Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie Parent Guide

Sandy Cheeks (Carolyn Lawrence) loves being a scientist in Bikini Bottom, where she can invent to her heart’s content while gathering data about underwater creatures. One day, Sandy and SpongeBob (Tom Kenny) watch helplessly as Bikini Bottom is suddenly scooped up from the bottom of the ocean. With only the name of a lab as a clue, the two set off to the surface world to track down their friends in Sandy’s home state of Texas. There they’ll have to enlist the help of Sandy’s family to help save Bikini Bottom from the mad scientist, Sue Nahmee (Wanda Sykes).

If I tell you that this is a direct-to-streaming SpongeBob movie you will have a good idea of what to expect. It’s short, silly, and familiar. The characters you know are here, but the film lacks the clever writing the show was known for in its heyday. The story is simple and easy to follow, but also outlandishly ridiculous with a fair amount of bathroom humor. It’s obvious that this film was made for young audiences, and there’s very little to entertain adults.

I will say, I didn’t hate this film like I expected. I would never say it’s high quality, but as a SpongeBob fan I enjoyed both the glimpses of what the show used to be and this iteration’s absurd adventure. Wanda Sykes is obviously having a great time as the villain, and I laughed out loud when there was a flashback scene to her childhood with her adult head photoshopped onto a child’s body.

Again, this is not a good movie. I’m just a sucker for nostalgia and silliness. However, it’s also not that bad and it’s relatively clean, making it appropriate for most audiences. I can’t imagine adults having a desire to watch it, but kids will be entertained by the bright colors and simple story. With Netflix’s track record for children’s media, you could do a lot worse.