THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SPONGE OUT OF WATER (2015)

Combining live-action (an unrecognizable Antonio Banderas as Burger Bob the pirate, who cleverly steals Mr. Krabs secret recipe for Krabcakes and starts the Apocalypse down in Bikini Bottom) and animation (which for the first half of the film feels like nothing more than an extended episode of the TV-series, though things definitely bump up a notch once some of the animated characters go above water and get 3-D), this film - based on the insanely popular show - never comes off as more than a padded episode from the series, with filler added to make it feature film length.  The 3-D animation, once SpongeBob and friends hit land, is beautifully done, with touches of humor and an over-the-top chase scene at the end keeping your interest.  But I couldn't help feeling, especially throughout the first half of the film, as if the writers weren't sure of where to go or what to do, so just stretched things out to fill time - to the point that, by the time all that cool 3-D animation kicked in, the movie had already lost me a bit. (rated PG)  C