Author: Adam

SpongeBob was able to pick up another movie with his third film entry, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run. Originally slated for a worldwide theatrical release, the rise of the Covid-19 pandemic made things much more complicated. The film received a theatrical release in Canada on August 14, 2020 and digitally on Netflix in other regions on November 5th, 2020. It wasn’t until March 4, 2021 where the movie got a full release in America, releasing as a premium video-on-demand offering and airing as a launch title for Paramount Plus. It was directed by Tim Hill, who also received credited for story and screenplay.  Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger, the writers of the previous SpongeBob movie, Sponge Out of Water, returned as well to come up with the story with Mr. Hill. The film is dedicated to the show’s creator Stephen Hillenburg, who passed away in 2018 from Lou Gehrig’s disease, and also served as a executive producer until his unexpected death.

Similar to the first two SpongeBob films, it received generally positive reviews from critics, praising the animation and the loyalty to the franchise. However, it did not get the same love from the fans and audiences, with many taking issues of the retcons being made to the previously established continuity, mainly how SpongeBob met his friends, and feeling like the whole movie was just one giant advertisement for the Kamp Koral spin-off show, a series which had just ended this year. For it’s limited theatrical release, it managed to make just 4.8 million dollars against it’s 60 million dollar budget. Despite the mixed to negative reactions from fans, it likely would have made much more if it’s weren’t for the pandemic.

Before the release of Sponge on the Run, things felt very uncertain about what the future of SpongeBob would consist of and if it had lost all of it’s remaining staying power and will. Yes, the series did see a revival with Seasons 9-11 and a bit with Sponge Out of Water, but this all came before the biggest possible tragedy for the show occurred, that being the passing of the creator of SpongeBob SquarePants himself, Stephen Hillenburg. With him having a hand-in guidance to Seasons 10, 11, and part of 12, it felt like he was the only person that could give SpongeBob the second leash on life that Nickelodeon wanted for their brand. With Hillenburg’s unexpected death and the announcement of multiple SpongeBob spin-offs in the works shortly after, Sponge On The Run didn’t really fill a lot of people with confidence. And……they were mostly right.

Even in the wake of Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie being the new whipping boy in town for fans and the animation community to take their turns whipping repeatedly, Sponge On The Run just doesn’t work in any way, shape, or form. That being said, when rewatching it again, I couldn’t help but see the germs of a potentially good SpongeBob film here. It made me think how this film would have looked before Stephen Hillenburg died.

In case anyone doesn’t know, the original title and concept for the third SpongeBob movie was The SpongeBob Movie: It’s a Wonderful Sponge. It was set to be it’s own spin on the classic movie, It’s A Wonderful Life, where SpongeBob enters an alternate universe of how Bikini Bottom would operate without his presence, with Keanu Reeves being the main guide that would follow SpongeBob throughout his journey. The movie would also dive deeper into the origin story of SpongeBob and the Bikini Bottom as a whole than any previous SpongeBob movie. In many respects, this would be like the Shrek: Forever After of SpongeBob movies.

However, around the time It’s A Wonderful Sponge was in the works, the Kamp Koral spin-off series was in the works and Nickelodeon was wanting to let people know about that. During the development of the third movie, Nick demanded that the cast and crew to use that the film to advertise Kamp Koral and have the movie tie-in to that spin-off series. Stephen Hillenburg refused, claiming he wanted the movie to be it’s own thing and have nothing to do with Kamp Koral. Nick then backed off and left him alone. It was shortly after Stephen’s passing that Nick had the cast and crew of the third movie, which was already in it’s early stages of storyboarding, scrapped the whole It’s A Wonderful Sponge premise into something else. They wanted a new script started from scratch that would advertise Kamp Koral and give Keanu Reeves a lesser role to work with. Because of all of that, we got Sponge On The Run instead of It’s A Wonderful Sponge.

I don’t know how accurate all of that information is considering these were just rumors I read about what went wrong from behind the scenes but that would all make sense to me. Because when watching Sponge On The Run, you got the sense that it was meant to be something else entirely. Not just in terms of plot, character, and story, but just have it’s own beating heart to it and making for a bittersweet culmination of the past 20+ years of SpongeBob, similar to how the first SpongeBob movie acted as a culmination of the first three seasons. However, because Nickelodeon was more concerned about advertising Kamp Koral than making a good movie, this is what we got.

Before discussing the things I actually liked or thought could have worked, let’s discuss the main negatives that fans tend to bring up regarding this movie.

First off, the story is…….non-existent. It’s nothing more than the plots of several different SpongeBob mediums with practically no connective tissue to tie it all together in a cohesive way. There’s so much of this barley there plot that is basically “been there, done that”. SpongeBob searching to find Gary? Check! SpongeBob going on a grand adventure with Patrick to find something that could cost them their lives? Check! Seeing the aftermath of Bikini Bottom when SpongeBob is not there? Check! The characters driving in a burger car? Check! A change in status quo by the end that will likely not matter much in the grand scheme of things because of Nickelodeon desire to keep the show going or else they will be dead? Check-er-aoo! When the story is not being bogged down by a bunch of filler and awkwardly implemented teases for Kamp Koral, it’s just throwing in plot elements from other, better SpongeBob material without understand why those individual stories worked in the first place.

Speaking of which, the Kamp Koral segments are the most forced and poorly implemented parts of any movie that I have ever seen. There is not a single part involving Kamp Koral that feels natural, earned, or fitting in the movie in the slightest. Every time those segments appear on screen, it’s like the movie is pausing for intermission and claiming that “WE INTERUPT THIS PROGRAM TO GIVE YOU A SNEAK PEEK OF THIS SPIN-OFF SERIES THAT NO ONE ASKED FOR OR WANTS!”. I don’t care if you are making a SpongeBob spin-off, Nickelodeon! That only makes me want to watch even less when you shove it in my face. If you thought the Avengers teases in Iron Man 2 and Age of Ultron were bad or even the Justice League tie-ins in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, the Kamp Koral sections in Sponge on the Run makes those look like a perfectly fitting puzzle piece in comparison.

And the biggest offender to fans is the way that the film rewrites how SpongeBob meet his friends, only for the sake of tying in Kamp Koral to the SpongeBob mythos.

Remember how the first episode established that SpongeBob met Sandy when she was an adult? Instead, they both actually met at summer camp when they were kids, which I guess Sandy already made her way underwater when she was just a little squirrel girl.

Remember how the first episode also made it seem like SpongeBob first met Mr. Krabs or was the most familiar with him when he went to apply for a job at the Krusty Krab? Instead, they both met a summer camp when SpongeBob was a kid and Mr. Krabs was a young adult, even tho Mr. Krabs has to be like 30 years older than SpongeBob and looks more like….five or ten years older here.

Remember how Truth or Square established that SpongeBob first met Squidward when he moved in right next door to him, where SpongeBob politely introduces himself to Squidward when he first sees him? Instead, they both met a summer camp when they were kids, where SpongeBob tries to cheer Squidward up after losing a contest to him by giving him his trophy, even tho Squidward didn’t earn it in any way.

Oh, and I guess Mrs. Puffs first met SpongeBob when he attended summer camp and not when he attended boating school?

And that was also where SpongeBob and Patrick first met as well. Actually, I could perfectly buy that and that’s the only supposed first meeting here that actually makes sense.

I know certain folks out there will claim that I am just exaggerating here and that SpongeBob is not a series where you should take continuity all that seriously. The problem here is that these include elements added to the SpongeBob mythos from the start or in a main episode event with no ifs or buts about it. This isn’t some trivial matter like SpongeBob’s perfect attendance in school or work, it’s part of the main foundation that the series has established. And it’s basically only being done just for Nick to justify having the Kamp Koral series play a part in SpongeBob’s history.

Now, that those things are out of way, here’s how I think Sponge On The Run COULD have worked.

First off, the animation is absolutely STUNNING. Even though it’s a completely different animation style for SpongeBob than ever before, it actually works very well here. It makes everything so bright and colorful and leaves room for crafting the kind of animation and set pieces that no SpongeBob medium has ever had before. Heck, you could have used some of the set pieces from Sponge Out of Water that I thought were kinda lackluster and it would have worked much more fondly here. I wouldn’t go as far to say that it’s my favorite animation style for SpongeBob nor one do I care to see for every new SpongeBob thing going forward but in Sponge On The Run‘s case, it works incredibly well.

Secondly, the movie would be a least slightly coherent if they at least decided to just use ONE story element/idea they had for the third movie instead of a million all at once and still set up Kamp Koral in a way that Nickelodeon would have like. You could have gone with the original idea for It’s A Wonderful Sponge but also show an alternate universe where SpongeBob first met his friends at summer camp and have that contrast with the universe that SpongeBob has always been a part of. You could have use the plot of finding Gary and also have SpongeBob run into his own summer camp, where he remembers first meeting Gary and starting an alternate timeline where that is where SpongeBob met all of his friends. Heck, you could have just made the entire movie be about SpongeBob being a camp counselor at Kamp Koral, A.K.A. his childhood summer camp. If you did any one of those plots, this movie would have made much more sense and felt much more cohesive than the finished product.

However, there is not one aspect of this movie that perfectly displays the complete wasted potential in Sponge on the Run than the scene in the climax where all of the main characters come to SpongeBob’s defense during his public execution. This is the moment that is practically design to make or break not just your movie but your entire franchise up to this point. It’s a moment where all of the main side characters of SpongeBob come together and tell SpongeBob and the audience directly what he has meant to them for the past 20+ years. If done right, this scene could have made for a perfect culmination of the past two decades of the sponge and be a proper resolution for the whole series up to this point.

While that was perhaps the intention of the filmmakers, it’s the things that Nickeldeon forced in there that makes this scene break the entire movie instead of making it. Instead of feeling like a bittersweet way for the characters to describe how important SpongeBob is to Bikini Bottom and themselves, it’s ruined by constant flashbacks to Kamp Koral, where you have the characters disregarding everything that has happened in the past and at the moment just to give a wink to the audiences that a new SpongeBob spin-off series is in the works. This happens like four to five times, feeling like a parody of those Family Guy sketches where they cut to a random gag out of nowhere. The difference though is that while those sketches from Family Guy are meant to get a laugh or two from the audiences, the Kamp Koral sections come during a moment where the audience is suppose to be taking everything seriously.

I repeat, these Kamp Koral section take place during a moment where SpongeBob is on his death trial and his friends have to talk the King and everyone there to NOT execute him. This could have been the scene that saved the entire picture or at least have it end on a strong note. This could have been the scene that justified this film’s existence. This could have been the scene that celebrated the long history of SpongeBob SquarePants while giving it a fitting stopping point. Instead, this one scene brings everything down so hard that it’s impossible to recover from.

