Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie (2024)

"Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie" stars Carolyn Lawrence, Tom Kenny, Clancy Brown, Bill Fagerbakke, Mr. Lawrence, Rodger Bumpass, Johnny Knoxville, Craig Robinson, Grey DeLisle, Ilia Isorelýs Paulino, Matty Cardarople, and Wanda Sykes.  Released on Netflix on August 2, 2024, the film has Sandy Cheeks and SpongeBob SquarePants saving their hometown from an evil CEO.

The film was directed by Liza Johnson, who also directed "Return", "Hateship, Loveship", and "Elvis & Nixon".  It is based on the television series SpongeBob SquarePants created by Stephen Hillenburg.  It seems like yesterday when I was introduced to Nickelodeon's most iconic sea sponge in 1999.  My five-year-old self was immediately hooked on the cartoony shenanigans and colorful, sea-worthy backgrounds surrounded by memorable characters and exaggerated humor, and I have been a fan ever since.  Twenty-five years later, my 30-year-old self still watches "SpongeBob" occasionally with no shame in my body whatsoever.  This latest milestone for the classic Nickelodeon cartoon is quite fitting for several reasons.  Its 25th anniversary not only fits the famous "24" joke from one of its earlier episodes, "New Student Starfish", but it's also the year we have a new SpongeBob movie to endure.  However, instead of being a theatrical release like the first two SpongeBob films, it's a straight-to-streaming Netflix movie centering on one of the protagonist's best friends as part of Nickelodeon's strategy of making spin-off films centering on characters other than SpongeBob.  As if two spin-off shows weren't enough to milk this sea-cow dry.  Does it provide another seaworthy adventure worth diving into or prove that the franchise continues to tread on rough waters?  Let's find out.

The story centers on Sandy Cheeks (Lawrence), a squirrel cowgirl living in the undersea town of Bikini Bottom with her best friend, SpongeBob SquarePants (Kenny).  However, her tranquil sea life turns upside down when Bikini Bottom is suddenly scooped out of the ocean by a laboratory known as B.O.O.T.S.  The lab is led by Sue Nahmee (Sykes), a CEO who plans to profit the town's residents, including Patrick Star (Fagerbakke) and Mr. Krabs (Brown).  Upon learning that the city is taken to her home state of Texas, Sandy and SpongeBob travel to the real world to save their friends.  During their journey, Sandy also must face her past when her family arrives to assist the duo.

Undoubtedly, I was eager to watch anything SpongeBob-related, especially the movies.  "Saving Bikini Bottom" is unsurprisingly one of them, mainly because I loved Sandy Cheeks as much as SpongeBob.  However, it's also because of its rough journey toward its release on Netflix that intrigued me.  As many of you know, back in January, the entire film was leaked as a video upload on Twitter for all of us to see, with most people not feeling amused with the final results.  I know it's called "X", but I'm still calling it Twitter because naming it "X" makes it sound like I'm watching porn.  Fortunately, I was smart enough to avoid this leak, as I wanted to view the film the way it was meant to be seen: on a larger smart T.V. or computer equipped with the Netflix app or website.  So, now that I finally gotten the time to watch it, how did it compare to SpongeBob's other movie-sized adventures?  Honestly, not by much.

As someone who enjoys watching SpongeBob occasionally, I was mildly amused by the aesthetic of "Saving Bikini Bottom".  It's a movie based on "SpongeBob SquarePants", ranging from its chaotic visual gags and cartoonish slapstick to the nonsensical yet harmlessly enjoyable plot.  It's exactly what you'd expect from a SpongeBob film, minus the source material's 2D animation style.  But, of course, I am also a film critic, so I had to put aside my childish obsession with SpongeBob and review the movie as its own project.  Sadly, from that perspective, I found "Saving Bikini Bottom" to be a surprisingly disappointing entry in Nickelodeon's iconic undersea franchise.  It's not without a few tolerable moments, but in regards to what it introduced in its storyline, it had many more misses than hits to make its plot work.

