After 25 years as a supporting character of the iconic yellow sponge, Sandy Cheeks now experiences her own adventure in Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie. The Netflix animated film is the fourth full-length installment in the Nickelodeon series, which began in 2004 with the hit The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie before continuing with the sequel to 2015, Sponge out of the waterand the 2020 trio Sponge on the run. It is also the second spinoff of the show, with the first Kamp Koral: SpongeBob’s Youth And The Patrick Star Show.

In Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Moviethe titular squirrel takes the spotlight as she and SpongeBob are the only survivors of her friends when their town is taken over by a Texas corporation. The duo embark on an adventure to save their town, which was actually taken over by the lab Sandy works for, but is now run by the villainous Sue Nahmee, the lab’s new director, who plans to clone the sea creatures and turn them into plush toys and sell them to children around the world.

Related

All SpongeBob SquarePants movies and specials, ranking

Even though the average SpongeBob “episode” is only about 12 minutes long, the Bikini Bottom crew still knows how to carry a movie. Usually.

Besides Lawrence, the ensemble Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie The cast includes veteran franchise colleagues Tom Kenny, Mr. Lawrence, Mary Jo Catlett, Clancy Brown, Bill Fagerbakke, Rodger Bumpass and Dee Bradley Baker, as well as newcomers Wanda Sykes as Sue Nahmee, Craig Robinson as Pa Cheeks and Johnny Knoxville as Randy Cheeks. The world of SpongeBob Not only does the film feature stylish 3D animation and hilarious jokes, it’s also a refreshing take on the franchise.

In honor of the release of the film Screen Rant interviewed Carolyn Lawrence to discuss Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Moviethe leadership of the first SpongeBob SquarePants Spin-off film where you learn more about Sandy after playing the character for 25 years and how the storyboards helped her visualize her portrayal.

Save Bikini Bottom led to Lawrence learning new things about Sandy, she “Didn’t know“After 25 years

Even though 25 years have passed since the franchise started, Lawrence remains one of the longest-running stars of the SpongeBob SquarePants Cast, and the decision to make a spin-off around Sandy not only thrilled the actress, but also led to her “Learning things” about the character she didn’t know before, and at the same time describes how her view of Sandy has changed as a result:

Carolyn Lawrence: It’s so amazing to me that after 25 years I’m learning things about her that I didn’t know, isn’t it? That you can play someone who’s been around as long as I have and she’s still new and inexperienced. I thought, “Oh, that’s her family. Oh, that makes sense. Oh, she can do that. Who knew she could do that?” It was really exciting for me, it expanded my world with her. And then it’s fun that now it can expand to everyone else. I find it interesting as an actress how human – I know she’s a squirrel (laughs) – her relationship with her family is.

I’ve always loved her, of course I love her, but I think this has deepened my love for her, I understand her better. And I feel like I want to evolve, maybe more of her tender side, because she needed to be in the world and just be a doer. She needed to be a doer to get to where she is. She wouldn’t be a squirrel in the sea if she wasn’t super motivated. But then you see her with her family. And you see more of this other side of her, just being a sister or wanting her mom to cook. I think it’s an incredible journey. And now I feel like she’s going to make me cry sometimes. (laughs)

Liza Johnson presented Lawrence “Beautiful visual references” To improve their performance

Since animated films can take years to produce, voice actors are usually presented with various forms of art during recording, be it concept art, storyboards or actual animatics and finished sequences. Save Bikini BottomLawrence recalls that director Liza Johnson gave her “nice visual references” for the story of the film and for the fact that it “everything planned on storyboards“, which further shaped their portrayal, including in sections such as Sandy and SpongeBob driving down a cliff in seashells or being sucked into a tornado in Texas:

Carolyn Lawrence: Liza Johnson, our director, gave me beautiful visual references. She had everything planned out in her head, then she sketched everything out on storyboards and showed me the whole presentation. So I had this visual tool that I love working with, which was great. And that’s one of the reasons I was so excited about the film from the beginning, because I’m a visual learner. It’s great to see words on a page, but it changes completely when I see the illustrations.

I think what’s interesting about animation for an actress or an actor is that all of those moments are important. There’s a big difference between seeing something on paper that says, “The character is jumping off the cliff,” and wondering, “How high is the cliff? Is the cliff jagged? Is it going into the water?” There are all kinds of questions about what that jump looks like. So, yeah, in the film, when I could actually see, “Oh, she’s in a tornado, and the tornado is huge,” that influenced your performance. Absolutely.

Save Bikini BottomNo mo-cap was used in the 3D animation of (but Lawrence loves the technique)

Not only is it the first spin-off of the franchise, but it is also the first film to be entirely in 3D, as previous films at least started with the traditional 2D animation of the original before moving to another format. While some 3D films use motion capture to create this animation, Save Bikini Bottom but Lawrence has recently fallen in love with it and hopes to do so in the future of the franchise:

Carolyn Lawrence: They didn’t. We did some mo-cap recently which was incredibly fun because I had never done it before. So we did mo-cap for the Super Bowl which was incredible. That was my first time and that’s when I realized I loved it. And then we did something at the Kids’ Choice Awards so I was really happy to relive my mo-cap moments. But no, in the film it’s all the artistry of the team. Piero Piluso, this film would never have been as beautiful as it was without Liza directing and Piero doing all the art work.

To Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie

When Bikini Bottom and all its residents are suddenly fished out of the sea, Sandy Cheeks and SpongeBob SquarePants travel to Texas to save the town from a malicious conspiracy.

Stay tuned for our other Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie Interview with director Liza Johnson.

Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie is now streaming on Netflix.

Source: Screen Rant Plus

Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie

After Bikini Bottom is brought out of the sea on the orders of an evil CEO, SpongeBob and Sandy travel to his home state of Texas. There they meet Sandy’s family and must find a way to bring their home back to the sea.

director

Lisa Johnson

Release date

2 August 2024

Authors

Kaz, Tom Stern

Pour

Carolyn Lawrence, Tom Kenny, Mr. Lawrence, Mary Jo Catlett, Clancy Brown, Bill Fagerbakke, Rodger Bumpass

Character(s)

Sandy Cheeks, SpongeBob SquarePants, Plankton, Mrs. Puff, Mr. Krabs, Patrick Star, Squidward

Duration

82 minutes

Expand