SpongeBob SquarePants Movie: Sponge Out of Water

This latest SpongeBob SquarePants movie has a lot to live up to: his previous big screen outing in 2004 was a brilliant mix of the silly and the extremely silly, the kind of gleefully demented kids movie that only comes along once in a decade. Well, it’s been a decade, and when this opens with Antonio Banderas moonwalking around booby-traps to steal a book so he can read a story to a bunch of talking seagulls it quickly becomes clear that “sensible” is not a word you’ll be needing to describe this one.
When the secret formula for Crabby Patties – the hamburger that the residents of Bikini Bottom are addicted to – is destroyed during a battle between SpongeBob (employee at the Krusty Krab, home of the Crabby Patty) and Plankton (evil owner of rival fast food outlet The Chum Bucket) – there’s only one way to get it back: a time machine. Well, there are probably other ways but they don’t have time to figure them out because without Crabby Patties Bikini Bottom has turned into a Mad Max style post apocalyptic wasteland. Much silliness follows. For example, this is a movie that features a time wizard named Bubbles who is a cape-wearing dolphin. It also features a trip inside SpongeBob’s cotton-candy brain (where everything is super-cutesy) and an ending sent on dry land where the main cast (all secondary characters having happily taken themselves out of the picture) turn into super-heroes. It’s fun for kids and funny for adults: it’s more satisfying than a Crabby Patty with cheese.