The Film
"Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?"
Not SpongeBob SquarePants! At least, not in The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water. Well, not for some of it.
This is the film where SpongeBob and his merry band of underwater misfits break free from the shackles of Bikini Bottom. Or something like that.
The movie kicks off with the pirate Burger Beard (a very hairy Antonio Banderas) swiping an ancient book that features the story of SpongeBob and the powers of the Krabby Patty. What makes these burgers so magically delicious? Mr. Krabs is really the only one who knows. SpongeBob should know, but his brain is too full of cotton candy, popsicles, and other bright confections. However, Plankton wants in on the secret, so he plots to steal the formula.
Just as he's about to get his teeny-tiny hands on the goods, SpongeBob catches him and then it magically disappears. Of course, without that formula, there will be no magical Krabby Patties -- for anyone! Soon, Bikini Bottom turns apocalyptic and the townspeople (townsfish?) get crabby without any actual patties. The melee gets even uglier and just when Plankton is about to become fish food, our sweet SpongeBob swoops him up in giant bubble and the two team up in an effort to find that formula.
That plan involves Plankton's computer wife Karen becoming a time machine. What could possibly go wrong? Instead of going back to the time before the formula disappeared, the two end up very far in the future, where a dolphin briefly puts them in charge of the cosmos. You can imagine how well that goes over.
The apocalypse? Time travel? A dolphin defending the universe? SpongeBob laughing like a lunatic? We haven't even talked about how the crew ends up on dry land (hence, the title of the film) and transforms into a band of superheroes. Yes, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water has a lot of craziness, with the same maniacal pace as the Nickelodeon cartoon. It also has the same type of humor.
And thank goodness. You see, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water is really for SpongeBob fans. If you don't count yourself amongst those legions, it's still a clever movie, but also a really stupid one. That's SpongeBob's M.O., isn't it? Just know that it has plenty of laughs and a runtime (93 minutes) that isn't too painful.
The Picture
The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water is a great excuse to don the 3D glasses. It delivers a lot of fun action, but doesn't resort to a ton of cheapie pop-out gimmicks. Well, it has some of those, but they aren't cluttering up the movie like you'd expect. Most of the pop-outs happen after our crazy characters are transported to the real world. There are moments of flying sand, flying ice cream cones, peanuts, cannonballs, bubbles, and flying cannon-filled bubbles. Otherwise, it's mostly about the depth of the image, which is excellent throughout the entire film. And frankly, if the movie had any additional insanity, it would have to come with a warning label. What you get is excellent, to say the least.
The film kicks off with stunning blues and lush greens, as well as the gorgeous browns in the sand. And the awesome thing is that it's not just animation that's producing these eye-popping colors. The live-action/CGI portions of the film are even more impressive than the animated adventures. That's not to say that all of the colorful characters of SpongeBob SquarePants don't pop, but the people, the beach, the sizzling burgers and Antonio Banderas' gnarly beard all all very in your face throughout the movie -- and not just because of the 3D.
The Sound
As mentioned above, you can't have a SpongeBob movie without tons of insanity. The SpongeBob Movie's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track wraps the viewer up in the mayhem quite nicely. The film is loaded with cartoony action, slapstick and general craziness, which fills the entire soundfield. The food fight, the lockdown sequence, time travel, superpowers, and other mayhem all stand out. The music also plays nicely throughout all of the speakers, supporting all of the action without getting in the way of it. All of the various voices (including dolphin ones) in the film are crystal clear as well.
The Extras
Besides a 3D version of the movie, the 3D disc only has one 3D-enhanced extra, the deleted scene "Thank Gosh It's Monday." Since it's animated, it doesn't offer the same depth as one of the live action/CGI moments in the film, but it's still something extra for 3D fans. Otherwise, The SpongeBob Movie has a slew of fun and funny extras. Everything is designed for the short-attention span (SpongeBob fans!), but there are a lot of interesting nuggets about the production, the voice talent, and Antonio Banderas' beard. There are also several songs and deleted/extended scenes to keep the kiddies (and you) entertained well past the feature film's runtime.
Final Thoughts
It's going to leave you with the SpongeBob SquarePants theme on a continuous loop in your head for about three consecutive days, but The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water is still worthy of your time. It has lots of laughs and a clever premise that the entire family should enjoy -- even the ones that aren't SpongeBob fans. If you still find yourself wincing, know that this 3D adventure has some awesome AV and enough interesting extras to make it worth picking up.
Product Details
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