| Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie | |
| Director: | Liza Johnson |
| Story: | Kaz |
| Producer: | Robert Engleman |
| Cinematography: | Greg Gardiner |
| Music: | Moniker |
| Studio: | Nickelodeon Movies |
| Distributor: | Netflix |
| Runtime: | 82 minutes |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie is a 2024 American adventure comedy film based on the animated television series SpongeBob SquarePants, created by Stephen Hillenburg. It was directed by Liza Johnson and written by Tom Stern and Kaz, based on a story by Kaz. Combining CGI animation with live-action, the film stars the series' regular voice cast and includes new characters performed by Johnny Knoxville, Craig Robinson, Grey DeLisle, Ilia Isorelýs Paulino, Matty Cardarople, and Wanda Sykes. The plot follows Sandy and SpongeBob as they venture to Sandy's home state of Texas to save Bikini Bottom from the hands of an evil CEO. It is the first in a series of SpongeBob character spin-off films.
The film was first conceived during a pitching session for ideas for The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run (2020). In March 2020, ViacomCBS announced that it would be producing SpongeBob spin-off films for streaming television. In May 2021, a spin-off film featuring the character Sandy as its lead was announced, with Johnson, Kaz, and Stern all attached. Moniker composed the original score.
Prior to its release, the entire film was leaked on January 21, 2024, as a video upload on X. Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie was officially released on Netflix on August 2, 2024. The film debuted with 12.8 million views over its premiere weekend, making it Netflix's most-watched title of that week, and it received mixed reviews from critics.
Bikini Bottom, along with all its residents, is scooped out of the ocean by B.O.O.T.S. (Bureau Of Official Texas Science) Laboratory, the science lab Sandy Cheeks works for located in Galveston, Texas. Confused by what their motives could be, Sandy and SpongeBob SquarePants ride up to the surface to head to the lab so they can bring Bikini Bottom back to the ocean floor. After hitching a ride on an airplane, Sandy throws SpongeBob on her back, and together they glide towards B.O.O.T.S. Lab, but are blown severely off course by a tornado.
At lab, the people of Bikini Bottom are terrified, to which Mr. Krabs heads outside to see what's going on. They are startled by the sight of a human woman, which turns out to be Phoebe, one of Sandy's closest colleagues at the lab alongside Kyle. The two discover that Sandy and SpongeBob were not captured, which angers Sue Nahmee, the new head of B.O.O.T.S. Laboratory, who demands that the two find them at once.
SpongeBob and Sandy get into a fight with a gang of rattlesnakes. Sandy fights them but is bitten by one of them, causing her to call for her family, revealed to be a traveling circus act, who defeat the rattlesnakes and agree to bring Sandy and SpongeBob to the lab. Back at B.O.O.T.S., Sue explains her plan, which is to genetically modify the people of Bikini Bottom into air breathers and then clone them in order to sell them as toy pets. To experiment, Kyle and Phoebe grab Mr. Krabs, Squidward, and Patrick to test the operative as well as how well children will like playing with them, which to the three is a torture-ridden nightmare where they are stretched, flung, and hit with spaghetti and chess pieces. Sue is pleased with the test results.
While Sandy's brother, Randy, is showing SpongeBob how to do the Cheeks family whistle, the family soon gets into a car chase with the police because Randy used the family van to illegally smuggle nuts. They are able to temporarily shake them off using the tornado from earlier, however, it proves futile. As a last resort, SpongeBob and Sandy are launched out of a cannon to the lab. Upon making it to the lab's water park, the two get into another chase with Cuda, Sue Nahmee's pet pug, who follows them into the sewers, but it works out and leads them into the lab. Sandy learns about Sue's plans and tries to attack, but Sue puts her in a cage with a hamster wheel while SpongeBob is placed on a roller coaster ride that will lead him into the cloning chamber. Sue explains her motives being that when she was a child, she always wanted to be able to cuddle with fish but never could due to fish dying when they're out of water. She then grabs the sides of her lab coat, her realistic rubber neck and gold necklace fly off from under her face, her lab coat flies off with her realistic rubber hands, so does her pants, to reveal herself to be a cyborg, and that she was using Sandy's life in Bikini Bottom to spy on everyone, which makes everyone feel betrayed. SpongeBob arrives in the cloning popper and is popped and turned into thousands of tiny versions of himself.
One of the tiny SpongeBobs tells Sandy not to feel bad and not to give up on saving Bikini Bottom. Sandy breaks out and has a final confrontation with Sue that ends with her rubber masked or human head being decapitated and her head being fed to her own pet fish, which makes her happy for she always wanted to be a fish. Mr. Krabs then discovers that mushing the tiny SpongeBobs together will return SpongeBob to his normal size, to which he, Squidward, and Patrick all work together to bring back SpongeBob. However while in the middle of things, the stand holding the giant glass orb holding Bikini Bottom collapses and the orb cracks, leading to water beginning to leak out. Sandy tries to call her family for help, but finds out she lost a tooth while fighting Sue. Having learned the whistle himself, SpongeBob loudly whistles and the Cheeks family arrives in time and help rig a mechanism to launch Bikini Bottom back into the ocean. With Bikini Bottom returned to its rightful position and glory, everyone celebrates by having the Cheeks family circus perform at the Krusty Krab.
