The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water

Spongebob Squarepants is one of the greatest animated television shows of all time. It sounds weird, but for some reason, it shaped the sense of humor of a generation and possibly one of the inspirations that helped exceed the imagination and creativity of many cartoon shows that came after. The show itself has been terrific in its first three seasons, but after its first feature film, it slowly loses its touch until every character becomes something else other than what they were once known for. This latest Spongebob film might be the end of its glory as it seemingly panders the audience into another lame Alvin and the Chipmunks/The Smurfs approach, but surprisingly that only becomes a marketing stunt, and it turns out that most of the movie is basically just like the show, but at its original form. It didn't need any grand or blockbuster type of plot to save the material, we just need to revisit the stuff that we truly loved about Spongebob.

Other than its creative animation and zany undersea world, Spongebob Squarepants has always been known for its richly established characters and unique sense of humor. I haven't seen the show in a while, specifically the newer episodes, but I do remember how the ones that followed season four have become paler incarnations of the show. This feature film, while stuck in posing as a typical family movie fare, is actually meant to stay loyal to what really defines this show. The characters have gone back to their classic personalities (Spongebob can now be reasonable again than just a complete goofball) and the humor is smartly priceless in an ultimately unhinged way. The film doesn't offer anymore bigger plot than retrieving the Krabby Patty secret formula, it's all about fooling at the audiences as it messes with the logic and their senses, the Spongebob way, of course.

The mix of animation and live-action is definitely never a stranger to Spongebob, but its involvement is often taken as a joke. Here, it's supposed to be its central idea. Though, it takes so long for them to get out of the water, in spite of its title, but when they do, it still sticks to its own surreal, extremely ludicrous style. But their welcoming antics up there felt forced, in comparison. The 3D stuff really exists to attract the viewers who thinks it's gonna be a cute adventure with the characters as silly superheroes, but it's mostly just a small payoff to those who have that expectation. It kind of cheats them, otherwise it's a cool trick for instead luring them to what makes this material so enjoyable. But we don't have to underestimate this approach too much, because apparently it's still pretty fun when they are in the real world, giving the humans some hilarious reactions, like the one who's wondering if the Krabby Patty he's eating is hallucinogenic after encountering the gang as superheroes.

As feature film goes, it doesn't go beyond bombastic, if it does then it's all about the weirdness instead of epic proportions. This is basically just like a new episode on a length of an actual movie. And the cast has always been great no matter what. Out of all the cartoons Tom Kenny has been, Spongebob will always be his best and he once again brings the lovable charm to the character. While Antonio Banderas makes a fun turn as the villain, but his moments are the one where he interacts to talking seagulls which amazingly works for this character.

The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out of Water is what the fans deserve. Not sure how the newcomers would exactly react to it, but this movie fully represents the true spirit of the show. It would be a brilliant surprise to the ones who missed this great side of Spongebob. It didn't need any deeper sentiments or darkness (unless we're referring to its twisted humor, because it gets a little close to that.) Sure it's not the best episode ever either, but it has so many elements that remind us why we loved this show in the first place. The out-of-water scenes weren't as bad as many fans were worried about, it's just some randomly crazy addition to an already fun ride. Overall, it's more nostalgic than groundbreaking, I do hope this movie would be the salvation of this show. It won't change anyone's life or anything, we just like Spongebob to be Spongebob again and that's already given too much to a fan like me who grew up with the cartoon.

I love spongebob so it's a bit subjective opinion but still found this film attractive.

This movie wasn't as good as the original movie (mainly because it felt like an hour and a half long episode), but I have to admit that the comedy in this movie was 110% top notch and better than all of the episodes that came after the original movie. When I heard that Stephen Hillenburg returned for the movie, I was excited. However, I can definitely tell that his sense of humor has changed (not in a bad way, though)

For example, Seasons 1-3 (Golden Era of SpongeBob) had some adult humor, mixed in with cartoonish humor for the more kid-friendly side. The original movie was also as such.

Season 4-9 were just straight bland cartoons. Nothing really funny, just Spongebob and Patrick laughing annoyingly for a 30 minute time slot, with the plot being something either rehashed, or just straight bland or predictable.

