The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water review: Has a streak of madness

Director: Paul Tibbitt; Screenwriters: Glenn Berger, Jonathan Aibel; Starring: Antonio Banderas, Tom Kenny, Bill Fagerbakke, Rodger Bumpass, Mr Lawrence; Running time: 93 mins; Certificate: U

There's a streak of madness running through The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, elevating it above the usual run-of-the-mill animated fare into something that, at its best, is inspired lunacy. Here's an animation/live-action hybrid that features Antonio Banderas as a pirate-turned-food truck chef, civil war over a burger recipe, the apocalypse, and Matt Berry voicing an intergalactic space dolphin. Suffice to say, this is probably the maddest family film you'll see all year.

Primarily the star of short-form cartoons (episodes are either 11 or 22 minutes long) on Nickelodeon, SpongeBob took a stab at big screen stardom in 2004, but the resulting film didn't quite manage to power the character on to bigger things (despite a starry cast featuring Scarlett Johansson, Alec Baldwin and, er, David Hasselhoff). It remains to be seen if Sponge Out of Water will spawn any immediate sequels, but on the evidence of this outing they wouldn't be unwelcome.

The story centres around the disappearance of the secret Krabby Patty recipe that goes into making the delicious burgers wolfed down by residents of Bikini Bottom. Soon fingers point towards Krusty Krab cook SpongeBob and Plankton. Within hours the underwater town is in post-apocalyptic tatters and the two enemies are forced to team up and head to the surface, bringing with them Patrick, Mr Krabs, Squidward and Sandy, to recover the formula.

The film loses its way somewhat as the action transitions to the surface. The surreal nature of the 2D underwater comedy doesn't work in quite the same way when the characters become 3D CGI creations. Overall, the gags are a mixed bag, but when they hit home the film flies. Banderas dials into just the right side of ham as he bickers with talking seagulls, while Berry's aforementioned dolphin escapades are a highlight.

There are standout slapstick scenes and witty one-liners, too, notably when SpongeBob is attempting to wrestle a key away from a sleeping Patrick and Mr Krabs's "I hope you like leather" declaration when the apocalypse arrives.

Director Paul Tibbitt keeps things moving at a brisk pace, so even when the film sags it's not long before things shuffle along to the next gag. Despite the hit and miss nature of the overall endeavour, there are enough laughs and unfiltered wackiness here to make this worth a watch.

Simon Reynolds

Movies Editor 

Simon has worked as a journalist for more than a decade, writing on staff and freelance for Hearst, Dennis, Future and Autovia titles before joining Cision in 2022.