In Conclusion

There are plenty of other things I can talk about with Sponge on the Run that has been talked about in length by hardcore fans. Like how the film acts like snails are incredibly rare now in the ocean despite the show having plenty of different snails in multiple episodes. Or that SpongeBob and Patrick can go into a casino even tho they are technically still kids. Or how SpongeBob literally now has a name for his stove at work. Or how SpongeBob literally says the word, “crappy”. But honestly, they have been talked about so much that there’s not much I can add to that.

It’s hard to know what Sponge On The Run would have been like if Stephen Hillenburg was still alive throughout the entire production. Outside of a different title and premise, I would believe the third SpongeBob film would have acted as a perfect love letter to the entire first two decades of the show’s existence. It would have been a lovely reminder as to why kids and audiences fell in love with this yellow sponge and why he’s as important to animation and pop culture as he is. While there are definitely hints at that throughout Sponge On The Run, it can never escape that sense of cynicism and studio meddling that I imagine Tim Hill and crew really wanted to break out of.

What’s most unfortunate about Sponge On The Run is the path forward that SpongeBob has taken since this film’s release. The kind of path that proves that Nickelodeon doesn’t have a clue of what to do with the yellow sponge we all know and love without Stephen Hillenberg. And I will go into EXACTLY that path next month.

Next Month: The “New Bad” Era (Season 12-Present)

This month saw the release of M. Night Shyamalan’s new film, Trap. With that, this beloved/despised director now has 15 films in his massive filmography. Regardless of what you can say about the man as a director, you can’t deny there is no other man in Hollywood quite like him. The man is basically his own unique beast of a filmmaker, now allowing himself to spend the quarter of his yearly salary to finance his own personal projects that give him permission to play in his own sandbox in front of the camera for the whole world to see. Whether the movie is good or bad, you always know you are watching an M. Night Shyamalan movie. Even if he is someone that everyone is aware of his tropes and reputation, something which even Shyamalan himself seems to be WAY too aware of nowadays, his movies are always so fascinating to watch and talk about because of it.

With that, let’s take a look back at every single one of his directed films and rank them from worst to best. Time to take this quality-like trip down memory lane!

15.) The Last Airbender

One of the most hated films ever to be released in cinema is absolutely deserving of all the scorn it gets! Despite trying so hard to be as faithful to a t to the beloved Nickelodeon animated series as possible, it ends up sucking out all the fun, joy, heart, and spirit that the show ever had.

With the way the film plays out with trying to squeeze the plot of an entire season of a tv show into an hour and 45 minute film, it was basically doomed from the start. However, when you added in actors who are massively miscast in their roles (And that’s not strictly because of the producer’s obsession to casting literally the whitest actors possible for these roles), replace the banter and character development with non-stop exposition, and effects that look more appropriate for a fan film rather than one spend a million dollars on, you have one truly awful and underwhelming picture. Not to mention, they couldn’t even be bothered to get the names of some of the characters right (It’s “Aang!” Not “Aung!”).

Admittedly, it’s hard to blame strictly Shyamalan for this train wreck because it’s clear that not every single choice made in this film was his as there was plenty of obvious studio meddling that plagued this mess. Even so, I don’t there there has been a film that has sunk M. Night’s reputation quite like this. It sunk it so hard that he might never, ever get it back again.

14.) Lady In The Water

Now, here’s a movie you can 100% fault Shyamalan for as it’s clear that his fingerprints are all over this abomination. And that’s not even going into the scene near the end where M. Night basically plays a self-insert version of himself and proclaims he’s gonna save the world from evil critics who dared to criticize The Village.

While there’s at least a tiny more creativity put into the world building and certain elements than The Last Airbender, almost none of it is put to good use. You have a great, recognizable cast that turn in some absolutely terrible performances, the plot and logic is basically non-existent and falls apart once you think about it for a split second, and how in the world can you make a movie about magic mermaids and such so unbelievably boring.

Even if you are someone that didn’t hate The Village or M. Night prior movies before this one and even take pride at taking shots at professional film critics, this film is just way too smug, ego-filled, and pretentious for you to get behind. This is arguably the first official dud that Shyamalan had ever put out that pretty much everyone agrees was a disaster!

13.) After Earth

Yet another incredibly silly but also somehow overly serious sci-fi journey that somehow manages to walk a fine line between unintentionally entertaining but also somehow painfully dull at the same time. To quote Honest Trailers, this was perhaps Will Smith’s biggest mistake since turning down The Matrix (at least until his infamous Oscar slap would shock the world).

Despite technically being an original sci-fi story, there is hardly any new actual elements to it. It has the exact same sort of characters and tropes you’ve seen a million times before and seen done a million times better in other things. The chemistry that Will Smith had with his son Jaden in The Pursuit Of Happiness is no where to be found here, which makes you shocked that these two are even related in real life. And I’m fairly certain if you told me the script did not receive a single re-write and was turned in after just one draft, I would certainly believe you.

This admittedly could have worked if it just stuck to it’s original premise and not feel the need to add in a bunch of other ridiculous elements but it pretty much falls flat in every way it possibly could. If The Last Airbender didn’t make you lose complete faith in Shyamalan, then After Earth might have finished the job for you.

12.) Glass

M. Night was making somewhat of a comeback before this one came out. His last two films were fairly well received and just one more after that could have potentially brought back on the map as a director we can all take seriously again. Oh…..what could’ve been!

2019 was a year filled with underwhelming endings to well-known franchises minus the big one with superheroes and this was no exception. It’s baffling how Glass takes a potentially exciting cross-over/finale and manages to turn it into a completely pointless slog that undermines everything that came before. With too much time spend in the hospital hearing the same, repetitive talking scenes over and over again about how these superpower folks aren’t really that super, an incredibly disjointed narrative, and a resolution that makes the main bad guys look like the dumbest idiots ever, you could not have made a more disappointing finale if you tried.

Sure, it’s well-shot, James McAvoy is still as awesome as ever in the role, and I’m sure there are folks who gave it bonus points for it’s so-called “bold” choices it makes towards the third act but very little actually works from a storytelling or character perspective. It’s baffling how just about the commentary and deconstruction elements that worked so well in Unbreakable just does not work here whatsoever.

11.) The Happening

I’m not gonna lie, if I was rating this in terms of entertainment value, this would probably be much higher on the list. This is hands down one of the most entertainingly bad movies ever made. From the direction to the acting to the dialogue to the script, there is so much for you to be entertained by and laugh at how ridiculous this is that it’s hard not to recommend it because of that. From an objective standpoint, however, it’s still really darn bad.

The premise is actually quite a solid one for a supposed B movie. The problem is that Shyamalan takes the material so seriously that it can’t be judge strictly for being an over-the-top schlock movie because it’s clearly trying to be something more than that. It actually thinks it’s telling a deep, dark story about death, suicide, and brutality that is going for the Oscar. But because the dialogue is so terribly written, none of the characters act like human beings, and the actors act like they are in a complete different movie than the one they are actually in, it’s impossible to take anything seriously because nothing feels real or genuine.

At this point, M. Night was not only starting to lose his pride but was becoming an unintentional parody of himself. Watching The Happening is like the equivalent of watching a deadly car crash, it’s awful and terrible to see but your eyes are glued to the accident the entire way through and you just can’t help to not look away.

10.) Wide Awake

Believe it or not, The Sixth Sense was actually not the first film in M. Night’s filmography. That was actually whatever the hell this is that made it’s way into cinema in 1998. And tbh, even with it’s absurdly twist ending, you would be hard pressed to find out that Shyamalan actually directed this movie.

There is some occasional wit and charm to it along with a couple of touching moments but much of Wide Awake screams “first time director” and not in a good way. The whole experience feels too hollow and all over the place to be engaging all the way through with not having a clear idea as to who the movie was aimed for. Also, despite what the poster of the movie would indicate, baseball has very little to do in this movie and the two characters that appear on there have hardly any screen time together.

Releasing just one year before The Sixth Sense, this has that sense of a movie being solely made solely for M. Night to get his foot through the door and so he could go onto making a movie he would much prefer to make. Not a lot of people remember this as it’s first film and it’s probably for the best that it stays that way.

9.) Knock At The Cabin

The newest feature film from Shyamalan is well shot and has a handle of good performances, with the main stand-out being Dave Bautista, that helps make it watchable but unfortunately fails to be engaging or interesting because how tame the whole experience is. Almost as if M. Night is beginning to run out of ideas.

That’s not even going into how rather homophobic the movie is given it never tries to offer a satisfying resolution to the main queer couple, twists that are so obvious I’m not even sure you could actually call it twists, and even the actual “world ending” stakes presented feel about as inconsequential as that of a mission in a Grand Theft Auto game. By the time we get to the bleak and unceremonious end, you just wonder what exactly the movie itself is trying to accomplish other than with the message of how the Old Testament is right in that the world would be better off without gay people.

I don’t think there’s a M. Night Shyamalan movie that left me shrugging my shoulders than this one. Even the negative points aren’t ones that are worth thinking to deeply into because the movie itself doesn’t even try to do so. It just lacks it’s own value and substance which makes it’s brief runtime feel longer than it really is and it lays out a big surface that it doesn’t even bother to scratch. It’s as if M Night has finally met his match, being unable to shock the world any longer. In that case, then Knock At The Cabin does at least make for a rather unique metaphor of it’s own, even if it’s a tame one.

8.) Old

Here’s one that manages to display the very best and very worst of M. Night Shyamalan. When Old is playing around with it’s own “time flies” premise and does bizarre, interesting things with it, it’s an absolute blast of schlock value. When it actually tries to be deep and throw as many thought provoking messages into the mix as it can, that’s where it falters.

The craftsmanship is great, it movies at a good pace, it contains some of the most unique imagery and sequences in any Shyamalan movie, and is among the few times where letting M. Night without some sort of restraint is actually for the better. It even does a good job of showcasing just how fast life can go and why you should live it to your fullest potential. Just too bad M. Night just can’t seem to get out of his own damn way by feeling the need to be deeper and more complex than it should be along with including a third act twist just because that’s an absolute staple to his filmography at this point.

I can’t say this movie isn’t entertaining or even engaging at times but I also can’t say it completely worked because of how back and forth it is with what goal it wants to achieves and the ways it actually wants to achieve it. Old containing both the highest of the high and the lowest of the low of M Night’s filmography, which make it sit comfortably right in the middle of quality in this ranking.

7.) The Village

This is probably the only “bad” M. Night Shyamalan movie that I find myself defending. After hitting three home runs in a row with The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable and Signs, expectations were high that the great M. Night would be able to hit a grand slam like he’s Babe Ruth with his next trip up to the plate. Instead, this is more like a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded when you are still down by multiple runs in a game. You technically got the job done there to keep your team in the game but you were expecting to at least get a bases clearing extra base hit, if not a grand slam.

