Batman's Saving Bikini Bottom - Renegade Animation #154
In this episode, Captain Kaye and the Animation Guru discuss the Netflix original movie Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie, as well as Batman: Caped Crusader!
What’s going on, everyone? This is your Captain speaking, alongside my co-host, The Animation Guru! I won’t bury the lede, the difference in quality between the two subjects of this podcast was pretty jarring, and yet somehow the discourse on Animation Twitter for each was equally tiresome. Fortunately, we don’t really spend a lot of time on that here, instead we chose to focus mainly on giving these an honest critical assessment. Without further ado, please tune into the podcast to hear the full discussion!
Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie
Be honest, if Cameron and I weren’t planning to talk about this movie, would you have even known it was released? We bitch about Netflix and their lack of marketing all the time, so this is nothing new. What matters more is the movie itself, which I found rather disappointing. Understanding that this wouldn’t have the same production budget as Sponge on the Run, there is still a noticeable drop in quality, between the generically smooth CG character movements, to live action characters that absolute do NOT mesh well with the animation. Also, it’s hard to really call this a SpongeBob SquarePants spin-off film, when SpongeBob is still a major supporting player. The movie is not without its occasional charm, but I can’t recommend this one to anyone who isn’t an animation completionist.
“While having some solid character animation and a decent voice cast, it doesn't make up for the fact that the story is paper thin and the CGI doesn't mesh well with the live-action elements. It results in an underwhelming experience. I wish I liked it more.“ -The Animation Guru
Batman: Caped Crusader
I have a love-hate relationship with Bruce Timm as a producer on various DC animated films and TV series. Batman: The Animated Series will always be hailed as a stone cold classic, but he shares that credit with Paul Dini, Alan Burnett, and Eric Radomski. Over 30 years later, Timm has developed a new project alongside J.J. Abrams, Matt Reeves, and head writer Ed Brubaker, that harkens back to Batman’s pulpy film noir-inspired roots. Overall, I found it to be a refreshing new take on the character, with a terrific supporting cast, and awesome new interpretations of several members of Batman’s Rogues Gallery. There are a few growing pains to overcome in this inaugural season, particularly Hamish Linklater finding his sweet spot as both Batman and Bruce Wayne. Nevertheless, Batman: Caped Crusader maintains 2024’s excellence in superhero animation!
“Batman: Caped Crusader is a wonderful new take on the crime fighter. A more noir-focused thriller perspective adds a new flavor to the caped crusader's ventures into the world of animation with fresh takes on Gotham's villains.“ -The Animation Guru
That’ll do it for this episode! Thank you all for joining us! We have provided resources for those who wish to support the victims of the Israel-Hamas war: https://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/, https://www.ifnotnowmovement.org/, https://itch.io/b/2120/games-for-gaza, https://www.instagram.com/palestineredcrescent/, https://buildpalestine.com/2021/05/15/trusted-organizations-to-donate-to-palestine/, https://www.npr.org/2023/10/13/1205235922/help-israel-gaza-humanitarian-organizations.
