: Reviews Tom Shales, a television critic for The Washington Post, lambasted the movie in a November 12, 2007 review. In the review, titled Squeezing The Life Out of SpongeBob, Shales wrote that "the funniest thing about the film is its title" and "a typical episode has about as many laughs as this inflated version does". Shales criticized the amount of musical numbers in Atlantis SquarePantis, calling them "numbing". He concluded the review with the statement that the episode was "flat" and "unimpressive". However, Atlantis SquarePantis recorded nine million viewers, beating every 8pm show on broadcast television that night except Dancing With the Stars. But most of all, the movie was criticized for being only 45 minutes and the big ending was a hugely criticized by fans.