That’s not to say The Village is anywhere close to perfect. It’s way too slow for it’s own good, too ham-fisted in it’s political themes, and the final twist doesn’t feel anywhere near as earned as it did in his last three movies. However, it also has intriguing world building, actors that fit quite well in their roles, and Roger Deakins proving once again why he’s a top-tier cinematographer. Also, unlike with most his later work, you don’t really get that sense of smugness here and actually feels like it’s something for anyone to get something out of.

While it’s a shame that The Village couldn’t make for the perfect quadrilogy for M. Night, it still not an absolute failure over all. It’s an intriguing film that has plenty of redeemable qualities even if it is frustrating that it can’t quite reach greatness. I get the feeling has this movie came out at any other different time than they did, people would be much nicer to it.

6.) The Visit

At the time this movie came out, it was instantly held as a return to form for M. Night Shyamalan. A reason to hope for the man who practically invented spoiler alerts would be able to return to form after so many failures over the past decade plus. Are these people right? Well, yes and no.

It’s definitely refreshing to see M. Night go back to smaller scale and low budget flicks after a handful of terrible blockbusters he directed. Most of the tropes that has become accustom to actually works quite well here, there’s a handful of story elements that get satisfying if not disgusting payoffs, and even the twist, while obvious, makes sense and helps to add tension during your initial and on repeat viewings with how the kids are going to deal with their supposed grandparents. Where the movie doesn’t work is when it goes too far with it’s black comedy or tries too hard with jump scares that don’t go anywhere. And I can’t stand the rapping…..at all.

It doesn’t completely work but The Visit does at least do a good job at foreshadowing the direction that M. Night would be taking with his future films and how it was start of a new era for him. While more missteps was sure to come, it was nice to see himself get another leash on life by reinventing himself as a filmmaker with this mildly entertaining flick.

5.) Trap

The newest psychological thriller of a serial killer from M. Night is surprisingly one of the better films that he has ever done. It has that right blend of nerve-wracking suspense from the great Hitchcook and the gallows sense of humor that Shyamalan likes to implement in his movies. To put it simply, Trap just has the right amount of sauce and edge, at least until it doesn’t.

Josh Hartnett is clearly having an absolute blast playing the main character of Cooper, there is perfect amount of tension and suspense throughout, there is plenty of setup that has a proper amount of payoff later on down the line, and the craftmanship is felt through every frame throughout Trap. Even M. Night’s most infamous tropes such as the close-ups and over-the-top performances work very well here because it makes sense for the reaction for nearly every single moment. Although, I could have done without the last 10 to 15 minutes, which constantly just drags and keeps hammering a point we had already figured out by now.

Even with it’s faults, Trap is M. Night Shyamalan doing what he does best. He doesn’t need to throw in a big twist that breaks all logic for the sake of shock value or go too far with the points he’s trying to make. He just need to make tightly budget and tightly paced thrillers, with performances, stakes, and thrills that resonate rather than take away from the experience. All of that and more is why Trap is deserving of squeezing into the top five.

4.) Split

While The Visit was hailed as one of M. Night’s better films in recent memory, it still had enough detractors to still consider it not good enough. With Split, however, even the detractor had to give credit where it was due. This movie felt like the Shyamalan of old was resurrected and returned to the big screen to show everyone how it is done.

This is an absolutely intriguing and intense thriller filled with great set-ups, satisfying payoffs, and stellar execution all around. James McAvoy is an absolute scene stealer, being able to perfectly portray every single personality of every single version of himself he is suppose to portray. Anya Taylor-Joy is also able to make for the right companion piece of being a shy girl with little to no emotion going up against a derange kidnapper with plenty of emotion. Even if you are able to guess the twist at the very end, this is still able to stand strongly as it’s own thing. The first act is quite choppy and it’s a shame that we don’t get to every single personality from Kevin but none of that can take away how surprisingly enjoyable the whole experience is.

Split feels like the last missing piece to the perfect puzzle that was the quad trilogy of M. Night Shyamalan in his prime. It might have took nearly 15 years to get it but it is satisfying all the same. Even if the follow-up to this was very underwhelming, this still remains for a wonderful fluke and a sign that perhaps the old M. Night Shyamalan we all knew and love is still in there somewhere.

3.) Signs

The finale of the original trilogy of bangers of M. Night’s early career does fall into the trappings of the third movies being the weakest of the bunch. It’s not quite as tight or as uniquely different as the other two movies that came before this one. That being said, much like other certain third installments that are technically the worst of their respective trilogy (*cough* Return of the Jedi), it’s still pretty darn good and satisfying enough in it’s own right.

Signs is able to balance between being an alien invasion flick and an engaging family drama quite well. It contains the proper amount of tension, suspense, and even scares with the supernatural stuff and even some natural conflicts that the characters go through which dives deep into moments of psychological, human-driven society. Mel Gibson and Joaquin Phoenix also fit the roles very well as does the child talent of Rory Culkin and Abigail Breslin. There is perhaps a bit too many themes the movie tries to tackle at once and has a final shot that feels unnecessary but it all mostly works out well.

As much as it’s not M. Night’s best movie, it’s probably the most heartfelt movie he has ever made. One which all the genuine emotion feels earned and plays out the way it was suppose to be. It knows how to make one feel in way that I don’t think even Shyamalan imagined. That in of itself makes Signs impressive in it’s own right.

2.) The Sixth Sense

If it weren’t for the fact that Wide Awake existed, this would make a strong case for being one of the best director debuts of all time. Imagine being a C-average student in your freshman year of high school only to being an A-average student the very next year as a sophomore. There’s not many directors out there that can say that but with The Sixth Sense, it’s hard to deny that M. Night was able to acheive exactly that.

This feels like a movie that only M. Night Shyamalan himself could have made as it knows exactly what he does expertly with no BS thrown in between any of it. It’s extremely well made, the narrative is engaging, the performances are top notch, it’s able to explore it’s subject matter involving psychology incredible well, and every scare is legit frightening regardless of if you know it’s coming or not. Even the twist ending, which would unfortunately make M. Night the child poster of that storytelling trope, works wonder and allows for different viewing experiences every time you watch it.

The Sixth Sense is able to bring out the very best of M. Night Shyamalan while also leaving the anything resembling the worst of him. It’s able to use the tropes it introduces without ever derailing any fraction of the film. While it’s not quite my absolute favorite of it as it ranks in the #2 spot, it would be hard to argue with anyone that has it at the very top.

1.) Unbreakable

This is where M. Night Shyamalan has hit home the best for me and what I believe is to be his absolute masterpiece. As much as their are handful of superhero films that try to “deconstruct” the genre to try to make an absolutely loaded genre feel fresh, very few are able to hit the mark of that matter with the way Unbreakable does.

It’s able to take the tropes that is most common for superhero movies and comic book stories and cleverly subverts them in ways that make the experience even better. Instead of being action heavy with cheesy one-liners and campy villains, it’s able to showcase what superheroes and supervillains could look like in a real word with a dark and sobering tone that fits perfectly for the movie. Bruce Willis and Samuel L Jackson are perfect in their roles as David Dunn and Mr. Glass, the main superhero and supervillain of the picture. The conflict between the two and the duality that they played off of each other is among the best I’ve seen in any superhero film. It shows that there is a more to a hero and villain story than simple fistfights and power-filled matchups, but it’s also about having an interesting internal conflict between two figures from a psychological and thematic standpoint that matter too. Some do it better than others but not in he way that Unbreakable masterfully showcases this.

Even in an age of where comic book movies have took the world by storm, Unbreakable is a movie that feels like it could have came out at any time and it would still feel fresh, different, and unique all the same. It’s one of the few times where a M. Night Shyamalan is exactly as smart, if not more so, that it believes it is. Because of that reason and many more, Unbreakable is hands down my favorite movie of M. Night Shyamalan and one of my personal favorite movies in general.

For the past decade, the video game known as Alien: Isolation has been considered by Alien fans to not just be the best Alien game ever made but the very best thing to happen to the franchise since the first two masterpieces of film known as Alien and Aliens. It was a game that understood the original Alien inside and out. It captured the intense, suspense, cluster phobia, and pure horror nature of that 1978 sci-fi gamechanger by Ridley Scott. Putting you in the hands of Amanda Ripley, the daughter of Ellen Ripley, as she has to confront with the same alien surprises as her mother could not have been a more fitting gap between the events of Alien and Aliens.

Since then, many fans have wondered if a game like Isolation could be properly translated into a feature film or tv series. Whether it’s to experience more adventures with another badass Ripley or have scares and thrills that is reminiscence to that, making something that could completely capture that lightning in a bottle that a video game could really do wonders for this franchise. And if the latest installment, Alien: Romulus is any indication, Fede Álvarez seems to have us all COMPLETELY covered in that regard.

Romulus is able to hit the beats that you expect and want out of a proper Alien movie, while acting as easily the most consistently good film entry in the Alien series since 1986. It’s far from the gamechanger that the first two Alien films were nor is it even as ambitiously imperfect as the likes of Prometheus or Alien 3, but in terms to delivering the goodies and pure entertainment value in the way it intends to, Romulus has been as good as it gets for the Alien franchise for a good long while.

Premise: Taking place between the events of Alien and Aliens, while scavenging the deep ends of a derelict space station, a group of young space colonists (Cailee Spaeny, David Jonsson, Archie Renaux, Isabela Merced, Spike Fearn, and Aileen Wu) come face to face with the most terrifying life form in the universe.

On the surface, the plot of Alien: Romulus comes across as a simulated version of the entire Alien franchise up to this point. You got the alien acting as the uninvited guest from the original Alien, the aliens which forces our main character (s) to take matters into their own hands from Aliens, the alien that is determine to strip everything away from our main character from Alien 3, some of the alien lore expansion of Prometheus and Alien: Covenant, and just a tiny bit of the campiness from Alien: Resurrection and the Alien vs Predator movies. However, what makes this all work is not only how well utilized it is in the world that is Alien, but Fede Alvarez is able to add it’s own sauce (Did I use that right?) to the franchise that had yet to be seen up to this point.

Alvarez has already shown is horror directing chops in Evil Dead (2013) and Don’t Breathe but with Alien: Romulus, he was able to really set himself loose. His horror style is able to make every moment with the Xenomorph as intense and suspensible as it has any right to be, making nearly every single sequence with them stand out in a grand way. Not only with creating exciting action sequences with the aliens or making them all look cool but he understands perfectly as to why these monsters are as opposing and threatening as they are. It’s not because of the lore or backstory behind them. It’s just the fact that they are able to cause one problem after another for our main heroes, constantly being a sinister threat every step of the way. Whenever you think you are safe, you are most certainly not. That is what makes these creatures stand out among the very best monsters in horror and sci-fi history and what makes Romulus work as well as it does.

And if that sound similar to how the aliens were portrayed in Alien: Isolation, you would be corrected. It’s for that distinct reason as to why Romulus acts as the perfect adaption of Isolation without necessarily being one. It has that perfect set of tension, suspense, horror, action, and just perfectly putting you in the shoes of the main protagonist, making you feel like you are on this horrific roller coaster ride with them. And that’s not even going into the fun little easter eggs from that game such as the emergency phone save point, crawling through dark tunnels, and the alien knowing your every presence every step of the way. For anyone out there that wanted a proper Alien: Isolation film adaption but also is it’s own thing, look no further than Alien: Romulus.

