Ah, SpongeBob SquarePants, an animated series that has enjoyed a long-lasting career that most children’s shows only dream of. As hard as it might be to believe, Nickelodeon’s highly lucrative talking sponge (Tom Kenny) just recently turned 25 years old, and the original series is still going to this very day. With popularity like that, it makes perfect sense why the IP has branched out into other mediums, such as several video games, a Broadway musical, a boatload of merchandise, and even a few movies. The original The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie still holds up as a classic adaptation, and the other films aren’t too shabby either, which puts a lot of pressure on the newest installment, Plankton: The Movie.
Plankton: The Movie is the fifth SpongeBob SquarePants feature film and the second of Netflix’s spin-off series, following last year’s Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie. It’s also not even the only SpongeBob movie that is releasing this year, as The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants is set to make a big splash on the big screen later in 2025. While that may be marketed as the main attraction for the franchise celebrating turning a quarter-century, Plankton: The Movie has already set a surprisingly high bar for the spongy stories that follow (much higher than Plankton himself for sure).
What Is ‘Plankton: The Movie’ About?

Those who are at least somewhat familiar with SpongeBob SquarePants — regardless of whether you’ve kept up with the show since 1999 or not — will probably be able to guess what kind of shenanigans Sheldon J. Plankton (voiced by Mr. Lawrence) is getting up to in his very own movie. Of course, the movie begins with Plankton once again trying to steal the Krabby Patty Secret Formula from his longtime rival Eugene Krabs (Clancy Brown). However, things get twisted when Plankton’s computer wife Karen (Jill Talley) thinks it would be a good idea to focus on making their own original food with the hopes of taking over the world. Plankton, being the short-fused single-celled organism that he is, immediately dismisses the idea and that alone is the last straw for Karen, who decides to take matters into her own hands and destroy Bikini Bottom herself. Now, Plankton will need to form an alliance with everyone’s favorite sponge to save the world so he can take it over.
Much of the story of Plankton: The Movie revolves around Plankton’s relationship with Karen, which has always been one of the fan-favorite dynamics of the series. The film even delves into the origins of their whirlwind romance, and there’s actually a real sweetness to seeing how they became the goofy villains we’ve known and loved for so many years. SpongeBob purists may be able to poke in some continuity holes, such as the origins of his relationship with Mr. Krabs, but the target audiences of younger fans likely won’t be too broken up about that.
While Plankton has always been commonly and understandably thought of as the main antagonist in the SpongeBob series, he’s flirted with the side of good on occasion, despite his lofty aspirations to rule the world. Even though he is still very much the “hero” of this story, the new Netflix original film wisely keeps a very good balance of a villainous anti-hero who is still likable enough to be consistently entertaining. Fans of the character of Plankton should find that the character is more than faithful to his TV counterpart, and that’s fitting given that his voice actor Mr. Lawrence is also a co-writer for the movie.
‘Plankton: The Movie’s Voice Cast Doesn’t Miss a Beat

Image via Netflix

With only a few notable exceptions like the late great Ernest Borgnine, the main voice cast of SpongeBob SquarePants has gone almost entirely unchanged for over two decades. That, of course, includes Mr. Lawrence, who brings the same level of wit, glee, and charisma that made the character so popular to begin with. Additionally, Lawrence’s on-screen partner Jill Talley is also given a lot more to do as Karen this time around. Where she’s often used as a background character to bolster up Plankton’s frequent asides, here, she really does feel like her own character. Both function as surprisingly great leads despite decades of being villains, and their journey in the film is as funny as it is heartfelt.
Even though this may be a movie about Plankton, just about all the other regulars from SpongeBob SquarePants stop by as well. Tom Kenny is unsurprisingly excellent as Mr. SquarePants, and the supporting cast is also expectedly great, like Clancy Brown as Mr. Krabs, Carolyn Lawrence as Sandy Cheeks, Bill Faberbakke as Patrick Star, and more. The only character who seems strangely sidelined is Squidward (Rodger Bumpass), but that doesn’t hurt the film too much in the long haul.
SpongeBob’s Signature Surreal Humor Is Everywhere in ‘Plankton: The Movie’

Image via Netflix

Like the last two movies that preceded it, Plankton: The Movie relies on CGI animation to bring its version of Bikini Bottom to life, as opposed to the traditional 2D animation from the original show. While far from horrible, the CG landscape is a far cry from the gorgeous hand-drawn environments from SpongeBob SquarePants. That being said, Plankton: The Movie is consistently very creative with its visuals, even switching to a lot of different styles of animation, mainly during its musical numbers.
Oh yeah… Plankton: The Movie is also a full-blown musical, which is a pretty sizable departure from the previous movies (Goofy Goober Rock not withstanding). That might seem like an odd creative choice, but the songs in Plankton: The Movie are quite excellent. They’re nothing revolutionary and are conceptually pretty simple, but each song in the movie is consistently catchy and has engaging visuals to go along with them. The movie also sneaks in plenty of Easter eggs and references that fans new and old will be able to chew on like a delicious Krabby Patty.
The Krabby Patty is honestly the perfect metaphor to describe Plankton: The Movie: it’s straight-forward, easy to digest, and represents a reliable choice that people across the globe have been enjoying for a quarter-century. It may not reinvent the proverbial wheel on the proverbial boat, but Plankton: The Movie is one of the better things to come from the SpongeBob SquarePants IP in recent years that fans should have an easy time falling heads over squeaky boots for.
Plankton: The Movie is now streaming on Netflix in the U.S.

Plankton: The Movie

‘Plankton: The Movie’ is a highly entertaining ‘SpongeBob SquarePants’ spin-off that follows the consistent secret formula to the franchise’s long-running success.

Release Date

March 7, 2025

Runtime

83 minutes

Director

Dave Needham

Writers

Chris Viscardi

Jill Talley

Karen / All the Karens / Alarm Voice / Various (voice)

Mr. Lawrence

Plankton / Teen Plankton / Rube (voice)

Pros & Cons

Mr. Lawrence’s performance as Plankton is as great now as it was in 1999.
The supporting cast are also as consistent as ever.
Plankton and Karen’s chemistry is off the charts.
The musical numbers are all very catchy.

The main animation style isn’t anything to write home about.