"We'll take one secret formula to go!"
- SpongeBob himself. For most of the later seasons, he was flanderized into an idiotic and annoying cuckoolander who had a stalkerish crush on Squidward to point that he was a borderline unsympathetic, but in this movie, he's tougher, nicer, braver, and even smarter. He jeopardizes his job to save Plankton, figures out they need to travel in time to save the formula, nearly sacrifices himself to save the town, knows how to find the pirate from a grease trap, and figures out how to use the lost piece of paper to turn him and his friends into superheroes. Not only that, he managed to be a cuckoolander and keep his cheerfulness without being annoying, and he was even a little snarky. If anything, this was the best portrayal of him since the first movie.
- Burger-Beard's introduction has him effortlessly dodging traps to get to the magical book. He does get punched straight back to his ship by a living skeleton, but he still ends up with the book in his hands!
- The battle with Plankton at the beginning of the film, for both sides.
- Squidward gets one early in the film to make Krabs pay attention to him. He complains that the customers are getting restless, but Krabs can't hear him because he's blocking out SpongeBob's laughter. Then, with a crafty smile, he mentions that the customers are asking for "refunds". This causes Krabs to tear off the headphones and pay attention.
- A little before that, he snaps at an incessantly laughing SpongeBob to "zip it." He immediately does.
- SpongeBob standing up to Mr. Krabs and saving Plankton from the angry mob.
- SpongeBob's speech about how he's not going to let Bikini Bottom devolve into a chaotic hellhole, ending with him offering himself as as a sacrifice to the "Sandwich Gods".SpongeBob: ..Look at me. I've become like all of you: savage, fear-ridden, selfish. An entire town of formerly good citizens turned into heartless freaks, bent on their own self preservation. We've become alienated from each-other, each one of us an island onto themselves, concerned only for ourselves. And in the name of all fish-hood, I am not about to let this happen. [rips of part of a fish's shirt and uses it as a bandanna]. And so, if a sacrifice is needed to restore Bikini Bottom to its former glory, then I am willing to take one for the team.
- For bonus points, "The Ecstasy of Gold" from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly plays in the background.
- The gang's triumphant return from Pelican Island... as superheroes.
- Related to this, the entire climax with the gang fighting Burger Beard, along with Plankton's Big Damn Hero moment is just really exciting to watch.
- Plankton's Big Damn Heroes moment during the final battle with Burger-Beard, with him effortlessly lifting Burger-Beard's ship, and virtually saving the gang.
- SpongeBob finding out Plankton disguised himself as Gary at the end of the film when he sees the duplicate accepting a Krabby Patty with mayonnaise, because he knows that Gary doesn't like mayonnaise.
