Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie

Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie is a HYPER-infamous film based on Nickelodeon's hit TV show SpongeBob SquarePants. In this movie, when Bikini Bottom is suddenly scooped out of the ocean, Sandy Cheeks and SpongeBob journey to Sandy's home state of Texas, where they meet Sandy's family and must save Bikini Bottom from the hands of an evil CEO.

RELEASE DATE FOR THIS MOVIE: AUGUST 2, 2024 (LEAKED ON JANUARY 21, 2024)

Why It Didn’t Save Bikini Bottom[]

The animation, while still decent to look at (thanks to the Canadian animators from Pipeline Studios and Sinking Ship Entertainment, and VFX companies Spin VFX and REDEFINE) is a downgrade from the previous two films, even when compared to the spot-on animation from Sponge on The Run. This would sit more at home with a television special.
- It also feels more like a CGI animated-style cutscene for a SpongeBob SquarePants game on current consoles.
Despite the story being written by Kaz himself (a writer from the series and Camp Lazlo), the story feels more like an extended episode of the series rather than a normal film. That, or the aforementioned cutscene of a SpongeBob SquarePants video game.
- A lot of the events that happen, like the characters getting into a fight with snakes, getting sucked into a tornado, getting chased by the police (due to stolen nuts), and ending up in a water park where Bikini Bottom is being held, feels more like random events added to pad out the film's runtime.
- In addition, there are many nonsensical moments that the writers wrote, even for the SpongeBob SquarePants franchise. How does the traveling van Sandy's family go in a change in size in several scenes? Why does it drive very fast yet have trouble outrunning the police? Why does a dog suddenly have a hang glider when he chases SpongeBob and Sandy? Why didn't Sandy's family drown when they reentered Bikini Bottom?
- There's also a subplot of Sandy being conflicted about returning to the circus with her family, but this adds nothing to the overall plot other than filler.
The humor is a massive downgrade from most SpongeBob SquarePants media (on par with seasons 6 to 8)
- Like with most bad children's movies, everyone (besides Sparky, Plankton, and Karen) keeps talking and never shuts up. It's like the writers are afraid you will get bored if there is no constant humor going around.
- Every character doesn't stop spouting out quips, one-liners, or pop culture references, like a scene where SpongeBob laments about his streaming services being gone. "All my streaming videos on demand, I can't demand them anymore!"
- There's a joke about poop and the bathroom in which SpongeBob smells cow poop and another where Patrick comes out of the bathroom (with fart fumes behind him) and says he washed his hands.
Sue Nahmee is a terrible villain with a motive that makes no sense, is not funny nor threatening, and feels more like a parody of a James Bond villain complete with her petting a dog to show how evil she is. She's also a massive downgrade from the previous films' antagonists Plankton (The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie), Burger Beard (The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water), and King Poseidon (The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run).
- At the film's climax, she is revealed to be a cyborg for some reason. No questions should be asked about how ridiculous this is, even though her body got eaten by piranhas.
  - Also the film's climax involves Sandy messing with the controls of Sue and ending her up in the body of a fish. You can guess how lazy that is.
- The visual effects of the flashback to Sue Nahmee's childhood are so shockingly bad that it is considered by many fans to be the worst scene in the film and the Spongebob franchise in general. One Twitter user said that it looks as if the editors (not the visual effects crew) cropped out Wanda's head in Magix Vegas Pro, Adobe Premiere Pro, or Photoshop and lazily slapped her head onto the body of Jamria Davis and did not even keyframe it properly and/or moved it choppy. It looks more like a YouTube video, and even YouTube videos have better-cropped heads and keyframing than this.
  - Same can be said as the ending with Kyle and Phoebe's heads being placed in Sandy-style diving suits, and a scene of Sue in her fish body swimming to the camera.
The scene where SpongeBob is tortured through the cloning machine is very harsh and mean-spirited, and sometimes, it can be disturbing to young viewers.
Lame and poor direction from Liza Johnson, who directed Elvis & Nixon and the episode "Left Behind" from The Last of Us.
The acting for the human characters is so bad you wonder if they were even there just for a paycheck. Every human character acts like they don't want to be here, probably trying to escape from the movie's quality of the cow poop Spongebob sniffs earlier.
- Kyle and Phoebe are very unfunny new characters and will get you on your nerves because of their idiocy.
- Sparky, a robotic horse introduced in this movie, while likable, is a completely useless horse who only shows up for the scene of Bikini Bottom and shows up in the end. This might as well make you think he's pointless. Similar to now other shows that also have useless characters that Maddie Taylor also worked on.
While it is nice to see Sandy having a family, they don't do anything besides adding more gags and slapstick. They feel more like the Minions in Despicable Me but more action-packed vibe than actual characters.
The film's "drama" also feels underbaked with Sandy's only mistake being that she led Sue to Bikini Bottom, through no fault of her own.
- Not to mention the unnecessary scene where everyone acts like they were betrayed by Sandy. But unlike other SpongeBob media, it feels forced due to its lack of emotional weight.
The film's ending, just like any other, is just a generic dance party ending, and the film ends there.
Because of all these problems mentioned above, this movie is the antithesis of bad SpongeBob media, the first three movies had humor, but there were also dramatic scenes that worked as well. These dramatic moments are thrown out of the ocean and replaced with a litter of childish jokes that no one ten and older would find hilarious, nonsensical moments where the writers don't even bother with the continuity of SpongeBob as a whole (as in Sandy being a flying squirrel when SpongeBob's own Twitter account state the opposite), shoehorn in the wasted talents of Wanda Sykes, Matty Cardarople from Stranger Things and A Series of Unfortunate Events, and Illa Isorelýs Paulino from her role in One Piece, and the simplistic plot to the point where the viewer is left questioning if they wasted their time with this film.
- While a more comedic and light-hearted tone for a movie is not inherently bad, the tone of this film is too comedic and completely devoid of any drama and dark scenes, something that even the first three seasons of the SpongeBob SquarePants series, which was known for it's comedic and light-hearted tone, didn't do and had some drama and dark moments to balance out the lighter themes and characters that also had more personality beyond dull angst.
- Despite the leaks, Netflix left the film the way it was, instead of improving it by giving the animation team time to improve the visuals.
  - Overall, it started the spin-off movie line on a sour note with all these problems from all the reasons for WIDSBB.

