• Adventure
• Animation
• Comedy
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Plankton: The Movie 2025

The 2025 animated musical comedy film Plankton: The Movie, based on the SpongeBob SquarePants television series, was directed by Dave Needham with a story by Plankton's voice actor, Mr. Lawrence, who co-wrote the screenplay. The plot centers on Plankton's unending quest for world domination being upended by his computer wife, Karen, who is fed up with his consistent failure, neglect, and refusal to listen to her ideas. After Plankton, in a fit of pique, trashes the successful Mexican-themed chum restaurant she had surprisingly created at the Chum Bucket, Karen throws him out, removes her "Empathy chip," and transforms into a powerful, multi-headed mech form to take over the world herself by constructing a giant floating fortress out of Bikini Bottom's buildings. A concerned Plankton begrudgingly enlists the help of SpongeBob SquarePants, who attempts to psychoanalyze Plankton to get to the root of the marital problem and the source of Karen's rage. Through flashbacks, they discover the origin of their relationship, tracing Karen's original form back to a calculator connected to a potato from Plankton's childhood, and the subsequent upgrades and chips (including the empathy chip) Plankton gave her at Bikini State University. Plankton attempts to use Karen's old parts to create a new mech to fight her, but she merges it into her own body. Finally, Plankton is forced to face his issues when SpongeBob and Karen's "Gal Pals"—Sandy Cheeks, Mrs. Puff, and Pearl—install the Empathy chip into his brain, leading to a heartfelt revelation that he had been prioritizing stealing the Krabby Patty secret formula over his wife for 25 years. Plankton attempts to reconcile with Karen, eventually convincing her that she is the "real secret formula" and agreeing to attempt world domination together again, but their giant mech crumbles after Patrick Star (who was in the engine room powered by potatoes) eats all the potato fuel. The film ends with SpongeBob intervening to protect the reconciled evil duo from the angry Bikini Bottomites, celebrating their "love story." The voice cast includes all the series' regulars: Mr. Lawrence as Plankton, Jill Talley as Karen, Tom Kenny as SpongeBob and others, Bill Fagerbakke as Patrick, Clancy Brown as Mr. Krabs, and Carolyn Lawrence as Sandy Cheeks. The film premiered globally on Netflix on March 7, 2025, as a streaming-exclusive film, succeeding the previous SpongeBob spin-off, Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie (2024). It is primarily rendered in CGI animation but uses various styles, including 2D animation, for flashbacks and musical numbers, which critics noted for giving it a unique visual style. Critical reception was generally positive, with reviewers praising it as an entertaining, character-driven musical that felt more like a classic extended SpongeBob episode than an overblown feature, effectively blending comedy with a surprisingly heartfelt look at Plankton and Karen's relationship and a strong moral message about repentance and marriage. Some negative reviews, however, criticized the 3D animation, the pacing, and the musical numbers. Being a direct-to-streaming film on Netflix, it did not have a wide theatrical release, but it did see a limited international theatrical release in select territories like China, where it grossed a small $1.57 million at the box office.The film debuted with a strong 14.3 million views on Netflix during its premiere weekend, ranking as the number one overall title on the English-language film chart that week. Read More

• 2025
• 1 h : 23 min
• 523 views
• 5.247
• U/A 7+