I'll be completely honest, my expectations were never high for this movie, although I did predict that it would be better than Sponge on the Run based on its premise. The prospect of getting to know Sandy's family has always intrigued me, and I was hopeful that this movie would offer a deep dive into Sandy's relationship with her family and potentially establish a character arc. Unfortunately, this film did not fulfill any of these expectations. Sandy's family members are one-dimensional stereotypes who lack intriguing backstories of any kind, which left me feeling disinterested throughout all of the sequences featuring them. The movie also lacks a coherent plot, containing numerous scenes that are simply unnecessary or feel disjointed. Two of the most blatant examples are the snake gang and police chase scenes. Neither of these scenes do anything to progress the story forward in any meaningful way, leading me to believe that these scenes were written to distract the viewers from the bare-bones storyline. The cheap animation is another fatal flaw that this movie suffers from. Many of the scenes that take place in Bikini Bottom feel a lot like video game cutscenes due to the cheapness of the animation. The animation during Sue Nahmee's flashback is also a complete embarrassment. The animators somehow thought it was a good idea to poorly photoshop Sue's head onto a child's body instead of hiring an actual child actor to do the job for them. Speaking of Sue Nahmee, I have no idea what the writers were thinking when they came up with her character. Nothing about her is appealing whatsoever and her motives are cliché and downright ridiculous. The way that Sue Nahmee is defeated is also abrupt and confusing, with her turning into a fish and virtually disappearing from the storyline afterwards.
Additionally, the live-action segments are cringeworthy and showcase everything that is wrong with Nickelodeon in its current state. None of the actors looked like they wanted to be there, and the entire thing felt extremely corporate and reeked of executive interference. Lastly, the film completely lacks any form of actual humor, with attempts at jokes, such as the one about streaming on demand, falling flat and contributing to the corporate feel. There is also an entire scene in which SpongeBob tickles the feet of people at the water park, which made me audibly cringe when I watched it. Overall, this movie is a train wreck and an absolute disgrace to the SpongeBob SquarePants franchise. It lacks the energy of the first two movies and feels like a watered-down, corporate rendition of what was once a brilliant series. I am delighted to see that other users have been able to enjoy this movie, but personally it isn't for me and I will certainly never watch it again.
Additionally, the live-action segments are cringeworthy and showcase everything that is wrong with Nickelodeon in its current state. None of the actors looked like they wanted to be there, and the entire thing felt extremely corporate and reeked of executive interference. Lastly, the film completely lacks any form of actual humor, with attempts at jokes, such as the one about streaming on demand, falling flat and contributing to the corporate feel. There is also an entire scene in which SpongeBob tickles the feet of people at the water park, which made me audibly cringe when I watched it. Overall, this movie is a train wreck and an absolute disgrace to the SpongeBob SquarePants franchise. It lacks the energy of the first two movies and feels like a watered-down, corporate rendition of what was once a brilliant series. I am delighted to see that other users have been able to enjoy this movie, but personally it isn't for me and I will certainly never watch it again.