While "Saving Bikini Bottom" is classified as a SpongeBob movie, it's technically Sandy's movie, with SpongeBob as a supporting character.  To give the film credit, it had plenty of intriguing story elements that could've provided some heart and depth to its protagonist and messages.  That includes Sandy facing her past regarding her connection to the science lab where she once worked.  The other is Sandy's family, a traveling circus act who assist her and SpongeBob in rescuing her sea home.  In the show, Sandy is known to be the only land squirrel to reside in Bikini Bottom, making her a "fish-out-of-water" outsider due to her scientific knowledge, appearance, and cowgirl traditions.  This was briefly explored in the series, but the elements present in the movie showcased an intriguing opportunity to give Sandy some much-needed depth.  Her connection with B.O.O.T.S. and the family she left behind would've taken Sandy on a personal journey to discovering the importance of family and acceptance.

But, of course, this is "SpongeBob SquarePants" we're talking about.  Everyone knows that a franchise like that shouldn't be that deep.  However, when it comes to its cinematic outings, it doesn't hurt to add some character depth amid their nautical misadventures outside Bikini Bottom.  "The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie" handled this mixture the best 20 years ago, with SpongeBob learning to accept himself during his quest to retrieve Neptune's crown.  The other two movies didn't match this type of heart in their storytelling, but they easily compensated with their harmless enjoyability.  "Saving Bikini Bottom", on the other hand, lacked this element on both fronts.  That's not to say it's as dull as "Harold and the Purple Crayon" since it had enough wacky, fast-paced visual gags to divert the franchise's younger fans and myself.  But when it comes to its story, it's a surreally lackluster Texas adventure that'll make older fans feel dehydrated for the wrong reasons.  It had the ingredients to make "Saving Bikini Bottom" another satisfying family film on Netflix.  Sadly, director Liza Johnson and screenwriters Tom Stern and Kaz failed to commit to those ideas further, favoring amusing yet forgettable gags over a compelling narrative.  Although Sue's head on a child's body was something I'll never forget anytime soon.

Regarding the positives in "Saving Bikini Bottom", I can say that the voice cast did what they could in their lively vocal performances.  Carolyn Lawrence is still in top form regarding her entertaining performance as Sandy Cheeks, with Tom Kenny following suit as SpongeBob.  Sixty-two years old, and Kenny still hasn't missed a beat in delivering that good old spongey charm.  The rest of the cast, mainly the Cheeks family, did pretty well with what they're given in their short screen time, including Craig Robinson and Johnny Knoxville as Pa Cheeks and Randy Cheeks, respectively.  At least Knoxville had something else to do besides trying to kill himself through his insane stunts, even if it was voicing a cartoon Texas squirrel.  But what about the live-action cast?  Well, there isn't much to talk about, and that's probably a good thing because the actors lacked the enthusiasm in their performances and comedy to make them stand out from their animated co-stars.  Wanda Sykes was pretty weak as the film's antagonist, Sue Nahmee, and Ilia Isorelýs Paulino didn't fare any better as Phoebe, one of Sandy's colleagues.  

Finally, we have the animation.  "Saving Bikini Bottom" is another SpongeBob movie to utilize CGI animation instead of the show's traditional 2D style, following "Sponge on the Run".  However, instead of using that movie's stylized animation, "Saving Bikini Bottom" relied on the plain old CGI style for the animated sequences and character designs.  For the most part, the animation did its job in recapturing the show's cartoony squishiness and visual slapstick in 3D form.  Unfortunately, it's also not without certain moments that made its blend of live-action and animation look off-putting and shoddy.  Some of its visual gags were admittedly surreal, which is the franchise's purpose, but the movements and erratic nature were a bit too floaty and slow compared to the series and the previous movies.  The animation style wasn't a complete train wreck, but regarding its direction, it made me wish that the franchise had returned to using 2D animation for their movies.

Overall, "Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie" is a lackluster spongey adventure that struggles to save itself from disappointing mediocrity.  It's hard to ignore that the film is exactly what a SpongeBob product should be: harmless, goofy, and random.  But, when compared to the previous SpongeBob movies, especially the first one, "Saving Bikini Bottom" is a subpar and cheap Texas roundup that strains the undersea franchise too thin.  The voice cast was top-notch in their roles, and some visual gags were mildly delightful.  Sadly, its disappointing script, unenthusiastic live-action cast, forgettable humor, and run-of-the-mill animation are enough to send the film down to the deepest part of the ocean.  Considering it is the first of many spin-off films releasing soon, this wasn't a great first impression it hoped for.  It's worth watching once if you're a fan of the animated franchise.  Otherwise, you're better off waiting for SpongeBob's latest big-screen adventure premiering next year.

D