The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water (2015)
(In French, On TV, November 2021) As someone who doesn’t really follow the SpongeBob SquarePants TV show, I didn’t go out of my way to see The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water during its first run-around in theatres or when it first went around cable TV channels. But my near-complete box-office viewing rate for the 2010s was getting dinged from its absence in my records, and the French dub was right there playing on TV. I’ve seen movies with far less justification. And it turns out… it’s actually pretty good. It’s funny despite many mystifying TV show references, and surprisingly daring in form and content. From the beginning, featuring one live-action pirate and some CGI birds, it’s obvious that this is not going to be your usual animated film. Once SpongeBob and his friends go on their quest, the proceedings get weirder and weirder until we get to the live-action finale featuring computer-animated versions of the Bikini Bottom characters. Handled with some fast pacing and constant invention along the way (including a pretty good scene featuring their universe’s version of the Watchers), Sponge Out of Water is a very entertaining film even for those new to the SpongeBob mythos.