The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water

Details: By Loron Hays; 04 February 2015

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The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out of Water

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Are you ready kids?!

Stephen Hillenburg’s TV toon that’s all about nautical nonsense returns to the silver screen with The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water. While the television show and its hour-long specials have moved on past the glories of the first three seasons with mixed results, Sponge Out of Water mostly recaptures the charm and magic of the residents in Bikini Bottom and is only a slight notch below SpongeBob’s first feature-length foray into the movies, 2004’s sun-kissed, 5-star rated (by me) The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie.

Opening with a hilarious live-action performance from Antonio Banderas as the prickly pirate Burger Beard in search of a rare and treasured book, Sponge Out of Water dives headfirst into the ocean as Burger Beard opens the pages of his magical discovery. As we settle back, one can’t help but wonder what exactly makes the book so special. We will soon find out…

While it might be a lot of work to turn a 22-minute cartoon into a feature-length adventure, the show’s writer and executive producer (and now, with this film, director) Paul Tibbitt and co-writers Glenn Berger and Jonathan Aibel nail the silly extensions and nautical-themed tangents with plenty of good-natured humor and adult-situated friendly references. Obviously, a lot of children won’t get some of the jokes or references (I mean, what tween isn’t hip to the films of Stanley Kubrick?) but there’s enough kid-friendly material to keep the children harnessed to the screen while the adults guffaw next to them.

After a brief introduction to our Bikini-Bottomed heroes, we learn that Plankton (Mr. Lawrence) is up to his old tricks against the Krusty Krab. He wants the recipe for Krabby patties, the one thing that keeps the penny-pinching Mr. Krabs (Clancy Brown) in business and his employees, SpongeBob (Tom Kenny, still very much alive in spite of those silly internet rumors) and Squidward (Rodger Bumpass) with a job and – for SpongeBob and best friend Patrick Star (Bill Fagerbakke) - out of trouble. Apparently, Krabby patties are what also keeps Bikini Bottom just this side of post-apocalyptic chaos because - when the secret recipe goes missing as a result of Plankton’s devious plan – madness engulfs its 538 citizens. Everyone is on edge and wearing leather harnesses and facemasks à la Mad Max.

Bikini Bottom (formerly known as Bikini Gulch, possibly known as Dead Eye Gulch, temporarily known as Bikini Bikini Bottomshire) will never be the same if the missing recipe can’t be found. The place is recklessly spiraling out of control. It will take SpongeBob, his friends, and an unlikely alliance between foes on a voyage from 2D animation to 3D live-action (complete with some hilarious sight gags) in order to save the day. Go-to jingle-smith Pharrell Williams contributes some goofy original songs alongside NERD bandmates Chad Hugo and Shay Haley but they are nothing compared to, say, the use of “Happy” from Despicable Me 2. It’s the non-stop silliness that keeps this one afloat.

Don’t let the advertisements fool you, though. That whole Avengers-inspired 3D live-action bit isn’t until the third act. It’s awesome, mind you, and completely worth it with a series of great gags. Sponge Out of Water is, thankfully, a mostly animated and familiar affair, but it’s a whale of a tale to behold on a large screen. Gloriously goofy and mind-warpingly engaging, the animated antics deal with very comical looks at sacrifice, the Fisher King mythos, water torture (another pun), the whole food truck phenomenon, and (as Plankton travels through the innervisions of SpongeBob’s mind) incredible journeys of time and space that, ultimately, have our friends coming out of the water and back to where the whole adventure started.

With 15 years in the vaults, the good news with The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water is that you don’t have to be an undersea fan of television’s SpongeBob to get swept up with its crazy enchantment … but it helps.

So…

Are you ready, kids?!

“Aye, aye Captain!”

I can’t hear youuuuuuuuuu!

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[tab title="Film Details"]

MPAA Rating: PG for mild action and rude humor
Runtime: 93 mins
Director: Paul Tibbett
Writer: Glenn Berger, Jonathan Aibel
Cast: Tom Kenny, Antonio Banderas, Bill Fagerbakke
Genre: Family | Animated | Comedy
Tagline: Making waves in our world
Memorable Movie Quote: "Alright, all secondary characters, come with me."
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Official Site: http://www.spongebobmovie.com/
Release Date: February 6, 2015
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date: June 2, 2015
Synopsis: SpongeBob goes on a quest to discover a stolen recipe that takes him to our dimension, our world, where he tangles with a pirate!

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[tab title="Blu-ray Review"]

The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out of Water

Blu-ray Details:

Available on Blu-ray - June 2, 2014
Screen Formats: 1.85:1
Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese
Audio:English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1; French: Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps); Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps); Portuguese: Dolby Digital 5.1
Discs: 50GB Blu-ray Disc; Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD); UV digital copy; iTunes digital copy; Digital copy; DVD copy
Region Encoding: A

Paramount continues to do right by SpongeBob Squarepants with the release of Sponge Out of Water on blu-ray. The 1080p transfer is a crispy mix of animation, live action, and CGI that is always visually engaged. Seriously. There’s not a mark against this HD transfer. Combining all the elements of the cartoon with some serious 3D CGI, the results are not disappointing. Colors are pure perfection. Black levels are thick and never wavering and the classic SpongeBob animation is dramatically brought to life as a perfect counterpart to the live action segments. Colors are well saturated and dynamic with great attention to details throughout. Also of note is the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack which is notable for its sonic brilliance as it fires up and delivers quality immersion in the nautical nonsense of this animated world.

Supplements:

Commentary:

None

Special Features:

Paramount’s initial blu-ray release of Sponge Out of Water features three sections of supplemental items that are a bit tricky to navigate (which is why lumping them together makes more sense). The first section, On the Surface, deals with the making of the movie. The second section, Underwater Awesomeness, looks at the details in getting the SpongeBob treatment right. The final section, Bikini Bottom Boogie, discusses the songs and music of the film. About 30 minutes of hilarious Deleted/Extended/Alternate/Test Scenes round out the collection. A DVD copy of the film and a voucher for a UV/iTunes digital copy is also included.