There’s middling fun to be had in SpongeBob Squarepants second movie outing

REVIEW: SPONGEBOB Squarepants runs a distant second to Shaun the Sheep in the competition between movies based on a popular TV show.

The SpongeBob Movie : Sponge Out of Water (PG)

Director : Paul Tibbitt (feature debut)

Starring : Antonio Banderas and the voices of Tom Kenny, Bill Fagerbakke, Rodger Bumpass, Matt Berry.

Rating : **1/2

And soak say all of us

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For those coming late to the whole SpongeBob SquarePants thing, here’s the necessary catch-up intel.

He’s been a surreal staple of kids’ TV programming since the late 1990s: a serenely silly, nicotine-yellow talking kitchen-sponge who works as a short-order cook at a fast-food restaurant located on the ocean floor.

For those who are aware of the whole SpongeBob SquarePants thing, well, you’re probably just as surprised as me that he is still a thing at all.

Especially when it comes to warranting a belated big-screen sequel to his so-so-with-the-ha-ha 2004 big-screen debut The SpongeBob Squarepants Movie.

Nevertheless, here we all are, and there he is in downtown Bikini Bottom, still a corporate slave to the capitalist chicanery of Krabby Patty burger tycoon Mr Krabs.

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Busy nonsense ... SpongeBob SquarePants (as The Invincibubble) and Antonio Banderas (as Burger Beard) in Sponge out of Water.

The plot for this middling outing features yet more petty villainy from that small-fry bad guy Plankton, still hell-bent on stealing the super-secret Krabby Patty recipe for his own nefarious purposes.

The movie barrels along in a familiarly frenetic gear until the final act, where SpongeBob, Plankton, Squidward, Sandy the squirrel and poor old Patrick the starfish are catapulted in the real world to confront an all-new nemesis.

He is a live-action land-lubber named Burger-Beard (played by Antonio Banderas), and he too has plans to cash in on the cravings caused by a Krabby Patty.

This busy, enjoyably nonsensical affair pings all over the screen in all directions, and goes well enough as mindless, message-free entertainment for little’uns.

However, when compared to another new release based on a popular TV offering – we’re talking about you, Shaun the Sheep – SpongeBob runs a distant second.

It often feels like a whole lot of episodes strung together, whereas Shaun’s showcase does not.

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Pick me ... SpongeBob SquarePants provides message-free entertainment for the little uns.

Originally published as There’s middling fun to be had in SpongeBob Squarepants second movie outing