It’s also impressive how it’s able to weave in certain elements from infamous Alien entries such as Prometheus and find a way to make it worth here. It’s able to find that right balance of incorporating other elements from previous Alien movies to not just tip their cap to those films but also make it worth for the purpose of this story. Although, there is one particular plot element that the film goes perhaps too far with. And yes, it’s the one that many people have discussed at volume length and is perhaps the biggest talking point of this movie.

Personally, I felt it worked just fine for this movie as it provided the right connection the original Alien and it did get approved by everyone it needed to get approved of. I just wish that no real A.I. was used to make that element work so it could avoid all of this controversy. I can understand why many people don’t like it but considering they found a way to make it work for the movie and got the permission needed, I think it works just fine.

The entire cast is also to stand on their own very well here. I don’t know if they will be as remembered fondly as the cast of the original Alien movies but they do work well on their own here. Cailee Spaeny is very strong and compelling as Rain, being able to avoid the trappings of prior leads in the Alien movies and growing into her own unique presence, by the end becoming more than just a standard Ellen Ripley clone. David Jonsson as Andy makes for easily the most unique and charismatic android this series has had in a long time, providing for some of the film’s most standout moments. Archie Renaux and Isabela Merced make for welcome additions that will certainly get them roles in future horror movies for years to come. Spike Wearn and Aileen Wu are the two members that get pushed to the wayside but they do suit their required roles well.

The production values are very top notch in Alien: Romulus, save for that plot element with the recurring character which you perhaps could have down without. You can definitely tell that Fede Alvarez has a love for practical effects and craftmanship and he’s really able to show that throughout the entire movie. The Xenomorphs and other aliens have not look this good in ages, the cinematography is spot on throughout, there’s plenty of iconic moments that stand among the franchise’s best, the action set pieces make for some of the best sequences in the entire franchise and a third act which is so over-the-top and feel approximately Fede Alvarez that I couldn’t help but love it. Even with the 80 million dollar budget, you can tell that nearly every single penny is put to good and proper use.

After going down a very inconsistent road from Alien 3 to Covenant, Romulus sees Fede Álvarez
returning this franchise back to it’s traditional roots and it could not be any better for it. This is able to hit all the beats that you would expect from an Alien film while also providing it’s own unique voice and plenty of memorable scares and thrills of it’s own to make this a worthy addition to the Alien canon. The new cast of characters are likable and compelling in their own right, the action, gore, and set pieces are among the very best in the franchise, this is easily the scariest film in the series since the original Alien, and the third act is so bonkers and so out of left field that I can’t help but love it. It’s even able to take plot elements from Prometheus and have it work rather well here.

It does suffer from some imperfections such as a callback or two that doesn’t really work (You’ll know it when you see it!), and a reemergence of a certain character that you perhaps could have done without. Even so, this is easily the most consistently good Alien film since Aliens and perhaps the most pure fun installment in the franchise thus far. While it’s far from the most thought provoking and groundbreaking film in the franchise, Alien: Romulus is able to deliver where it counts the most with this franchise in providing it’s own scares, thrills, and tension throughout.

Romulus is able to do to Alien what Prey was able to do with Predator, give it’s previously considered dead franchises a new life and leave room for plenty of more stories to be told with their own respected franchises. Whether it’s for a sequel to this movie, a sequel to Covenant, one final swan song with Sigourney Weaver, or another Alien vs Predator movie, I’m now genuinely curious as to whether the Alien franchise can go from here.

Bring on Alien: Earth!

And please make a sequel to Alien: Isolation! I want more adventures with Amanda Ripley!

Alien: Romulus is now playing in theaters. As usual every time that a new entry in a famous, long-running franchise comes out, it’s time to rank every single installment from worst to best.

Alien is certainly one of the more complicated film series out there. It bares quite a resemblance to that of the Terminator franchise, and that’s NOT just because both series had James Cameron involved in one way or another. In which the first two films are beloved and considered absolute sci-fi masterpieces while every single installment to come out after that has a very take it or leave it mindset. Sure, there are definitely films to come out in the post-Aliens era that have their fans, including the newest one that just came out, but the majority would agree that not a single one of them could hold a candle to the first two films.

Even so, just like with any franchise that has gone on for decades, everyone has their personal favorites and least favorites. And it’s time for me to throw my towel in the ring and rank them all.

Also, similar to the Mad Max ranking, I decided to make this one a bit more interesting and thrown in a video game into the mix. Why? Because it’s awesome and better than a good majority of these movies so it’s worth addressing. Nevertheless, let’s get into ranking some Alien movies.

10.) Alien vs Predator: Requiem

The second Alien vs Predator showdown is not only the worst of anything related to both now Disney-owned IPs, it’s one of the worst franchise entries in the 21st century. What should be a simple premise of just taking these two well known monsters and have been punch one another for an hour and a half is bogged by some of the worst lighting and editing ever put in a theatrical released film. It also doesn’t help that it has writing, acting, and directing that wouldn’t even be passable for a Patron funded fan film. Alien vs Predator: Requiem is not only just as bad as franchise movies can get, it’s just as lazy as they come. It literally brings a new definition of unwatchable because well…….you literally can’t watch it because you can barely see what’s happening on screen. It’s not strictly a film that is infamous for certain story choices it makes or contradicting previously established lore in any way but because of how objectively poor the filmmaking is on display. That in of itself makes this more than worthy of being the worst film in both respected franchises.

9.) Alien: Covenant

After the divisive response that 2012’s Prometheus had on critics and audiences, Ridley Scott decided to take things back to basic for the Alien franchise with Alien: Covenant. Unfortunately, in so doing so, he manages to undermine the ambiguity and intrigue of the beloved Xenomorph while doubling down on all of the main problems that plagued it’s predecessor. The alien action and set pieces are uninspired, most of the characters aren’t interesting and are about as dumb as movie characters can get, the effects for all the monsters look shockingly poor, and finding out that David was the one responsible for the creation of the Xenomorph is about the most out of no where and unneeded explanation for a franchise’s lore since Mini-chlorians. Not even Michael Fassbender’s captivating screen presence and a couple of fun moments sprinkling in can save this mess. Alien: Covenant may not quite be the worst film in the franchise but it was definitely the sign that the franchise had lost his staying power and how the guy who made the marvelous original Alien had lost his touch. When looking at is as a proper Alien movie and a sequel to Prometheus, Covenant just doesn’t work on any level.

8.) Alien vs Predator

On paper, an Alien vs Predator movie should amount for the perfect amount of shlock blockbuster popcorn entertainment anyone would expect. And the moments that it does just that, it makes for a pretty good time that gives you exactly what you want and expect out of this fun premise. Just a shame that way too much time is spent focusing on human characters that become a footnote the moment the two titled monsters jump on the screen and it tries to set up lore and world building that it has little to no interest in actually exploring. Still, the effects and production design is top notch and when the alien and predator actually show up and start fighting, it’s entertaining enough. Back in the day, you would have to slug through Alien vs Predator to get to the good stuff, similar to how folks had to slug through The Phantom Menace to get to anything involving a lightsaber, but because we have the internet now, you can just look up the fight scenes for this movie on YouTube and be satisfied all the same.

7.) Alien: Resurrection

Alien: Resurrection acts as perhaps the oddball of the series. It’s not so much a continuation of it’s controversial predecessor but more acts like a “Elseworlds” addition to the Alien franchise. This is basically when the series began abandoning its thought-provoking themes and immersive storytelling in favor of acting as traditional schlocky B movies. Sigourney Weaver is back once again but she’s not actually the Ellen Ripley from the first three movies and is actually a clone of Ellen Ripley this time around. That in of itself makes the emotional investment non-existent and hard to care about. Still, the shlock-ness that is presented in of itself is just so hard for me to not dig, even if it’s as goofy and over-the-top as it comes. The action is fun, Sigourney Weaver is clearly having fun in playing a clone version of her iconic character, and the effects and ideas of the Xenomorphs is so bizarre that it’s actually amusing to see before your very eyes. When viewing it on the merits of being a silly, wacky sci-fi click, Resurrection works well enough. When viewing it on the merits of the previous Alien films that felt more ambitious and impactful, Resurrection falls quite flat. Even so, it’s still bittersweet watching this now knowing it was Sigourney’s final time playing Ripley on the big screen.

6.) Alien 3

The most despised standalone Alien movie in the series isn’t nearly as bad as it’s detractors would be. This is the directorial debut for the well-known David Fincher, at least not the parts which Fox didn’t meddled with the third installment. Alien 3 is most infamous in it’s bold narrative choices, such as killing off the supporting cast of the last movie onscreen, along with not being on par with the previous two masterpieces. However, when looking at it’s own term, there’s plenty of interesting ideas and set pieces throughout Alien 3 that work well here, along with having such a bleak and distinct feel to it that you very rarely get in movies nowadays. Not to mention, in a franchise which sees so many people get kill and slaughter by alien monsters left and right, it’s not really a series which I see the main characters have happy and uplifting endings. It’s definitely not as good as Alien or Aliens and it might have reached it’s truest potential if David Fincher was given full control but Alien 3 is definitely better than it’s overall reputation would suggest. If you watch the assembly cut, which adds an extra half an hour where it fleshes out all the new characters, you just get a good notion as to watch Fincher was going for and a hint to where his style would go many years down the road. This may have not been the ending that Ripley deserved but it’s perhaps the one she needed.

5.) Prometheus

Easily the most polarizing entry in the entire franchise, Prometheus sees Ridley Scott returning to the franchise decades later with a distinct prequel, back before any of the aliens were actually a thing. This easily contains some of the strongest visuals and ideas in the entire series, questioning how human being can co-exist against technology and artificial intelligence. You also have a cast, such as Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron, and Idris Elba, that absolutely give it their all and is able to add the right amount of weight to the material they are giving. Just too bad it gets bogged down by having characters making completely illogical decisions the whole way through and so many questions gets handwaved in the hopes that a potential sequel would be able to follow through with it (SPOILER ALERT: IT DOESN’T!). It’s hard to know how Prometheus would be judged in hindsight if Ridley Scott got to continue along with this distinct direction but even so, it’s hard not to admire the film for what it’s aiming for and being it’s own animal in a franchise that has gone on for as long as it has. While it certainly lacks in smart characters and aliens, Prometheus has enough impressive visuals and captivating ideas to make it’s way to the top 5.

