OG SpongeBob fans can’t stop talking about the new movie trailer - and it’s not for the nostalgic reasons you’d expect.
Paramount Animation and Nickelodeon Movies just dropped the first look at ‘The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants’.
This time around, SpongeBob’s heading across the ocean to face off against the Flying Dutchman - the ghostly villain we’ve seen try defeat SpongeBob time and time again.
But while the plot seems classic SpongeBob, it’s the animation style that’s got fans kicking off online.
Unlike the show’s usual 2D goodness, this one’s gone full 3D - and people aren’t having it.
And fans are absolutely raging at the different animation from what we loved in our childhood.
“No cuz the 2000s era SpongeBob can never be beaten 😭,” one fan wrote.
“GO BACK TO 2D NOW,” another basically screamed through the screen.
“IMO the only good SpongeBob movie was the original,” someone else said.
A fourth added: “The new SpongeBob movie's animation feels so... generic?”
To be fair, this isn’t the first time SpongeBob’s jumped ship on the OG animation style. ‘Sponge Out of Water’ (2015), ‘Sponge on the Run’ (2020), ‘Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie’, and ‘Plankton: The Movie’ have all experimented with 3D animation too.
And look, while the visuals are copping a bit of heat, fans are admitting the jokes still have us hooked.
“That brick joke was pretty clever ngl,” one person wrote.
“Patrick is wearing an eyepatch like a Speedo,” another appreciated.
“Why’s he wearing this? 😭,” someone else asked.
“Moment be4 disaster,” a fourth managed to screenshot the perfect still.
Regardless of the change, I’ll still be front row with a bucket of popcorn when it hits cinemas December 19 - who’s with me?