Redeeming Qualities That Saved Bikini Bottom[]

The voice acting for the Bikini Bottom characters is still spot on, as usual.
Some of the humor and gags can work, albeit not as hilarious as the last three movies.
- Mr. Krabs getting hit by the word "FREE!" and having a panic attack.
  - Despite being nonsensical, the dog suddenly having a hang glider while chasing Sandy and SpongeBob is pretty funny.
- Fred's line, "Hey everyone! They're selling phase ones and they're FREE!" is also very funny.
The Bikini Bottom characters are still likable especially when it comes to Sandy Cheeks.
- Speaking of Sandy Cheeks, she gets some very good and executed character development as well.
- In fact, Sandy Cheeks' family is very likable despite they don't do anything aside.
While the animation is downgraded, is still decent to look at, all thanks to Canadian animators from Pipeline Studios and Sinking Ship Entertainment, and VFX companies Spin VFX and REDEFINE, with good character designs that is faithful to the series counterpart.
- There's also an good squish-and-scratch moments where Canada surprisingly did.
It's nice to see a SpongeBob film where the protagonist is Sandy.
- On that topic, the idea of a Sandy Cheeks movie is a great idea, even if the execution wasn't the greatest.
The soundtrack, like the previous films, is well-composed.
- Many of the songs are at least catchy, especially Sandy Cheeks' theme song.
Like the previous films, the set designs are still great to look at.
The first act of this film is amazing, as it shows a true threat to Bikini Bottom that hasn't ever been seen before, only to have the movie waste the menacing first act on a more ridiculous villain.

How To Actually Save This Movie[]

Make the plot more interesting.
Have Sue Nahmee get a more interesting villain backstory.
Use the CGI from Sponge Out Of Water/Sponge On The Run, since it looked good there.
Have SpongeBob cry about his job, friends, and his pet snail Gary being gone, as it is a more reasonable reason to cry, unlike not using your streaming subscriptions.
- Or you just make SpongeBob feel sad, but not cry.
Make the CGI fish not ugly.
Remove the scene where SpongeBob got grotesquely cloned.
- But if you do not want to, you can at least tone the scene down.
Have another actor to act young Sue Nahmee without photoshopping Wanda Sykes's head on.
You can make Sandy’s family more likeable by expanding their scenes. Also, add the flashback of Sandy from the circus.
Remove the very inappropriate scenes, like SpongeBob smelling poop and SpongeBob tickling children's feet.
Release the movie on Paramount+ rather than Netflix, given that Paramount now has its own streaming service. Maybe even release it in theatres too if it’s good enough..

Trivia[]

In early 2024, the entire movie got leaked on Twitter, though the movie and its re-uploads online, including those on Internet Archive, were taken down by Paramount & Netflix.
This is the fourth hybrid animated SpongeBob SquarePants movie.
The film was originally set to be released on Paramount+ only in the United States, but was then moved to releasing it on Netflix.
This makes the second SpongeBob film to be released on Netflix, the first being The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run, which was released on the service internationally (except the United States).
This makes SpongeBob SquarePants the sixth Nicktoon to have a film released exclusively on Netflix after Rocko's Modern Life, Invader Zim, The Loud House, Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and The Casagrandes.
This film was originally set to release sometime in 2023, but was later delayed to a year later for unknown reasons.
The film was completed in 2023, hence the copyright year of 2023 in the closing credits.
This is the first film April "Pinkie" Davis has ever worked on and Eliza Herndon's first movie production.
This is the second time Johnny Knoxville worked on the franchise after guest starring in the season 9 episode "Extreme Spots" 12 years ago, where he did the voice of Johnny Krill.
This is the second Nickelodeon film to feature Wanda Sykes, after Barnyard.
Maddie Taylor, the storyboard artist of this movie, also voiced Sparky from Season 9 of The Fairly OddParents.
- Ironically enough, there's a character in Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie named Sparky, who is a robot horse.

Gallery[]

Reception[]

This movie has gained mixed to positive reviews. It has a critic score of 56% on Rotten Tomatoes. On metacritic the film has a score of 6.5/10 indicating "generally favorable" reviews. The film was praised for it's witty dialogue and humor that retains the SpongeBob charm, and interesting looking backgrounds, some complaints were the animation, while decent, is still downgraded. Lots of users such as Carrot531 think this is a good movie.

And now it's currently the 5th lowest rated SpongeBob media on IMDb, just losing for Kamp Koral, The Patrick Star Show, One Coarse Meal and A Pal for Gary.

Quotes[]

"Bikini Bottom, and everyone I ever loved, is gone... and all my streaming videos on demand! I can't demand them anymore!"

― SpongeBob

Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie

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