You'd be forgiven for thinking that, 15 years after it first aired, and 11 years since the first Big-screen outing for the character, interest in 'Spongebob Squarepants' would have dwindled. But judging by the solid box office performance of 'The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out Of Water', there are still many fans of the toothy, yellow character out there - in fact, judging how keen my 7-year-old son was to see this, there's most likely a new generation of fans embracing him. And this is really a film for the fans - if you're already initiated in to the zany, borderline surreal antics of Spongebob, Patrick, Krabbs and the rest of the gang, you'll know the sort of silliness that's going to feature in this film. For anyone else, apart from a few genuinely funny moments, you might wonder what the appeal is.
The film expands on what passes as a central 'plot' of
the TV Series - the attempts of bad-guy Plankton to steal the Secret Formula to
the recipe of Krabb's 'Krabby Patties' - served at the burger joint where Spongebob
is the cook. This movie expands on this
through 'real world' interaction with a pirate named 'Burger Beard' (played by
a very game Antonio Banderas) who also wants to steal the formula for his own
Burger establishment. When he succeeds,
Spongebob and his friends team up to go after Burger Beard on dry land,
culminating in an almost 'Avengers'-riffing superhero parody of sorts. I say that's the 'plot', but it doesn't do
justice to the sheer amount of off the wall and borderline surreal scenes and
jokes (with the odd poop-gag thrown in to keep things broad).
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| This film inevitably riffs on the current popularity of Superhero movies. The 'Sponge-vengers', anyone? |
And it has to be said that some of the jokes are
genuinely funny; when Krabby's Secret Formula is lost the entire community of Bikini
Bottom (!) is instantaneously transformed in to a Mad Max-style post apocalypse
- complete with pseudo bondage gear made from sports gear. When the film shifts on to dry land, and the
real world, it seems like the gags are in danger of running out of steam
quickly, but then through a typically odd-ball plot contrivance, Spongebob and
gang become superheroes (powers include making gale-force storms of bubbles,
and the ability to summon ice cream at will..!) and there is an amusing and
entertaining chase scene. An earlier
scene makes amusing reference of the fact that Spongebob has a laugh which many
do find irritating, as well.
Most of what's on offer here will tickle the funny bones
of the younger audience more than their parents, but the film does have an ace up
its the sleeve - casting Matt Berry (Toast of London, The IT Crowd) as an all-powerful
Dolphin from the Future called Bubbles (see, told you it was zany). The scenes in which this character appears
were - to me at least - the funniest in the whole film, due in no small part to
Mr Berry's distinctive and very funny enunciation. Add in some pauses for actual dolphin squealing
and cackling noises, and it is funnier still.
Watching this made me wonder why no one has ever put Matt Berry's vocal
talents to use in an animated feature before (I had a similar revelation in
regards to his former co-star Richard Ayoade watching last year's 'The BoxTrolls'). These scenes gave me some genuine belly
laughs, which is more than can be said of tamer, blatantly child-orientated fayre like the currently
on-release 'Home'.
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| Antonio Banderas is fully committed to the fun as Pirate Burgerbeard |
This is offset sadly by a head-scratching decision to
re-dub some seagull characters to British 'celebrities' like Alan Carr and
Stacey Solomon (seriously, wtf?!?) - which makes no sense when the original
actors aren't exactly unknown here in the UK (anyone who has watched Futurama
will have heard of Billy West, for example).
But it's not likely that any children watching this will notice or be
particularly bothered if they do - they'll be too busy laughing at the antics
of Spongebob and his gang. Grown-ups
might find some laughs as well, depending on how tolerant of the whole thing
they are - if you find Spongebob annoying or just aren't in to particularly
zany humour, you won't be won over by this.
However, it does enough to entertain those who already are, and
even offers some decent laughs along the way (thanks in no small part to Matt
Berry).
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