Netflix’s SpongeBob Movie Is the Most Controversial Entry in the Franchise

Everyone's favorite sea sponge is officially a quarter century old, and to celebrate, Netflix New brand released SpongeBob Last week's movie. This time, a Texas squirrel girl gets her own long-awaited adventure in Saving Bikini Bottom: A Movie Starring Sandy CheeksOn paper, This sounds like a great idea for a movie.;the other SpongeBob The spinoffs of the past few years have been a mixed bag, but Sandy has always been an underutilized character, and the prospect of letting her briefly return to her Texas home is enticing.

Unfortunately, the death sentence was carried out. bikini bottom rescue Leaves a lot to be desired. The negative buzz against the film began to grow when it was accidentally leaked on X/Twitter earlier this year.These concerns have proven to be completely justified. It's a completely unfunny spinoff that never capitalizes on its premise and seems to exist solely to exploit old intellectual property. While the third installment SpongeBob film, sponge on the runhas already proven controversial among fans, and the original film seems to be compared to bikini bottom rescue.

Should SpongeBob have spin-offs?

Read our review

Before discussing the film in more depth, we need to address the elephant in the room: Possibility of any SpongeBob The existence of spin-offs at all is highly controversial among fans.This came as a particularly big shock after series creator Stephen Hillenburg died of ALS in 2018. Less than a year later, Nickelodeon announced a spinoff, Camp Coralfocusing on the younger versions of the series' characters as they attend summer camp.

This announcement has already angered many, Hillenburg was strongly opposed to approving any SpongeBob Sub-productsAccording to veteran series writer Paul Tibbett (via Long readings“When you run out of ideas, you just have to do it.” doll childrenSteve always used to say to me, 'You know, one day, they're going to want to make spongebob kids“This is when I get out of here.”

So it certainly seemed (ahem) suspicious when Nickelodeon announced a spinoff just months after the creator's death and the release of a second product, Patrick Star ShowJust two years later, Tippett didn't take these ads particularly well; in 2019, shortly after Camp Coral “No disrespect to my colleagues who work on this show. They are good people and talented artists. But these are some greedy, lazy executives here, and they all know Steve would hate this,” he wrote on Twitter.

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It is unclear how much truth there is in these stories, as is the case Camp Coral In fact, the series was approved for production a month before Hillenburg's death (other accounts say he approved it), and his name has been mentioned in every spin-off series to date. However, this remains a highly controversial topic among fans, and has only gotten worse since the third series was released. SpongeBob film, sponge on the runincluding flashbacks to serve as extended suspense for Camp Coral (It didn't help that these scenes were a complete rehash of the characters' backstories.) Especially given the mixed reception to both films. Camp Coral and Patrick Star Showanother derivative film that, regardless of its quality, was destined to prove fans' fears that Nickelodeon wanted to continue exploiting its biggest cash cow.

Sandy Cheeks misses chance to shine

Even outside the scope of the idea's polarization SpongeBob The by-product is, The biggest problem with bikini bottom rescue Isn't this funny at all?Worse still, it feels like a missed opportunity; Sandy Cheeks has always been an underappreciated part of the show’s ensemble, and giving her a day in the spotlight isn’t a bad idea on paper. If anything, the concept of letting her briefly return to her Texas home and letting viewers meet her family has great comedic potential. Especially since the first season episode, “Texas,” explored her homesickness, it would have been fun to explore how her family relationships have changed since moving to Bikini Bottom.

but, None of her family members are interesting.Most of these stereotypes seem more Texan than anything else, and almost all of them only get a scene or two before they disappear. And since there's a hint that Sandy's mother wants her to make her return to Texas permanent, it's all the more frustrating when she changes her mind off-screen after just two scenes and promises her daughter that she can visit whenever she wants.

Unfortunately, the same goes for most of the regular characters on the show. Since the plot revolves around SpongeBob and Sandy having to rescue the inhabitants of Bikini Bottom (who have been pulled from the ocean and placed in a scientific aquarium in a blatant parody of the animated film “The Bikini Bottom”), the characters are the same. Finding Nemo), Fan favorites like Patrick, Mr. Krabs, and Squidward disappear for extended periods of screen time.Gary meows two or three times before disappearing, and Plankton suddenly exits the entire movie three-quarters of the way through.

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In their place is a largely unfunny subplot in which Wanda Sykes plays the evil aquarium executive, Sue Nahme (get it?), who plans to clone sea creatures and sell them as pets. Sykes does her best, but she can’t save the raw material, and all of her scenes look shockingly cheap, as if they were shot in a high school classroom.

In fact, perhaps the most shocking thing about this is that bikini bottom rescue How cheap is it? everyone From the looks of it. Even if there was nothing after the first time. SpongeBob The movie lives up to the original three seasons, and we can at least count on the show to always deliver great animation and strong voice acting. Sandy's voice actress, Caroline Lawrence, is usually excellent, but the animation looks on par with the graphics from 2003. SpongeBob Video game Battle for Bikini Bottomand the characters are somehow integrated into the live-action sequences worse than in any of the previous three films. And that's even before the film features Sue Nahmi in flashbacks as a child, with Sykes' head being modified onto a young girl's body (yes, it's just as disturbing as it sounds).

Fans hate Bikini Bottom Rescue, and for good reason.

Even after just a week of its release, it's clear that fans are already considering it. bikini bottom rescue One of the worst releases in all of history. SpongeBob And for good reason; it's sad to see a show that is so popular turn into something so unimportant and uninteresting.

Considering they had such a promising setup at their disposal, only to do almost nothing with it, Sandy Cheeks clearly deserves better than this. Here's hoping for a theatrical release next year. SpongeBob The movie would be better. Bikini Bottom Rescue: Sandy Cheeks Movie Now available to stream on Netflix.