I never exactly intended to sign up for Paramount+. However, I had gone for the Apple TV+ packet for CBS All Access and Showtime at what I felt was a reasonable price, and when CBS became Paramount, I still had it. Quite frankly, when I went to take a look around, it didn’t look all that radically different or better than CBS All Access. It did have the Spongebob movie I saw a bunch of trailers for before movie theaters shut down. Now, I am a bit too old for Spongebob and always have been, but I do have nieces and nephews and have seen some. I seem to recall my ex-wife asking aloud what drugs the creators of SpongeBob Squarepants were on when they came up with that show.
As I reflect on that, I seem to recall she loved Ren and Stimpy, but that’s neither here nor there because I did watch that new Spongebob movie.
Life is good in Bikini Bottom for Spongebob Squarepants and his friends. Life goes on as it always does as Spongebob and Patrick Star go about their business, annoying Squidward in the process. Sandy Cheeks is inventing a robot, Mr. Krabs is dreaming of greater profit for his restaurant, and Plankton is scheming to steal the recipe for Krabby Patties. Plankton’s latest scheme fails again, only this time his robotic partner/wife Karen says it isn’t because of Mr. Krabs but because of Spongebob. Spongebob always inadvertently foils Plankton’s plans, so the thing to do is get rid of Spongebob. As it is, the King of the Ocean, Posiedon, is looking for sea snails, the only creature in the entire ocean whose slime is the only thing capable of keeping his facial wrinkles away.
So, Plankton steals Spongebob’s beloved pet snail Gary and sends him off to the king in the Lost City of Atlantic City. Spongebob, learning that, heads off the Lost City that doesn’t seem to be very lost with Patrick, an adventure the rest of the cast soon joins when they realize how terrible life is without Spongebob. Can that plucky sponge find his pet and bring him back?
Now, as I said, I am not exactly a Spongebob fan, but I’ve seen enough to say that it is generally a fairly entertaining and creative cartoon show. I’ve never gone out of my way to see it, but I’ve also generally concluded that I wasn’t really the target audience and that was OK. That doesn’t mean, since I do generally see as much as possible, that I can’t enjoy movies based on TV shows I was too old to enjoy as a kid. Heck, I liked the Dora the Explorer movie, and I’d seen a heck of a lot less of that than I have of Spongebob. So, I wasn’t disposed to love or hate this movie either way.
Ultimately, though this movie was weird–especially considering a mostly live actions segment that included Snoop Dog and Danny Trejo and any time Keanu Reeves appeared as the talking head in a wise tumbleweed named Sage–it never felt like anything truly earthshatteringly original. It was, well, familiar, but not something I had much familiarity for. The animation was in 3D this time around compared to the more traditional 2D look for this series, and some segments showing a younger Spongebob, Patrick, Gary, Squidward, and Sandy had a sort of Muppet Babies sort of appeal…funny how a spin-off series with those characters as kids seems to have suddenly appeared as well.
Anyway, it’s fine, but didn’t do a lot for me.
Grade: C+
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