The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water

It’s fitting that The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water is amusing for about half an hour, the same length as the episodes of the animated series upon which it’s based.

However, this second big-screen expansion of the cartoon – which comes 11 years after its predecessor – can’t retain its offbeat charm at feature length, especially once the story makes an ill-conceived voyage away from the ocean floor.

The story starts in familiar territory, with SpongeBob working as a fry cook at the Krusty Krab. But trouble comes when Plankton, the nemesis of restaurant owner Mr. Krabs, steals the coveted secret formula for the popular Krabby Patty.

After a tussle, the formula is lost, leaving the angry locals without Krabby Patties and sending SpongeBob and his friends on a quest to retrieve the formula, transporting them for the first time above water, where they must confront a pirate (Antonio Banderas) and a collection of singing seagulls.

For a movie about formula, perhaps credit is due the makers of The SpongeBob Movie for subverting expectations and trying to break away from the norm. Yet even if that attempt is admirable, and there are some wonderfully eccentric touches along the way, the film winds up turning its back on its characters by taking them out of their comfort zone both literally and figuratively.

While the sequences outside the ocean – which comprise a relatively brief portion of the running time, by the way – will attract the most attention, the most endearing segments are those that keep the characters bumbling and bickering close to home.

Instead, the climax finds them functioning as 3D special effects as they wander on to the beach to poke fun at sunbathers or barely escape a rush of cyclists and skaters. And the film’s attempt to portray those characters who reach the surface as a sort-of ragtag superhero group feels like a half-hearted attempt at mainstream pandering that’s unlikely to please fans or garner many converts.

So the first part of this effort, directed by series regular Paul Tibbitt, would function fine as an episode of the show. But when it tries too hard to become something else, Sponge Out of Water makes us appreciate more who lives in a pineapple under the sea and why he stays there.

Rated PG, 92 minutes.