Plankton: The Movie is the most fun I’ve had with a Spongebob flick since Sponge Out Of Water, which came out 10 years ago! We were subsequently treated to two more features, which were so dreary and miserable that it looked like the series’ cinematic tenure was over. Fortunately, Plankton: The Movie shows that maybe this cartoon has a few more stories warranted for the big screen.

After 25 years of watching him try and fail to take over the world, Plankton’s computer wife Karen dumps the wannabe supervillain and takes over the world herself. Alone without his gadgets and technology, Plankton reluctantly enlists the help of Spongebob to get back with his wife and stop her from destroying the world.

Right off the bat, Plankton is a much better lead than Sandy Cheeks or even Spongebob. He’s a comical narcissist who is capable of love but only when he has no other choice, which is the whole point of his movie. Plankton has to learn empathy so he can love Karen as she is rather than as one of his assets. Spongebob acts as his therapist and, by placing Plankton under hypnosis, helps him remember his history with Karen. Spongebob knows how to do this and more by having read a Freudian comic book.

Similarly to The Sandy Cheeks Movie, Spongebob’s presence seems rather forced but at least here he has a reason to help the main character.

As someone who hasn’t followed the series for the last 15 years or so, it’s nice to see characters such as Pearl and Mrs Puff get some limelight. There could be hundreds of episodes centred on them for all I know but in this outing, they and Sandy make a great team.

The animation unfortunately is no better than Saving Bikini Bottom’s. Plankton looks good for the most part, his minimalistic design does some heavy lifting though. It’s with characters like Mr Krabs and Spongebob that the animation quality becomes almost uncanny, especially with the way their mouths move.

As a musical the film isn’t bad. I found two of the songs to be pretty epic (I’m Plankton and I’m A Jerky Jerk to be specific), which is amazing as I’m generally not into musicals. The other songs didn’t inspire me but I have no doubt children will find them catchy as well as funny.

Throughout my review of The Sandy Cheeks Movie, I tried to remain objective and kept repeating that I wasn’t the film’s target audience. I almost haven’t had to do that with Plankton. I guess it’s because, even if most of the jokes are too childish for someone my age, unlike Saving Bikini Bottom, Plankton has a great idea at its core. It could’ve easily made for a good episode but I’m happy such a monumental challenge for Plankton got the feature length treatment.

I give Plankton: The Movie a deliciously evil 6 out of 10.