4.) Alien: Romulus

After going down a very inconsistent road from Alien 3 to Covenant, Romulus sees Fede Álvarez
returning this franchise back to it’s traditional roots and it could not be any better for it. This is able to hit all the beats that you would expect from an Alien film while also providing it’s own unique voice and plenty of memorable scares and thrills of it’s own. It’s able to use fan service in a very organic way, feeling like it belongs properly in the world of Alien. The new cast of characters are likable and compelling in their own right, the action, gore, and set pieces are among the very best in the franchise, this is easily the scariest film in the series since the original Alien, and the third act is so bonkers and so out of left field that I can’t help but love it. It’s even able to take plot elements from Prometheus and have it work rather well here. It does suffer from some imperfections such as a rather slow start, a callback or two that doesn’t really work, and a reemergence of a certain character that didn’t feel necessary (At least, it wasn’t A.I. though!). Even so, this is easily the most consistently good Alien film since Aliens and perhaps the most pure fun installment in the franchise thus far. While it’s far from the most thought provoking and groundbreaking film in the franchise, Alien: Romulus is able to deliver where it counts the most with this franchise in providing it’s own scares, thrills, and tension throughout.

3.) Alien Isolation

Fans have debated for years as to what is the third best film in the Alien franchise. Even after the release of Romulus, that debate continues. However, there is a strong argument to be made that the third best Alien film every made is not actually a film but a video game known as Alien: Isolation. Set between the events of Alien and Aliens, we follow Amanda Ripley, the daughter of Ellen Ripley, going on her own space journey to find clues about what happened to her mother only to be greeted with the same alien surprise as her mother did. This is a game that perfectly understands why Alien and Aliens worked as well as it did, masterfully combining the slow paced, claustrophobic nature of Alien and the action-heavy set pieces of Aliens. Isolation puts you perfectly in the shoes of Amandla Ripley, with a smartly placed third-person perspective that makes you feel like you are the one that is going on this hunt for survival against these sinister monsters. The narrative is compelling, the stealth and combat is properly done, the a.i. is some of the smartest and challenging of any video game, and the Xenomorphs have never been more terrifying than they are here. Some of the backtracking can be too tedious and will CERTAINLY get too frustrating for those that want to just BLAZE through the game (Which you absolutely should NOT do!), but I don’t think I can think of a more perfect bridge to Alien and Aliens than Alien: Isolation. While Alien: Romulus was able to take all the good elements of this game and make it it’s own, I still believe this game is my favorite thing to come out of the franchise post-Alien. Rock on, Amanda Ripley!

And IGN CAN SUCK IT!

2.) Alien

The one that started it all remains one of the greatest achievements in both the sci-fi genre and cinematic history in general. Ridley Scott got it perfectly right on his very first try back in 1978. Operating flawlessly as a slow-burn, smaller scaled sci-fi horror flick, Alien is the proper film to be taught in film school on how to build tension and suspense properly. The Xenomorph, chest burster, and face huggers remains some of the most unique and terrifying monsters every put to film, the atmosphere could not be any more somber and claustrophobic if it tried, the production and sound design is some of the very best every put to film, every single important plot element is remembered and gets a satisfying payoff, and nearly every single cast member gets their own moment to shine. Also, best movie cat ever! While I’m sure the film might be way too slow for those that watch it nowadays, Alien is a film that more than awards your patience by finding the proper payoff to every single thing that it builds off of. Even if it’s not quite #1 for me, I don’t think there has been a more important sci-fi film, give or take Star Wars, in cinematic history than Alien. It’s impact is still felt to this very day and it is more than easy to see why.

1.) Aliens

While the original Alien acts as one of the greatest sci-fi movies ever made, Aliens is one of the best sequels ever made. Much like Terminator 2: Judgement Day, it not only takes every time that worked about it’s near perfect original and made them better but it’s able to stand on it’s own two feet by changing the pace into a relatively smart action flick. From the superb lighting to the stellar production design to the convincing make-up effects to the properly raised stakes to the fantastic action to the perfection that is Sigourney Weaver as Ellen Ripley, Aliens is about as perfect as a film of any kind can get. There’s not a single line of dialogue that isn’t memorable, not a single character that feels wasted, and not a single action or dramatic beat that doesn’t work here. This is one of the rare times that a film series was able to properly translate from a smaller scaled indie flick to an action blockbuster that does not diminish or water down the franchise in any way. Also, this film confirms that Ellen Ripley is hands down the most badass action heroine in the history of cinema. That is not opinion, that is FACT. There’s no person the planet that could deliver the line, “GET AWAY FROM HER, YOU BITCH!” better than Sigourney Weaver could. Aliens remains the pitch perfect example on how to do a sequel, sci-fi flick, and a big blockbuster film of any kind. This remains one of the very best films that has ever been made.

When I made the decision to do a yearly long retrospective on SpongeBob Squarepants for the show’s 25th anniversary, there was one main thing I was skeptical off, that the newest piece of content to come out in 2024 for the sponge would be so bad that it would make this retrospective feel like a giant waste of time. After all, we all know the narrative of SpongeBob Squarepants in the eyes of the media. Pre-movie SpongeBob good, post-movie SpongeBob bad.

The last thing I want is the latest movie or tv special to throw more fuel into that toxic fire when it’s already big enough as it is. However, in the case of this newest SpongeBob-related movie to come out in Saving Bikini Bottom: A Sandy Cheeks Movie, I figured it wouldn’t be worth talking about unless it was either exceptionally good or exceptionally bad. And considering I’m writing this review, you could probably guess this particular film is either one of those metrics. And if you go by the subtitle of this review, you would probably guess it was exceptionally bad. Unfortunately, you would be right.

Saving Bikini Bottom: A Sandy Cheeks Movie is one of the worst things to ever happened to SpongeBob SquarePants and is perhaps the worst of all of the SpongeBob movies (Yes, including Sponge on the Run). It takes nearly every problem of the very worst of SpongeBob medium and cranks it up to 11. The plot is non-existent, the characters are at their most one-note and nonsensical, not a single joke lands or isn’t stolen from older SpongeBob material, the direction and special effects for the live-action sequences are jaw droppingly awful, and the main villain is one of the worst, obnoxious, and most cringeworthy villains I’ve seen in any movie. Not even previous saving graces from other bad SpongeBob content such as the animation and voice work are good here. If there was any indication that Nickelodeon no longer cares for the sponge we all know and love, look no further than this steaming piece of crap!

I honestly want to stop here because talking so negatively about SpongeBob Squarepants, a series I have loved nearly my whole life, just breaks my heart. However, there is so much wrong with this movie that I just have to get my honest thoughts out there. I would start with the plot but it would be hard to describe because there barely is one.

Premise: The Bikini Bottom is in danger once again, this time being scooped out of the ocean from some mysterious unknown source. The only ones left to save the town is Sandy Cheeks (Carolyn Lawrence) and SpongeBob Squarepants (Tom Kenny). The two head out of water to Sandy’s home state of Texas to enlist the help from her family to save their town and stop whoever it is that stole Bikini Bottom and everyone they love.

First off, despite what the title might suggest, this is very by in large a SpongeBob SquarePants movie that just happens to put the spotlight on Sandy Cheeks, much like how Shadow the Hedgehog was by in large a Sonic the Hedgehog game that just happened to put the spotlight on Shadow. There’s nothing different to in terms of tone, feel or music and just about all of the major SpongeBob characters are present and accounted for. SpongeBob is basically just reduced to being the co-lead of the movie. Netflix and Nickelodeon can fool people however much they want to but this is NOT a spin-off and most certainly another main entry of SpongeBob SquarePants. Which to be honest, makes the whole picture feel a lot worse than it already is.

It’s become a growing criticism with recent forms of media that it has the feeling of an A.I. making it and that unfortunately can be applied to here. There’s not a single plot element, character trait, joke, or reference that feels new or unique. Almost every single one of them has been stolen from other better SpongeBob medium and makes nearly every single beat of the film feel extremely predictable. You can see every single plot turn, character moment, reference, and moment of humor coming from a mile away. I’m willing to be if I asked ChatGPT to write out a Sandy Cheeks movie, this is exactly what I will get.

The plot, as I mention before, is barely there. It’s about the most barebone “save the world” story you can possibly imagine with nothing fresh or unique added to it. There’s no positive message for kids here or any hard lesson that the characters have to learn by the end. It just one random illogical set piece to the next that even for SpongeBob SquarePants, will test your patience and make your ability to suspend your disbelief basically impossible. Granted, SpongeBob hasn’t necessarily been known for having complex stories or the most internal logic but even with the other movies, it at least felt consistent with everything else going on and there was the germ of an idea that gives it an excuse to make into a film.

The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie acted as the original epilogue of the series that changed the status quo for its main Sponge at the very end. Sponge Out of Water took spoofs of a handful of classic films and put them all in a blender. Even Sponge on the Run had a climax that (despite the abruptly forced Kamp Koral flashbacks) could have been seen as a culmination of the series with the characters describing how much SpongeBob has meant to them over the years since the show’s inception. There is nothing of substance in Saving Bikini Bottom that warranted this being a feature length film when it could have been a 30 or 45 minute long special instead of a 85 minute long film.

The SpongeBob characters themselves are giving as lazy of a treatment as the plot is. There is nothing that stands out here in terms of their traits and personalities that you haven’t already seen before in any SpongeBob media. It takes the problem of the later seasons where they will take the one character trait that each character is known for and beat you over the head with it, making it their ENTIRE personality without deviating from that one specific trait. SpongeBob is overly happy and optimistic, Sandy is overly smart and competent, Patrick is overly dumb and stupid, Squidward is overly sad and depressed, etc. It’s just the one trait that each character is known for and literally nothing else. I would mention the others but they all feel like such a footnote here that I can’t be bother to speak of them because the movie itself couldn’t care less either. That’s not even to mention how clunky and unnatural nearly every bit of dialogue is that comes out of these characters’ mouth, with lines that feel as cold and lifeless as everything in this movie is.

When it comes to the new characters added in, they are even worse. While meeting Sandy’s family is an interesting idea on paper that would at least make for a decent special episode of the series, the group itself could not be more bland and boring in the finished film. So much so, that I can’t even remember any of their names, what makes them different from each other, and which one each said notable actor is suppose to be playing. There’s nothing that stands out with the family that makes them feel welcome in the world of SpongeBob nor does it offer any kind of extra depth or characterization for Sandy herself. The best we get is the hint of what Sandy was before she left Bikini Bottom with her family being circus folks and potentially was destined to be a spy there (Yes, really!) and nothing else.

It’s also quite jarring how the family seems to act like they are in a completely different universe than the one the movie is set in, especially with how little presence they have in the actual climax of the movie. They don’t so much feel like they are doing this to save their daughter’s town but more because she just so happened to be back in Texas and might as well give her a helping hand. It honestly feels like the family couldn’t care less what happens to Sandy’s home and her friends. It’s just like, “Oh, our daughter is back in town and needs a slight favor from us! I guess we can help here, even if we really don’t know what it amounts to!’ Meeting Sandy’s family should have been exciting to see for any fan, instead it’s lame and boring like the rest of the movie.

