I Just Saw - Sponge Out Of Water
Alright. So, just hear me out. Before we start: yes, I'm being critical of a Spongebob movie. And yes, this will contain spoilers. So, if you care about Spongebob spoilers, steer clear of here. I'm gonna talk about all of the juicy, spongy details.
As a 17-year-old kid, who did the majority of my growing up so far in the very late 90's and early 2000's; I am a very big fan of Spongebob. Mainly the early stuff, but this was my childhood, and I love it and still find it funny. Not sure what that says about me, but I'd really just like to talk about this movie.
So, the basic plot of the film is that during one of Plankton's schemes to steal the Krabby Patty formula; it disappears into thin air. The lack of Krabby Patties throws Bikini Bottom into an apocalyptic, Mad Max-esque state. After this, the movie falls into a somewhat incoherent plot about time travel, universe-watching dolphins, pirate fry-cooks, and superheroes.
The majority of the film was actually traditional 2D animation, contrary to what literally all of the marketing for the film would have you believe; the live-action segment of the film only makes up the last twenty minutes or so. It was honestly really refreshing to see an animated film made this way. I don't think enough 2D animated films release now-a-days. Although, the animation in this movie felt like it wasn't as good as it was in the first Spongebob film. Now, I think there might be a reason for this, and I'll get into that in a second. The 3D animated segments that were used during the live-action portion of the film looked extremely well done. The characters looked like they belonged in the world, while still retaining their fun and bouncy movements.
Music is important. Even in a film made for kids. One thing you don't have to worry about with this film is the music. With the majority of the original tracks being done by N.E.R.D, Pharrell William's band, the soundtrack is pretty great. The rest of the score being filled with songs from the TV series, bringing back just the right amount of nostalgia and fun needed for certain scenes. The film also features Ennio Morricone's, "Ecstasy of Gold", at a certain point. Which caught me off guard a little bit, but was a welcome surprise none the less.
Now, my biggest criticism with the film wasn't the obvious potty humor, or the under use of Antonio Banderas as Burger Beard. It came from the fact that compared to the first film, which had a definite plot that could easily be followed, there wasn't much to be found here in the way of plot. Sure, the movie has a basic premise to get things started, and to keep them moving; but the film just sort of... 'happens' from scene to scene. The live action climax honestly feels like it comes out of nowhere, and isn't really built up to. It just sort of happens; and there's never a real reason for Spongebob giving the group superpowers. Though, I'll explain why I think this happened in a bit. The movie didn't really feel like it knew what it was doing. Even though the original show runner, Stephen Hillenburg returned to write the film; I have a sneaking suspicion that this is not the script that he had originally written. I think the film was orignally intended to be largely a parody of Mad Max and other post apocalypse films, like Escape From New York.
Now, this is why I feel like the 2D animation of the film suffered, because it felt like the majority of the live action stuff, including the climax was added almost last minute. Here's how I imagine the conversation went; somebody handed in the post-apocalypse script, and another guy in the writing room decided it was a good idea to add in time travel. Some producer probably really liked it, and forced it in. Not a huge deal, I guess, they kind of made it work. Now, the script was finished, but another guy at the studio wanted something to appeal to more kids. What's more popular than Spongebob? Superheroes. "Make the climax like The Avengers", he probably said to the writers, handing them back their script. Well, to do that, they needed a larger villain than Plankton. So, live action pirate happened, so did fancy CG, and so did the 'out-of-nowhere' climax. Thus slashing a majority of the animation budget, and giving it to the live action segment; which is probably why the animation looked a little off in the 2D segments. This is probably why a majority of the marketing, including the title make such a big deal about Spongebob and company leaving the ocean, even though that scene literally only makes up the last 15 to 20 minutes of the film. They needed to get their money's worth out of all the fancy CG and live action stuff they've got. Now we've come full circle.
I also understand that some of my logic might need a little work there; and there is probably a lot more to the production than that. It just feels a little off that the majority of early marketing for this film featured little to no mentions of the live action stuff; then the rest of it only mentioning it, and disregarding the 2D animation which takes up the first hour of the film. Or, I could be completely wrong, and the superhero climax could have been there from the very start. I'll probably never know.
Anyways, I just wrote a whole lot more about a Spongebob movie than I did about Interstellar. But, Interstellar was kind of overrated anyways. I'll probably think of more stuff about this movie I liked, or disliked, but I don't really care. These aren't reviews, it's just me giving my honest first impressions on things. Because, this was Sponge Out Of Water, and I just saw it.