See main article: articles and List of SpongeBob SquarePants characters.
Executive producer Marc Ceccarelli pitched Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie during a session of pitching ideas for The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run (2020). The idea got passed on, but a few years later, when the team wanted to do a Sandy Cheeks-centric story, he brought it back up and it was put into development.[1] Director Liza Johnson was a newcomer to the world of animation. She was hired to direct the film because of her work on a season 2 episode of What We Do in the Shadows, "The Curse", which had Ceccarelli's favorite joke in the series. Carolyn Lawrence, the voice actor of Sandy, had heard whispers at work of a Sandy-related project in the works and described herself as being in shock when she received a phone call confirming it. Lawrence praised Johnson's vision for the film and immediately loved the script.
In March 2020, it was reported that ViacomCBS would be producing two spin-off films based on the series SpongeBob SquarePants for Netflix.[2] In May 2021, a spin-off film with Sandy as its lead character was announced to be in development from Nickelodeon for streaming television, to be directed by Johnson from a script written by Kaz and Tom J. Stern and described as a hybrid feature that will put the animated title character into a live-action setting.[3] In August 2021, it was revealed that plans to film Saving Bikini Bottom in Los Alamos were scrapped due to rewrites of the script.[4] [5]
In February 2022, during an investor call, Nickelodeon CEO Brian Robbins said that three SpongeBob character-driven spin-off films were in the works and that they would release exclusively on streamer Paramount+, with the first one premiering in 2023.[6] However, in April 2023, it was reported that Saving Bikini Bottom would instead debut on Netflix in 2024. That same month, in addition to a first-look reveal, it was revealed that Wanda Sykes, Johnny Knoxville, Craig Robinson, Grey DeLisle, Ilia Isorelýs Paulino, and Matty Cardarople were part of the cast. Series regulars Carolyn Lawrence, Tom Kenny, Clancy Brown, Bill Fagerbakke, Mr. Lawrence, and Rodger Bumpass were also confirmed to reprise their roles.[7] [8]
Greg Gardiner served as the film's cinematographer for its live-action scenes.[9] Animation was provided by Pipeline Studios and Sinking Ship Entertainment in Ontario, Canada.[10] Spin VFX in Ontario and ReDefine Animation in Montreal, Quebec, completed the live-action VFX parts of the film. Johnson started work early on to storyboard the entire film and together with animation supervisor, Piero Piluso, create an integrated look for the mix of live-action and animation. As a newcomer to animation, Johnson felt the process was a learning experience for both parties. The combination of the new animation style, story requirements, and technical and budget limitations were factors in deciding how scenes would look to make certain "that everything that people love and care about each character is still present, even though we’re doing it in new conditions".
Moniker composed its original score.[11] The film's soundtrack album was released by Lakeshore Records on August 2, 2024, the same day as the film.[12] It features the Sandy Cheeks Theme based on the SpongeBob Squarepants theme, and performed by Tami Neilson. Additional original songs were written by Neilson, Linda Perry, Kaz, Jacques Brautbar, and Chantal Claret.
Prior to its release, the entire film was leaked on January 21, 2024, as a video upload on X.[13] Saving Bikini Bottom was released officially on Netflix on August 2, 2024.[14]
Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie debuted with 12.8 million views over its premiere weekend, making it Netflix's most-watched title and most-watched film of that week and outpacing contemporaries on the streamer like Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie and Trolls Band Together (both 2023).[15] [16] In the following week ending on August 11, the film garnered 13.4 million views, an increase from its debut, making it the number one overall title and the top film on the English-language film chart.[17]
Catherine Bray of The Guardian gave the film a three out of five star rating. They commended its entertainment value and appeal to younger audiences and concluded, "For general viewers, it may not pack as much of an emotional punch, but like SpongeBob himself, it’s thoroughly absorbing."[18] Tessa Smith of Mama’s Geeky praised the film for its humor, animation, and story and said, "Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie delivers the same type of jokes that SpongeBob SquarePants fans are used to, but it also tells a heartwarming story and allows viewers to finally meet Sandy and see where she comes from."[19] Adam Graham of The Detroit News gave the film a C grade. They felt it retained the series' irreverent humour but in a way that did not connect and criticized it for being overly busy, undercooked, and "feeling like a knockoff rather than a spinoff".[20] Barry Levitt of The Daily Beast largely disliked the film, citing its sidelining of main characters, underdeveloped new characters, lackluster animation and script. He said, "Sandy has always been a delightful if underappreciated part of Bikini Bottom, but the movie fails to give her the spotlight she rightfully deserves. Its initial promise is washed out by cheap jokes, an uninspired plot, and off-putting animation".[21]