This movie, however, was WAY different than anything SpongeBob related I've ever seen. The comedy that Stephen Hillenburg brought back to the table was very different than we've seen in Seasons 1-3. The jokes in this movie made me think I was watching a movie like Airplane or Top Gun, the jokes just being unpredictable in the stupidest way, which was extremely funny. For example, there's a part where Plankton tells SpongeBob "Wait! Hold your thoughts!" and SpongeBob is then seen, literally holding a thought bubble, just stupid unpredictable comedy like that. I appreciate that, and love that it is refreshing. There were also some suggestive themes in the movie, so the adult appeal is definitely back!

On the kid side, it was also EXTREMELY different than I've ever seen in SpongeBob. At first, I didn't like how over the top and WEIRD this film was on the kid friendlier side, but I stopped and realized that kids from 1999 and kids from 2015 are ENTIRELY different and have different appeals. After realizing this, all of the randomness and overall WEIRDNESS in this movie made sense. Instead of following the same boring and bland formula from seasons 4-9, someone in the writing staff must have finally said "Listen, we need to catch the appeal of kids today. If we're going to make kids interested in our show, we need to pull them in." and I have to say that it definitely did. I know what the kids are into these days (not trying to sound old), and SpongeBob definitely pulled it off in this new movie.

With an entirely different, hilarious, and refreshing comedy stance than seasons 1-3, and a huge attempt at actually appealing to kids of 2015 rather than following a bland formula, I have to say that Season 10 is going to be one of the best seasons since the show started. It will reel in kids again, as well as appealing to adults with classic humor and unpredictable comedy. I feel as if the entire show is going to be COMPLETELY different, and it will definitely be noticeable!

In a nutshell: Loved the movie, comedy was refreshing and hilarious, the kid friendlier side I thought was stupid, but you have to realize that kids in 2015 are different than kids from 1999.

Let me start off by saying, before I saw this movie, based on the trailers, my expectations were as low as they could possibly be. I was expecting this movie to be the nail in the coffin for the Spongebob franchise, and I was legitimately concerned that I would never see a good thing come from the series ever again. Boy was I wrong. Sponge Out of Water is an absolute TREAT for both old and new fans of the series alike, and the movie kept me entertained to the very end. The 2D animation is the best animation I have seen in a LONG time. I found every frame enjoyable, and it almost has a Ren and Stimpy like feel to it which made me appreciate it so much more. (If you ever watch/re-watch this movie, take a good look at the facial animations during the 2D parts, they're absolutely brilliant). Not only this, but the jokes and gags are hilarious, and only occasionally fall short, but when they do, they make sure to make up for it. (Listen for the "my leg!" recurring gag!). Also this movie is sure to leave you wondering "what will happen next?!" As you can never quite predict what the writers will throw out at you (others have compared this movie to an acid trip, and I don't want to spoil anything, but I found it a rather enjoyable one) The only thing I did not like was the "superpowers" part, (this was the part that turned me off in the first place) as I felt some of them tried "too hard" to make the audience laugh, and it just didn't feel like Spongebob. Thankfully this part only lasts about 20 minutes, and moves onto one of the greatest movie endings, tying it up all in a bow with a nice rap battle that came out of nowhere (Creators of Epic Rap Battles of History), and some interpretative dance from Squidward that parodies his famous dance moves from a previous episode. All in all, this movie would have been a 10/10 if Spongebob stayed anchored, and never had left the water. The live action visuals were impressive, but during those scenes, the comedy hit a dry spell until the last moments of the movie. If you're a long time fan of Spongebob, this is a great movie to relive your childhood a little bit more. (Hopefully the new season of the TV show will be just as good!) Go see this movie.

My assumption is people just say new spongebob sucks and automatically assume it sucks. Quite the contrary. They'd be pretty surprised to probably learn the original creator and writer came back to help make this movie. They used a lot of older humor and elements in general that made it feel like something from seasons 1-3. It was enjoyable to watch, and much better than I had expected.