'SpongeBob' movie doesn't mess with successful formula

Nothing new in full length feature of character who lives in 'pineapple under the sea'

As the song goes, "If nautical nonsense is something you wish," then you will love "The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out Of Water."

On the other hand, if you go to the movie hoping that it will be something more for the whole family, along the lines of "Big Hero 6" or "The Lego Movie," you will be disappointed. 

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I have a 6-year-old son, and together we have watched countless episodes of "SpongeBob." I am very familiar with the characters -- Patrick, Mr. Krabs, Plankton and Squidward -- and none of the characters have changed for the film. It all surrounds the common theme in TV show: Plankton is after the secret formula for the Krabby Patty and Mr. Krabs does everything he can to stop Plankton. Just like the formula for those delicious burgers that everyone loves in Bikini Bottom, the movie doesn't deviate from this plot that is familiar and loved by fans.

The big twist comes when friends and enemies have to team up to get the Krabby Patty formula back to Bikini Bottom after it is stolen by Burger Beard, who is played by a fun-loving Antonio Banderas. I didn't know that Banderas was in the film and he brought a breath of fresh air to the storyline. His character is a little bit of a poor-man's Captain Jack Sparrow, but he fits perfectly in this film almost as a parody of an evil pirate. Burger Beard also serves as the narrator to the movie telling the story and re-writing the story as the movie goes on. Eventually, SpongeBob and friends have to go "out of water" to fight Burger Beard on land and stop him from re-writing the story in his favor.

Once the team gets their own page from the book that Burger Beard is re-writing, they use it to their benefit and become super heroes. What ensues is a classic SpongeBob battle complete with ice cream cones, cannon balls and clarinets.

The movie as a whole works for young fans of the show. Even if you haven't watched the TV show before, the writers of the movie do a good job of quickly bringing everyone up to speed on the characters in Bikini Bottom. In many cases, this is a 90-minute version of an episode you'd see on TV, complete with outrageous, and sometime gross, encounters. That being said, the last 30 minutes is the best part -- when we see SpongeBob and his team take on a 3D, CGI animated texture.

My biggest problem with the film is that it didn't do enough to capitalize on the excitement of SpongeBob being out of the water and on land interacting with regular people. That part made up only a third of the movie, and that's being generous, which was disappointing to me and my son. Nickelodeon had an opportunity to do something really different, but instead mostly stuck with a long version of the TV show and added some spice at the end.

Overall, I would recommend the movie if you have someone in your family that simply loves SpongeBob. If you're going to the movie hoping that it will be something along the lines of other full-length animated films that appeal to both adult and child, you'll want to skip the movie.

"The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out Of Water" is just like the Krabby Patty formula itself, there's nothing different about it. And if people love it, make what they love, so they'll come back for more.