The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water
Director: Paul Tibbitt
Starring: Tom Kenny,Antonio Banderas, Bill Fagerbakke
92 mins; Class TBA;
KRS Releasing Ltd
I was never a SpongeBob SquarePants fan. There, I’ve said it. I mean, in all fairness to me, I was 30 years old when the character and his world debuted on TV, and I had more pressing matters to attend to at the time.
However, I could not ignore the hype surrounding this walking, talking, square, yellow sea sponge with his brown shorts and little red tie and his equally odd-shaped friends and their lives in the town of Bikini Bottom which lies at the, erm, bottom of the Pacific Ocean. Yet, the hype never hit hard enough for me to check it out. It was inevitable that a 3D film version of the series – now in its 15th year of broadcast – would be made and here it is. And no, I am not a convert.
SpongeBob (voiced by Tom Kenny) and his long-time friends the starfish Patrick (Bill Fagerbakke), Squidward (Rodger Bumpass), the scientist squirrel Sandy (Carolyn Lawrence) and SpongeBob’s boss Mr Krabs (Clancy Brown) carry on with their daily lives in their colourful hometown.
Panic ensues when the top secret recipe for staple food, Krabby Patties, is stolen. Plankton (Mr Lawrence) is the prime suspect, but when it is clear that a more sinister character is involved (the fiendish pirate Burger Beard played by Antonio Banderas), SpongeBobreluctantly teams up with Plankton to get the recipe back.
The first surprise of the movie is the presence of Banderas (in the live-action sequences of the movie), clearly wanting to tick off ‘pantomime villain’ from his wish list of roles to play.
He is dastardly, evil, and comes complete with elaborate beard, pirate hate, manic eyes, evil laugh and no sense of subtlety whatsoever as he hams his way across the role with remarkable relish. He is having a good time, it must be said.
It is ironic that the story starts to sag at the point where SpongeBob and co. leave the relative safety of their world
Also, given the frenzied action surrounding him, he clearly has to keep up with his animated co-stars.
The main voice cast, most of whom have been with these characters since inception, effortlessly bring them to life.
The synergy between them is obvious, the familiarity key to the series’ success, tied to its manic energy, colourful characters, zany plot lines and pun-laden dialogue; its optimistic and cheery tone charming its millions of viewers.
That energy can effortlessly power a 20-minute or so episode. However, over the length of 92 minutes, its energy can be debilitating, as the relatively simple plot is stretched to breaking point and eventually trod underfoot by mind-numbing, relentless action, most of it absurd (talking dolphins in space) if not bordering on the lunatic (a time travel machine fashioned out of a photo booth).
It is ironic that story starts to sag at the point where SpongeBob and co. leave the relative safety of their underwater world and go ashore for the first time.
The novelty of seeing the characters interacting with humans soon wears off. Adults in the audience will soon start to see their interest wane; yet the younger set, at whom this is, erm, squarely aimed, will in all likelihood be riveted.