The worst new additions, however, have to go to the human characters. Not only are the live-action sequences with them generally poor and hard to watch, but these characters could not be more annoying and obnoxious if they tried. The two assistants are generally infuriating, going full cartoon in their performances that doesn’t feel entertaining to watch and gives the impression that the director for these sequences has no clue how to properly stage a live-action scene. If you thought the live-action Patchy the Pirate sequences in the show was cringe, you have seen NOTHING yet. However, neither one of them compares to the absolute WORST part of the movie, the main villain of the movie!

The main villain play by Wanda Sykes is easily the worst antagonist that the SpongeBob franchise has ever seen! She starts off as being a generic “corporate” villain that wants to use SpongeBob and his friends as a brand that they can turn into a huge profit (You couldn’t have been any less subtle with that, could you Nickelodeon?!) but then she becomes needlessly complicated once they reveal the origin story as to who and even why she is the way she is. Nothing about that makes any sense, her motivations for doing what she does is strange and quite frankly disturbing, every single line of dialogue spoken out of her mouth is an absolute groaner, the green-screening effects with her character are so bad it will make your eyes bleed, and her evil transformation at the climax is generally one of the most CRINGEWORTHY things I’ve seen in any form of media ever! You have to see it to believe it but I can only imagine how many folks will legit die of cringe whenever they see this character appear on screen in her “real” form.

Even the notable saving graces of prior bad SpongeBob content such as the animation and voice work cannot be praised here. The animation might have been decent for a video game cutscene but NOT for a future length film. It’s like they took the animation from prior SpongeBob video games, most notably The Cosmic Shake, but removed any of the fluent movements and the overall unique style that helped make it stand out for the game. It looks even worse in live-action, looking distractingly out of place with everything that is happen out of the sea with terribly dodgy CGI effects and dreadful editing for good measure. I mean at least Sponge On The Run looked nice and all of the voice actors sounded like they were trying.

Speaking of which, the voice cast, which has been a constant strength for all forms of SpongeBob medium, is shockingly flat here. Almost all the big name members of the cast sound incredibly bored to be here, feeling like they are just going through the motion and phoning in. I understand that everyone in the cast is older now and have been doing these roles for over two decades now but there is just no energy or passion behind any of the performances in the movie. Tom Kenny and Clancy Brown in particular sounds like they are on there last legs on voicing SpongeBob and Mr. Krabs respectively. They all sound just as tired and bored as I imagine most SpongeBob fans will feel watching this monstrosity.

I can’t imagine I will suffer through a worse film through the rest of 2024 than Saving Bikini Bottom: A Sandy Cheeks Movie. It’s basic proof that Nickelodeon no longer cares about the quality of the SpongeBob brand and clearly see the franchise as just a product in name only. Any of the heart and soul that has been a present through the very highs and even some of the lows is no where to be seen here. I know there will be plenty of folks out there dismissing this review and claim the movie overall is not that bad and giving it the “it’s for kids” pass but I generally believe SpongeBob SquarePants and children entertainment deserves better than this.

As someone that has been a defender of numerous amount of SpongeBob content to come out past the first movie (which you have seen throughout the course of the year), Saving Bikini Bottom: A Sandy Cheeks Movie serves as just the amount of ammo needed to those that claim that the sponge we all know and love is long gone and should have been put to sleep a long time ago.

Going back to the “corporate villains” I mentioned before, it’s ironic how the main thing going with them is that they are a big corporation that is wanting to capture SpongeBob and the rest of Bikini Bottom for the sake of merchandises and branding. With a proper creative team, that could have made for an interesting commentary and even a defense that SpongeBob means more to Nickelodeon than just his popularity alone. Unfortunately, when watching the movie, it comes across as Nickelodeon patching itself on the back for letting SpongeBob be what he has become. And especially after the passing of Stephen Hillenburg, that is about the worst possible feeling imaginable.

Help us Derek Drymon, you’re our only hope!

Other comments:

• There is literally a joke that SpongeBob makes early on about streaming on demand. That legit made me want to turn off the movie at that exact moment.

• Why does EVERY SINGLE SpongeBob movie have to take place out of water?! Just let the little yellow demon stay underwater for once!

• Remember in that one episode where Sandy says that squirrels can’t fly. That aged about as well as SpongeBob recently saying that he never learned how to tie a tie.

• I’m so sorry to Deadpool & Wolverine so saying you barely had a plot and relied too much on jokes and references. At least, the plot was built AROUND those jokes and references and they mostly worked in the heat of the moment. This is just……nothing.

• This movie was apparently produced by the same person that did Food Fight! Now, it all make sense!

• Which character from Sandy’s family did Johnny Knoxville voice again? I literally couldn’t tell.

• It’s odd how Grey DeLisle never did any voice work in SpongeBob until now. Just a shame she had to choose the absolute worst occasion imaginable to do so!

• I don’t care if Search for SquarePants or the Plankton movie (Yes, that’s going to be a thing) turns out any good, there should be no more SpongeBob movies after that.

• Sponge on the Run>Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie

• Heck, I’ll go a step further. Megamind 2>Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie

• Also, yes this was in fact a part of the SpongeBob retrospective marathon. I will do Sponge on the Run next month.

• Oh, and Squidward is totally gay for Sandy’s father btw. And SpongeBob as well.

A wise man once said that there are no two words in the English language more harmful than “fan service”. I paraphrase of course but if that exact quote was legit, I imagine a film like Deadpool & Wolverine would be EXACTLY what that person would be talking about. Whenever a film is said to be filled with fan service, that always to act as some sort of certified trump card to neglect any kind of legit criticism to be regarded against the film, giving free realm to label critics that don’t like it as haters of un. It is also enough to basically determine what one will feel about the movie before they even set foot in the theater. When taking all those factors into account, you should know exactly what you are getting into with Deadpool & Wolverine because the film clearly doesn’t try to be anything but what you expect it to be like.

For fans that were excited just by the mere fact of Hugh Jackman coming back as Wolverine in his classic yellow spandex outfit and interacting alongside with Ryan Reynolds’s Deadpool, they will be happy. For fans that basically wants this to be the equivalent of MCU Reddit Fan Theory: The Movie, they will be happy. For fans that want to see Marvel poke fun at itself and take shots at itself for their recent shortcomings, they will be happy. For those that are bother by just one single aspect that I just mentioned, not only will they NOT be happy but they will likely be the ones to cry this as being the death nail of Marvel and cinema in general, A.K.A. Film Twitter’s worst nightmare. To put it simply, Deadpool & Wolverine is both as good as fans wanted it to be and as bad as haters wanted to be at the EXACT same time!

I can basically stop right there because that alone should indicated if this movie is for you or not. Even in an age where everyone already makes up their mind how they feel about something months before it even comes out, Deadpool & Wolverine has no interest in subverting or exceeding expectations but meaning it at the exact same level. For me, as someone that is a big fan of the first two Deadpool movies, I enjoyed myself well enough but I really hope that Marvel doesn’t make a film like this ever again. There’s only so many times where you can go “WOAH! I can’t believe they got *SPOILER* to come back as *SPOILER*!” before it gets incredibly old.

Premise: Deadpool’s (Ryan Reynolds) peaceful existence comes crashing down when the Time Variance Authority recruits him to help safeguard the multiverse. He soon unites with his would-be pal, Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), to complete the mission and save his world from an existential threat.

I would go more in-depth than usual when reviewing these big movies but the plot is barely the point for a movie like this. All it mostly amounts to is a giant excuse to get Wade Wilson into the MCU, team up with Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, throw some shades at itself and superhero movies in general, and insert as many cameos as one could find on an MCU reddit fan page. Sure, there are moments of emotional weight here and there (particularly with two standout sequences with the worst Logan confronting his past) and all of the characters have clear cut motivations which they follow through on but for the most part, it would be hard to mistake this from other recent “fan service”/course correction movies out there, most notably The Flash.

To be sure, Deadpool & Wolverine is a better movie than The Flash without a doubt. There’s nothing in here even as remotely awful as the abominable CGI cameos of dead actors, all of the cameos are live and breathing people, and it’s all played for laughs while even drive forwarding the rather paper-thin plot. However, similarly to one of last year’s biggest summer bombs, you still can’t help but feel like the entire reason for this film’s existence is solely based with the audience in mind first and the characters of the story second. It’s not so much the way that the characters reacts to these moments of fan service but rather how the fanboys feel.

Say what you will about Spider-Man: No Way Home but that film knew to put Tom Holland’s Peter Parker front and center and that is what his story that had to be told. Into the Spider-Verse and Across the Spider-Verse used it’s multiverse concept to perfection to craft genuine, multilayer stories with fan service being the icing on the cake. You also had X-Men: Days of Future Past, a movie which existed just for the sake of erasing two bad X-Men movies, who used it’s time traveling mechanic and obvious course correction template to craft a film about our heroes fixing the mistakes of their past to make for a better and more uplifting future. Unlike those movies I just mentioned, Deadpool and Wolverine never really amounts to much under the skin than being a easter egg fest and a love letter to the 2000s era of Marvel superhero movies.

Thankfully, despite relying solely on action, comedy, and fan service, it does deliver on that when it counts the most. While not being the best in any of those categories in the Deadpool movies, there is genuinely enough fun to be had with what the movie has to offer. The fight scenes has just as much blood and gore as the first two movies, with the main standouts being the opening action sequence and the duels between Deadpool and Wolverine, it had just as much fourth wall breaking humor and pinches as itself than before, and there will certainly be one or two moments that will put a genuine smile on a longtime Marvel fan’s face. (There’s two in particular that I BETTER see in an upcoming Avengers movie.) The cast and crew knew exactly the movie that they were going to make and they made for the best of it.

Of course, Hugh Jackman’s return as Wolverine is the main selling point of the movie and what helps to differ this one from the past two movies. While this is not the same version of Logan that we have followed from 2000 to 2017, Jackman is still able to sell this new, “worst” version of Wolverine far better than the script demands for it. He makes for a perfect bitter counterpart to the always crazy and wisecracking Merc with the Mouth, fitting the new yellow spandex, something that has been in the making for nearly 25 years (Screw you, Bryan Singer!), like the absolute perfect glove you would expect. And as stated before, he does have two genuine standout moments with Dafne Keen’s X-23 (She’s already been in the trailer so it’s NOT a spoiler!) and Emma Corrin’s Cassandra Nova that only work as well as they do because of Hugh Jackman’s adding that extra emotional depth to the character. There is no way this movie would have worked without the pairing of Hugh and Ryan respectively but since it does, I could not help but love the hell out of those two bouncing off one another.

