The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out of Water - C+

Rated PG, 93 minutes
Wes's Grade: C+

"The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out of Water" is silly fun, but it should stay in the water

Unless you're a real fan of the "Spongebob Squarepants" animated TV series, then you're likely to be a real Krabby Pattie after seeing the silly, uneven new animated film "The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out of Water," a sequel to the 2004 hit "Spongebob Movie" and another story that follows all the characters from the TV series. While admittedly charming and full of the normal non-sequitur nonsense loyalists of the series have come to expect, it seems to be a bait-and-switch when most of the action still takes place underwater. "Sponge Out of Water" concerns a pirate and restauranteur named Burger Beard (Antonio Banderas, doing his normal "Zorro" and "Puss in Boots" schtick), out to steal the secret Krabby Pattie recipe from Sponge Bob (Tom Kinney) and the folks at Krusty Krab, throwing Bikini Bottom into a state of chaos until Sponge Bob and his pals go on dry land to get it back. Directed by "Spongebob Squarepants" TV series producer Paul Tibbett and co-written by Glenn Burger and Jonathan Aibel ("Kung Fu Panda"), "The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out of Water" is fun and full of energy, but also thin and hardly anything new, coming across as essentially an oversize "Spongbob" TV episode. It takes a considerable amount of time (a full hour) to get to the live-action sequences that have been prominently featured in trailers for the film, and even then, it's not as near as fun as what came before it. No pun intended, but the movie feels a little watered down by the time it gets to those last 30 minutes, zapping it of some of its trademark sharp and tongue-in-cheek humor, and it just doesn't feel the same. The target audience for "Spongebob" likely skewers a little different than Disney would, and it's anyone's guess if they follow him to dry land, where it's less amusing and less edgy (even those sarcastic talking birds aren't that funny), but they'll still likely make this inferior sequel at least a modest hit at the box-office. The silly but unnecessary "The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out of Water" was perhaps a good idea on paper, but Spongebob should stay underwater where he belongs. For diehard fans of the series only.