We must get a remix of SpongeBob’s “Best Day Ever” song titled Worst Day Ever, because that’s how I’m feeling after watching the first spin-off film for SpongeBob SquarePants, Netflix’s Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie. SpongeBob SquarePants was created by Stephen Hillenburg in 1999 and has spawned comics, video games, two spin-off shows, and four films, with two more on the way next year. It is a big, sprawling franchise but, unfortunately, Hillenburg passed away in 2018. It’s sad to say, but it feels like the franchise has been slowly declining ever since. The first SpongeBob SquarePants film was released in 2004, and that was truly one of the greatest animated films to release. It then spawned two sequels, which aren’t close to holding the same title and are considered huge disappointments.
‘Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie’ Fails To Save Me
As mentioned previously, the first SpongeBob SquarePants movie was phenomenal, unlike the next two to follow it. And although those films are bad, I can respect Sponge Out of Water for retaining its 2D animation for the majority of the film, and I can respect Sponge on the Run for visually looking good with its stylistic CG animation. With this latest addition, it’s hard to find one redeeming factor, no matter how hard I try.
The SpongeBob films suffer from the same issues that the majority of the Transformers films struggle with: they’re not good at making their human characters interesting or relevant enough to the story. Seeing humans in SpongeBob SquarePants has always been a pivotal part of the show, but it was always for the sake of a gag and never to have them involved with the plot.
The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie handles it well by only having two human characters: one that is part of an emotional arc for both SpongeBob and Patrick, and the second is a cameo from David Hasselhoff. The sequels start overusing humans, and Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie is the biggest offender of this issue, with 5% of the film taking place in the actual Bikini Bottom and 95% of it taking place on the surface in Texas.
Human Characters Overstay Their Welcome
The issue that persists with this is that the animation for Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie is noticeably worse than any film that’s come before, which comes as a huge disappointment after the last film had incredibly beautiful visuals. When focusing on the background characters, it can sometimes look horrifying, and that’s not to say that the main cast of characters always looked good, because they didn’t. Now mixing bad animation with live action simply isn’t the way to go, yet this is the direction the film goes.
With 95% of this film taking place in Texas, that means we have human characters who are more present in the story than they’ve ever been before, and it’s a show of why we should let human characters in SpongeBob have limited runtimes or simply just be cameos. As Sandy and SpongeBob try to make their way to B.O.O.T.S. Laboratory to rescue Bikini Bottom, we get to meet the scientists at hand there: Phoebe (Ilia Isorelýs Paulino), Kyle (Matthew Cardarople), and the main villain, Sue Nahmee (Wanda Sykes).
We first get to meet Phoebe and Kyle, and it’s harmless at first as they’re simply acting how humans would behave in a Disney Channel live action show. It truly seems like they’re having fun while filming this film, and that’s one thing you can see from the screen, and it’s always pleasant to see when actors are having fun with a film, whether it’s a good film or not. Sue’s introduction as the villain is where this film starts to feel like a cheap version of an Austin Powers movie. She’s quirky and very animated with her movements. The film truly feels like it falls apart from her introduction, though it was already quite disappointing in the lead-up to this reveal.
Visuals That Leave You Wanting Less
Along with the bad animation, the film was also filled with bad CGI, and while I can’t reveal to what extent it’s used as it involves heavy spoilers, it felt like an odd choice with the direction they went with the villain and just the overall execution of this film.
As this is Sandy Cheeks’ movie and not SpongeBob’s, that means we must have supporting characters linked to her. This is where we get the introduction of her family: Pa Cheeks (Craig Robinson), Ma Cheeks, Granny Cheeks, Rowdy Cheeks, and Rosie Cheeks, all voiced by Grey DeLisle, and finally Johnny Knoxville as Randy Cheeks. The Cheeks family is a pleasant addition to this film; they provide humour, and as a circus family, they provide the craziest stunts, but in a film about Sandy Cheeks, they don’t have much runtime compared to other characters.
When looking back at the story, it’s a funny one that kids can relate to. Sue is simply trying to turn the residents of Bikini Bottom into toys for kids. The only issue with this is that once you start to dissect that story, it begins to fall apart. Why kidnap actual fish instead of just making actual toys? Sue’s backstory is also a ridiculous one that is just unnecessary exposition for why she’s doing all this, and by the film’s climax, it makes you feel like the motive she had in the film was the wrong one the entire time.
Final Thoughts
Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie is a disappointing addition to the list of SpongeBob movies. The animation is considerably poor and makes you wonder why they didn’t go for 2D animation while saving the CG for their big theatrical film next year. The story is all over the place, with a considerably lacklustre performance from Wanda Sykes. The entirety of this film feels like a fever dream, and it’s hard to put into words what’s actually going on half the time. The addition of Sandy’s family was a welcome one, but unfortunately, their screen time feels nonexistent due to the focus on these human characters. If this is any sign of what the Plankton film will be like, then I think it’s safe to say that we’re going down a dark path with these spin-off films.
Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie is now streaming on Netflix. Check out a trailer below:
The Review
Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie
Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie is a disappointing addition to the list of SpongeBob movies. The animation is considerably poor and makes you wonder why they didn’t go for 2D animation while saving the CG for their big theatrical film next year.