As for shortcomings, outside of the ones I mentioned, there are times to where the pacing grinds to a screeching halt with the characters adding some mumble jumble about the TVA and multiverse and just too much spent on trying to make sense in any of this. I also found myself missing 99% of the side characters from the first two Deadpool movies, with only really two main scenes with the whole gang. And while some of the jabs at the MCU and Multiverse Saga are funny, there are some that comes across as rather mean-spirited (especially in regards to a certain variation of Deadpool. It also doesn’t help that there are so much jabs at it that it seems like it’s going to lead to an ending that confirms that Marvel is done with all of these multiverse shenanigans and they are ready to try something different but then……doesn’t.

If this review makes it seem like my thoughts of Deadpool and Wolverine are all over the place, that’s because I’m trying to give multiple perspectives as to whether or not this movie will be for you. For the longtime fans, there’s a lot of fun and enjoyment to be found here with the insane amount of cameos, action beats, full 4th wall breaking humor, and just seeing Hugh Jackman in that classic yellow X-Men suit for the first time ever. That being said, if you are expecting a compelling straight-forward plot on par with the first two Deadpool movies and look for more than just fan service and easter eggs in a movie, you will likely be disappointed. As enjoyable as Deadpool and Wolverine is, I can’t help but find the character more engaging on his own adventures with his own friends and family, which is why this is perhaps my least favorite of the Deadpool movies and inferior to the last two standalone Wolverine movies.

But still, I enjoyed the action when it happened, I enjoyed (most of) the gags when they happened, I enjoyed the cameos when they happened, and I couldn’t help but be happy when I got to see Deadpool and Wolverine actually interacting together in their proper comic book counterpart suits. I just only wished it I enjoyed as much as I enjoyed all of those in the first two Deadpool movies.

This is a movie that the discourse surrounding will make me want to hate it, especially with the outrageous “THE MCU IS BACK!” to “THE MCU IS DEAD!” takes I’ve been seeing online, but for the moment I got what I mostly wanted for Deadpool and Wolverine, even if I wanted a bit more from it.

I’ll give it a three out of four stars for now.

Until the discourse and aftermath drives me sooooo bananas that it will make me drop it to a two and a half out of four stars.

Again, you’ve already decided whether you like or hate this movie so think for yourself.

Other comments:

• I can’t get BABY BYE BYE BYE out of my effing head!

• I would LOVE to know the backstory behind how Ryan Reynolds was able to get that one actor to come back given the bad blood that both sides had for one another.

• Also, the backstory on that one other cameo for Wolverine!

• It’s awkward how the same studio that made Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, that uses it’s cameos to flirt with and mock the find of fandom that care more about filmmakers making Reddit fan porn than their own work of art, make a film that basically acts as a tongue-and-cheek “Sorry!” to fans that didn’t like that movie.

• Shawn Levy doesn’t have the “sauce” that Tim Miller and David Lynch has. Did I do that right?

• And please stop using the phrase “sauce” all the time. It’s annoying!

• This weekend I learned that the internet and social media was mistake.

• Also, about you know what coming back as Doctor Doom for Avengers 5? Um………we’ll see how it goes…….I guess.

We are now getting closer and closer to the release of Deadpool & Wolverine, the next film entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which will see the long-awaited returns of Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman as the titled characters. Although the discourse will likely be insufferable (most notably the hundreds of articles and YouTube videos about whether or not the film “saved” the MCU), this should be a fun time in it’s own right if it can live up to the buddy cop premise that it promises itself to be. However, I think it’s best to take a step back in the time capsule about how a Deadpool movie even existing is a miracle within itself. Not necessarily because just about any big movie that has ever gotten made is a miracle but particularly the circumstances surrounding the production of the first Deadpool movie, particularly what it took for Fox to actually greenlight it and give it that hard R-rating that fans wanted. We have to go back to practically the beginning of the 21st century to get the full dive-in the production of Deadpool.

Back in May 2000, Artisan Entertainment announced a deal with Marvel to co-produce, finance, and distribute several films based off of Marvel Comics’ characters, including Deadpool. It wasn’t until nearly four years later in February 2004 where there was any active development of a Deadpool movie, with David S. Goyer and Ryan Reynolds being attached to the project, both of whom worked together on the Marvel film, Blade: Trinity. Ryan became interested in playing Deadpool after learning that the character was refereed to in the comics as “Ryan Reynolds crossed with a Shar-Pei”, compelling him to get the movie made. However, there were rights issues with 20th Century Fox and the X-Men films, which halted the project completely.

About a year later in March 2005, Ryan learned that Fox might have changed their mind and were once again interest in a film featuring Deadpool. However, it wasn’t until 2009’s X-Men: Origins Wolverine where he finally got casted in the role of Wade Wilson/Deadpool and be given a chance to play as the character he’s wanting to for so long. While originally meant to be a cameo, his role would be expanded later on in production of the film, leaving room for a potential future spin-off movie for that version of Deadpool. Unfortunately, the film’s portrayal deviated HEAVILY from the original comic character.

There were decisions made with the character of Deadpool in Origins: Wolverine that INFURIATED not just the fans but Ryan Reynolds. Elements such as giving him illogical superpowers, no comic accurate suits, lack of funny one-liners, and worst of all, sewing his mouth complete shut. Ryan was against the majority of the choices made but was forced to go along with it after being blackmailed by the studio execs into having the character recast if he didn’t keep his mouth shut (no pun intended).

Despite the negative reception of X-Men Origins: Wolverine, it’s strong opening weekend at the box office encourages plans for a Deadpool standalone movie. Ryan would be attached to the project along with X-Men producer Lauren Shuler Donner. The spin-off would ignore the version that was presented in Origins: Wolverine and return the character back to his well-known comic suits, with a slapstick tone and plenty of fourth wall breaks. This project would be in the work for the next two years, with Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick helming the script, Tim Miller attached to make his feature directorial debut with it, and Ryan Reynolds being in the background to make sure everything was coming together.

The project would later be halted again after Green Lantern released in 2011, which starred Ryan Reynolds himself and was a critical and financial disappointment. Fox executives were already nervous about releasing a superhero film that was R-rated and the fact that Ryan himself as had quite a losing streak with comic book movies such as Blade: Trinity, X-Men: Origins Wolverine, and now Green Lantern didn’t help wonders either.

After Ryan and Tim Miller had several meetings with Fox, the studio did agree to give them a low-six-figure budget to product some test footage to see if a R-Rated Deadpool film could translate on the big screen. Miller would use CGI from his animation company Blur Studio in 2012, with Ryan voicing Deadpool himself. When presenting the footage to Fox, it did not convince them to greenlight the film. Just like that, the production was halted once again.

In the same year of 2012, The Avengers released in May and became the third highest-grossing film of all time. While some attached to the Deadpool project thought that would help pick serious momentum after it being in development hell for nearly a decade up to that point, Fox became even more doubtful of a R-Rated Deadpool movie working. Because of that, Fox began exploring ways to include Deadpool in an Avengers-like team-up film. Considering the fact that this was still years before Disney would own Fox, it would be pretty difficult to find popular Marvel superheroes outside of ones that Fox already own such as the X-Men and Fantastic Four to make a movie like that work. Yet again, it seems as though the project was still far away from having any actual development.

Despite having plenty of supporters over a Deadpool movie, even from some highly notable directors in Hollywood such as James Cameron and David Fincher, Fox still did not want to pull the trigger and give the proper and faithful Deadpool movie that his fans have been wanting for years now. It was at this point where it seems like a Deadpool movie was just never going to see the light of day. Due to a mix of studio politics and results of prior projects with some of the crew attached to it, it just felt like a Deadpool movie was never meant to be. Already so much time and effort had been wasted to a movie that was never officially greenlighted and it might be better off for everyone to just move on to other things. But then in July of 2014, the unthinkable happened.

Right around the time of Comic-Con in 2014, that test footage that Ryan Reynolds and Tim Miller made together two years prior got leaked all over the internet. The test footage mostly acted as a template to the opening action sequence in the final finished film. Deadpool is on a highway where he makes quips, slice and dices up some bad guys, flips the car open, and turns to the camera to break the fourth wall, with the cherry on top being Deadpool dropping an F bomb at the end along with Angel in the Morning playing in the background.

This leaked test footage absolutely BROKE the internet! Everyone and their mother went absolute BANANAS over it! THAT right there was Deadpool! Those two minutes of test footage along felt more like Deadpool than ANY scene with him in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. This got Marvel fans so fired up and excited that it led to plenty assuming that a Deadpool movie was in the works. Despite Fox denying Ryan and friends a chance to make a hard R Deadpool movie for the past decade now, they just had to yes now, right?! With the MASSIVE acclaim this two minute-long test footage alone got, this had to be a sign that a Deadpool movie was made to exist. And as it turns out, that was exactly what the cast and crew needed to get Fox to FINALLY say Yes!

About a month after the test footage was leaked, Fox confirmed that a Deadpool movie would be in the works and they gave it a release date of February 12, 2016. At long last, Ryan Reynolds, Tim Miller, and everyone else who has been attached to this project for so long would finally get a chance to make the Deadpool movie they have wanted to make since at least the mid 2000s. All it took was for someone to leak test footage to get Fox to finally greenlight the project.

It has never been stated who exactly was the one who leaked the footage. Ryan Reynolds has gone on records saying that he, miller, and the writers had previously discussed leaking the test footage themselves, with Ryan initially thinking Miller had done it but that was also never confirmed. He later believed the leak came from someone at Fox but no name has ever come out on who was responsible for the test footage coming out. Even so, Fox did agree to have an R-rated Deadpool movie made but Ryan and crew would have to do with a much smaller budget compared to most superhero films out there.

Deadpool finally released in February of 2016 to strong critical acclaim from critics and fans alike. It was able to gross over 782 million dollars worldwide, becoming the highest grossing X-Men film and the highest grossing R-rated film at the time it came out. Despite the concerns from Fox about an R-rated hurting the sales and quality of the movie, it turned out to be a massive hit. One that eventually lead to a sequel two years later and a third one, subtitled Deadpool & Wolverine, that is set to come out at the end of this month.

When looking back on the production history of Deadpool, I think you got an understanding as to why the film’s existence is a miracle in the first place. Not strictly because of it being in development hell for so long and the constant back-and-forth between the studio and Ryan Reynolds himself but the fact that it took leaked test footage to get the film made. All of this was possible because one brave soul out there was able to take time out of their day to leak test footage that went viral all over the internet. If it weren’t for that, there could be a strong chance this film didn’t get made at all.

A strong chance that Ryan Reynolds and Tim Miller wouldn’t be able to make the Deadpool movie they wanted to make. A strong chance that Fox would have passed on hundreds of millions of dollars and found the next big superhero hit franchise for them. A strong chance that the character couldn’t be brought into the MCU and eventually be in a movie alongside Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine. This all had a strong chance of NOT happening! And it was able to get that strong chance because of leaked test footage.

Between this and the backlash over Sonic’s movie design, I guess the internet still has some good use for itself after all. I think I have an idea for an upcoming piece right when the holidays roll around.

