‘Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie’ Review: It’s Cheeks
Spongebob and Sandy Cheek’s latest adventure is the worst installment in the franchise to date.
I’m not a low-attention-span-having Zoomer (I’d like to think). I have no problem putting the phone away and focusing on a film, even a film I don’t particularly like. But boy did this movie test me.
The franchise was supposed to end in 2004 with the release of The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie — that incredible film that was a staple of any proper 2000s childhood. Yet here we are 20 years later, with Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie having been released on Netflix on August 2nd. And while I didn’t expect much from this film, I was shocked by just how bad it was. This movie is awful.
The Animation
This movie is ugly. Viewers get the great misfortune of seeing Sandy Cheeks, Spongebob and the rest of these classic characters rendered in terrible 3D animation. It’s incredibly strange and off-putting. Why was this done? Presumably because it makes their transition to the live action world easier. Yes, the majority of the film takes place on the surface, with a mix of CGI and live action.
The sojourn to Shell City in the original Spongebob film, where Spongebob and Patrick nearly dehydrate and die in a gift shop, and are sent back home by David Hasselhoff, was very exciting. A more extended stay on the surface being the premise of The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water was also fun.
But despite the title, the majority of that film was still underwater, and a more traditional animation style was still used for that part of the film. To see these films become obsessed with dropping these characters in live action, and making them 3D animated for the whole film to better fit, is very sad. The imagination is long gone in the Spongebob franchise, and this is reflected in the dull, lifeless animation.
The Plot
Speaking of a lack of imagination, let’s talk about the plot of the film. Bikini Bottom and its residents, except for Spongebob and Sandy Cheeks, are ripped out of the ocean by B.O.O.T.S. (Bureau Of Official Texas Science), the lab that Sandy works for. Spongebob and Sandy hop on a geyser-like bubble stream that shoots them into the sky, where they land on the wing of an airplane, and then take “super hydration lotion” Sandy invented, so they can survive out of the water.
Spongebob then gets on Sandy’s back and she glides toward the lab, but a tornado blows them off course. When they’re attacked by a gang of rattlesnakes, Sandy has no choice but to whistle to summon her family to save them, who are revealed to be a traveling circus act. After some heartfelt conversation about Sandy’s different direction in life, and a police chase, Sandy and Spongebob continue on their way to the lab.
Meanwhile at the lab, we’re introduced to the villain of the film, Sue Nahmee (get it?), played by acclaimed comedian Wanda Sykes. She’s assisted by Sandy’s old colleagues, Pheobe (Ilia Isorelýs Paulino) and Kyle, played by Matty Cardarople, who many viewers will recognize from at least one of his many minor roles the past decade, including in Jurassic World, Stranger Things, A Series of Unfortunate Events, Free Guy and Fallout. When Spongebob and Sandy arrive, they learn of Sue Nahmee’s plan: to clone the sea creatures and modify them so they can breathe air, so she can sell them as pets. How did she get Pheobe and Kyle to aid her in this evil plan? She installed a vending machine in the lab, and said she might eventually fill it.
Sue Nahmee details her backstory — how as a child she desperately wanted to cuddle with sea creatures, but they always died. To chase this fantasy, she travelled the world, “swimming with swordfish in Saint-Tropez, ogling octopi in Orlando,” until “finally an unfortunate encounter with piranhas in Peru deprived her of her earthly body.” She then throws off her lab coat and fake neck, revealing to everyone that she is in fact a cyborg. She also reveals that all of this is possible thanks to Sandy’s research. Of course, there’s a climactic sequence that doesn’t need to be detailed, that ends with Sue Nahmee’s head flying out of her robot body and landing in a fish, which she loves, because she’s now a fish, as she always wanted. And the Cheeks family performs in Bikini Bottom to the joy of all.
No, I’m not pulling your leg. That is the plot. 82 minutes.
Is This the Best They Can Do?
This is an uninspired, boring and insanely idiotic film. The whole time I simply couldn’t wait for it to be over. I truly can’t recommend it to anyone. Your time will probably be better spent watching pretty much anything else on Netflix. I watched it so you don’t have to.
This is only the first in a series of Spongebob spin-off films starring different characters, the next being Plankton: The Movie releasing next year. I hope that film is a heck of a lot better than this one. Spongebob meant a lot to me as a kid, and listening to Ocean Man still has a profound nostalgic effect on me. If they’re going to keep making Spongebob movies, it would be nice if they were decent.
It would be easy to say I’m just no longer the target audience, but come on, no one can seriously tell me that the original film and whatever this is are of a comparable quality. Hopefully Plankton: The Movie and The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants forgo yet more time spent on the surface with a generic live action villain. Bring back the 2D animation and tell a creative underwater story. That is the only way to possibly justify the continuation of this series, in my opinion.
In the meantime, check out Corey Taylor’s rendition of the Spongebob theme song, and learn how to make a Krabby Patty.