Recently, DreamWorks Animation has announced that Shrek 5 is planned for a theatrical release for July 1st, 2026. This is an installment that has been rumored to be in the making for years now, with most believing that the sequel was in active development after Puss in Boots: The Last Wish came out, which had an ending where Puss and company arrived at the kingdom of Far, Far Away. There was then a report last year that confirmed that a Shrek 5 and even a planned Donkey movie was in the works, with Eddie Murphy supporting those claims a few weeks ago during the press tour for his latest film, Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F. And now we have a confirmed planned release of Summer 2026, which will see Shrek getting his fifth installment along with Buzz, Woody, and the gang getting their fifth installment a few weeks earlier with Toy Story 5, which leads me to the other upcoming animated film I’ll be discussing.

Despite believing that Toy Story 4 would be the definite end of the series, Disney announced last year that a Toy Story 5 is in the works, with the return of Tom Hanks as Woody and Tim Allen as Buzz Lightyear, which is also set for a summer release for June 19th, 2026, about two weeks before Shrek 5 will release. Although never 100% confirmed by Hollywood Reporter themselves, it was announced by Pixar CEO Pete Docter during a Q&A that the film would be directed by Andrew Stanton, who previously directed Finding Nemo, Wall-E and Finding Dory for Pixar along with co-writing the first four Toy Story films.

With Shrek 5 and Toy Story 5 acting as more entries in two long-running beloved animated franchises, you would think they would have the exact same reaction of hype and/or concern among fans of the franchise. However, that has not been the case whatsoever based on the reactions that I have seen.

Whenever you ask someone if they are excited for Shrek 5, they usually respond with…..

And whenever you ask someone if they are excited for Toy Story 5, they usually respond with…

In a way, this is basically like the exact OPPOSITE reactions regarding the last time that Pixar and DreamWorks squared off in the same summer with their most popular animated franchises with Shrek Forever After and Toy Story 3. Last time out, it was the Toy Story sequel that got hype and praise while the Shrek sequel got concern and hate. Talk about the shoe being on the other foot now!

While everyone is entitled to their own opinions and I more than understand concerns for Toy Story 5, I’m quite baffled how lopsided the reactions to the development of Shrek 5 and Toy Story 5 are overall. Both of these are fifth installments to beloved animated franchises, both of these are some of the most popular brand for both Disney and DreamWorks, both are likely going to be massive box office hits at the time it comes out and both are series that once had definite stopping points but continued on strictly due to their financial success and popularity. Which yet again begs the question as to why one movie is receiving more hype and anticipation than another. I’m gonna break down the main reasons as to what I’ve seen online why Shrek 5 is getting hyped and Toy Story 5 is not.

“There are still more stories to be told with Shrek and not for Toy Story!”

Is there though? For what I recall, most of the criticism surrounding the last two Shrek films with Shrek The Third and Shrek Forever After was how the series was starting to run out of ideas and stories of it’s own to tell. Shrek the Third got ripped apart for elements such as having Arthur being helmed as the one to run the throne of Far Far Away, not knowing what to do with Puss and Boots, and having Prince Charming being the lead villain when he already was a villain in the last movie. Shrek Forever After also took flack by stealing the premise of It’s A Wonderful Life and having all the characters go back to square one but in a different timeline. Does that sounds like a franchise that has plenty of room and growth for more stories?

Say what you will about the Toy Story sequels but at least each installment felt like it was taking the characters to the next step in their development and the whole franchise is constantly moving forward instead of backwards. Each entry of Toy Story basically took the themes and messages of it’s previous movie and expanded upon it in the next one. Toy Story 2 had Buzz and Woody switching roles with Woody this time around questioning his own morality, by coming to the realization that one day Andy will grow up and won’t need him anymore. Toy Story 3 expanded upon that and have it build to a climax which saw Woody and the toys learning to move on. Toy Story 4 expanded upon that by having Woody finding a happy ending of it’s own after letting Andy and his fellow toys have there’s. You can save what you want about the execution of those ideas or whether or not they justified their own existence enough but at least the series always feels like it has it’s head set straight forward instead of constantly looking back. That is something that I can NOT say about the previous two Shrek films.

Perhaps Shrek 5 will find an engaging story of it’s own whereas the previous two installments fell flat. Until then, I have yet to think of a big reason for there being more stories to tell with Shrek than there is with Toy Story.

“There’s a larger year gap between the last installment with Shrek than Toy Story!”

This is one reason that I actually agree with. There will in fact be a larger yearly gap between Shrek Forever After to Shrek 5 then there will be for Toy Story 4 and Toy Story 5. Shrek Forever After came out in 2010 and Shrek 5 is due to come out in 2026, that’s 16 (!) years in between those two installments. Whereas Toy Story 4 came out in 2019 and Toy Story 5 is due to come out in 2026, making it just 7 years in between those two installments.

Sure, if you dig deeper and count spin-offs such as Lightyear and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, that would just be a four year gap for both. However, when it comes to the main entries of both respected series, it’s a fact that Shrek 5 will benefit or not due to it being a larger year gap than Toy Story 5. In an age where it feels like time has gone faster than you can say to infinity and beyond (2019 was literally FIVE YEARS AGO!), there is a strong point to be made that the anticipation for Shrek 5 does in fact have to do with it being so long since the last main Shrek film came out.

“DreamWorks is better at making sequels than Disney!”

When looking at it in the long term, you might have a point here. DreamWorks tend to always bring their A-game when it comes to their sequels, especially with their Part Twos. Shrek 2, Kung Fu Panda 2, How To Train Your Dragon 2, and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish rank up there as DreamWorks Animation absolute best work. And even the likes of Kung Fu Panda 3, How To Train Your Dragon 3, and the Madagascar sequels didn’t turn out so bad either. However, outside of The Last Wish, has DreamWorks really been that great with their sequels in recent memory? Or at least since the 2020s rolled around?

Megamind 2 was a cinematic abomination that was able to united every single human being on the planet with it’s terribleness, Kung Fu Panda 4 was considered the weakest and least necessary of the four Kung Fu Panda movies, and is there anyone outside of young kids and the cartoon community that thought that highly of Trolls World Tour and Trolls Band Together? And did you know that The Croods and The Boss Baby got sequels in the 2020s because I keep forgetting that they exist?

And if we are talking about the Shrek series alone, there are plenty of people that would agree that the last two Shrek films left plenty to be desired. Shrek the Third was considered at the time to be one of the most disappointing animated sequels of all time and isn’t looked upon that much fondly to this day. Shrek Forever After has seen it’s fair share of reappraisal in the coming years (even I will admit that it has aged better based on a recent re-watch of it) but not enough to where people put it on par with the first two Shrek movies.

Say what you will about the track record of sequels for Disney and Pixar but in regards to Toy Story, all four of them receive widespread critical acclaim and enormous box office success! Some might have their haters (most notably Toy Story 4) but they were able to please critics and audience at the time of the release and even now. If Pixar was able to deliver four well received Toy Story films thus far, why not trust them to do it again?

I don’t entirely disagree that DreamWorks sequels tend to stand out more than most sequels from Disney but if we are going by the recent track record and the last two installments from Shrek, there should be just as much if not more skepticism surrounding Shrek 5 as there is with Toy Story 5.

“Toy Story 4 and 5 do not need to exist and Toy Story 3 was suppose to be the true ending!”

You mean like how Shrek 4 and 5 don’t need to exist? Or how Shrek Forever After was suppose to be the true ending as well? So much so that the literal marketing and trailers propped the 4th Shrek film as being the legit final chapter of the story! Did we all just forget about that?!

I’m not going to argue with those that feel like Toy Story 4 and 5 don’t need to exist but like what was the point of say Shrek Forever After and 5 existing outside of dollar signs. They could have ended the story with Shrek The Third as most stories tend to end after a trilogy but they made a 4th one because the Shrek brand was still popular. Yes, you can argue that it was made to write the sins of the previous installment and successfully did so but that doesn’t mean it had to exist. And if you are able to take that into account, Shrek Forever After was designed and promoted as THE FINAL CHAPTER! of the story of Shrek. Do any of you remember the marketing for Toy Story 3 and 4 putting so much emphasis on those being the final chapter of their own respective franchise because I sure don’t?!?!

If you think that Toy Story 4 and 5 don’t need to exist because Toy Story 3 was the perfect ending, that’s totally fine and fair. But, let’s stop this notion that Shrek 5 completely justifies it’s existence alone when the last one made it 100% clear that it was fully intended to be the last one. Nothing remains sacred in Hollywood and it’s pointless to deny that is the same case with Shrek 5.

“Toy Story 5 only exists to make money!”

Repeat after me: ALL MOVIES EXIST TO MAKE MONEY! Not only all movies but ESPECIALLY studio IP movies! There is not a single second of development for these two films or ANY film for that matter where the studio execs are NOT thinking of all the money that they will make by banking on families and nostalgic adults! It’s not an opinion, that’s just a fact!

Toy Story 5 exists because Disney and Pixar are at a time where they need multiple box office hits in a row to justify still playing their films in theaters and it’s best to develop new films based off IPs that have already been successful. Shrek 5 exists because DreamWorks and Universal want another Shrek movie and want to make more sequels to perhaps make up for recent box office losses such as Trolls Band Together and Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken. Both of these statements can be correct and there is no shame in admitting!

At the end of the day, it’s all business in Hollywood! If Shrek 5 and Toy Story 5 make a ton of money during the summer two years from now, then it will be a success in the eyes of studio executives regardless of the actual quality of the film. Yes, Toy Story 5 only exists to make money but guess what, the same thing can be said for Shrek 5 as well.

In Conclusion

I know nothing I say can change one’s mind if they are super excited for Shrek 5 and super dreading for Toy Story 5. However, I want to at least get some points across as to the reasons that one is receiving much more hype than the other makes little to no sense to me. It’s okay to be excited for one movie and not for another but at least know why you feel the way you do in regards to Shrek 5 and Toy Story 5.

It’s bad enough we now live in an age where losers on the internet are always wanting to start a culture war on any new movie, show, or game that comes out nowadays. (There are literally folks claiming that Nintendo has gone “woke” because Zelda, the title character of Nintendo’s most successful non-Mario franchise, is getting her own game!) The last thing we need is another one in regards to these two long-running animated franchises that we all grew up with. A fun debate and comparison is all well and good but not when it starts to get needlessly cruel, mean spirited, and political for no reason.

I have nothing against Shrek or Toy Story. I’ve loved both series when I was a kid and I still have fond memories for them as well! I hope nothing but the very best for Shrek 5 and Toy Story 5 when they come out in summer of 2026. However, I do think there is plenty of room for worry and concern considering how they exist more because of the business side of things and not for the artistic side. Which yet again makes me wonder why most folks are propping up Shrek 5 but not Toy Story 5? I guess we will all find out the answer together in two years!

Regardless, Toy Story 5 will release on June 19th, 2026 and Shrek 5 will release on July 1st, 2026!