THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SPONGE ON THE RUN:
THIRD FILM BASED ON LONG-RUNNING NICKELODEON SERIES DOESN’T DO MUCH NEW, BUT IT’S A RELATIVELY SMOOTH AND NOSTALGIC ROAD TRIP!
By Nico Beland
Movie Review: *** out of 4
PARAMOUNT ANIMATION AND NICKELODEON MOVIES
SpongeBob Squarepants and Patrick Star are off on another epic adventure in The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run
Everyone’s favorite happy-go-lucky, undersea sponge is back on the big screen (sort of) for thirds in The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run, the third film based on the long-running Nickelodeon animated series, SpongeBob Squarepants after 2004’s The SpongeBob Squarepants Movie and 2015’s The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water. If you read my review of Sponge Out of Water, then you know that I was a big SpongeBob fan growing up and would quite frequently watch new episodes and reruns of the series, owned several DVDs and merchandise, saw the previous two movies in theaters, and very recently had the opportunity to meet voice actors for SpongeBob and Squidward, Tom Kenny and Rodger Bumpass at a Comic Con.
Sadly, in recent years SpongeBob has fallen into the same traps as The Simpsons and Family Guy where it’s been on the air for so long (Dating all the way back to 1999) that it pretty much lost its creative spark, new episodes aren’t nearly as funny or clever as those early seasons, and they miss what series creator Stephen Hillenburg originally intended. Yeah, this was pretty much when I stopped watching SpongeBob, I still enjoy the first three seasons and some of season 4 and I went and saw Sponge Out of Water when it came out and had a good time, but I have no interest in watching any of the recent episodes…now, another movie on the other hand that’s another story.
After the success of the previous two SpongeBob movies, it only figures that a third film would be made making SpongeBob Squarepants the second Nickelodeon series to have a film trilogy, the first being Rugrats. Anyway, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run, directed by series developer and former writer Tim Hill (Action League Now, Muppets from Space, Alvin and the Chipmunks) is a very interesting film in the series as it’s the first to be entirely computer-animated and it retcons the origins of the characters from the show to serve as a foundation for the upcoming CGI SpongeBob spin-off/prequel show on Paramount+, Kamp Koral: SpongeBob’s Early Years.
So, how does Sponge on the Run hold up when compared to its predecessors? Eh, it’s definitely the weakest of the three SpongeBob movies that often retreads plots from other SpongeBob episodes and movies, but it still has enough of that charm, zany energy, and silly, surreal humor that the original show is best known for.
The film follows SpongeBob Squarepants (voiced by Tom Kenny-Rocko’s Modern Life, The Powerpuff Girls, Camp Lazlo) enjoying life, his job as a fry cook at The Krusty Krab, and of course his pet snail Gary. However, when Gary mysteriously goes missing, SpongeBob and his clueless but loyal best friend Patrick Star (voiced by Bill Fagerbakke-Dumb and Dumber: The Animated Series, Coach, How I Met Your Mother) and a robot built by their friend and land squirrel Sandy Cheeks (voiced by Carolyn Lawrence-Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, Winx Club: The Secret of the Lost Kingdom) known as Otto (voiced by Awkwafina-Crazy Rich Asians, The Farewell, Raya and the Last Dragon) go on a road trip to the Lost City of Atlantic City (Great name, I know!) to find him with Sandy and the rest of their friends, Squidward Tentacles (voiced by Rodger Bumpass-Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego, Invader Zim, The Kids from Room 402), Mr. Krabs (voiced by Clancy Brown-DC Animated Universe, Crash Bandicoot (video game series), Thor: Ragnarok), and Sheldon J. Plankton (voiced by Mr. Lawrence-Rocko’s Modern Life, Camp Lazlo, Mighty Magiswords) following close behind.
Along the way they encounter a talking tumbleweed named Sage (Keanu Reeves-The Matrix franchise, John Wick trilogy, Toy Story 4), an evil spirit known as El Diablo (Danny Trejo-Desperado/Once Upon a Time in Mexico, Spy Kids franchise, Machete 1 and 2), and even a run-in with the great and powerful King Poseidon (voiced by Matt Berry-Moon, Christopher Robin, What We Do in the Shadows (TV series), who previously voiced the character Bubbles the Dolphin in Sponge Out of Water) on their quest to find Gary and bring him home to Bikini Bottom.
Overall, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run doesn’t quite live up to the earlier films in terms of plot, often feeling like a retread of SpongeBob stories we’ve already seen either on television or in the other movies, but there are enough laughs and heart to make for a relatively smooth and cozy trip with SpongeBob and friends despite paling in comparison to its predecessors.
It’s a perfectly serviceable animated film with appealing 3D animation that still retains the cartoony nature of the original show (Sort of like the SpongeBob equivalent of The Peanuts Movie’s animation style), but my biggest issue with it is how unoriginal the plot is. The story for this movie is literally rehashed from other episodes and movies. Gary goes missing and SpongeBob has to find him (Episode!), SpongeBob finds a lost underwater city (Episode!), SpongeBob and Patrick go on a road trip (First movie!), a king character who obsesses over his minor imperfections (Bald, Bald, Bald, Bald, MY EYES!), yes, Sponge Out of Water’s plot borrowed a lot of elements from previous episodes but at least it tried to be its own unique film, this almost felt like a bunch of SpongeBob moments from the show compiled together into a script without adding much that’s new or clever.
That’s just plot, the humor is…well, SpongeBob! It has a lot of surreal moments and visual gags as well as plenty of silly writing that’s being performed vocally by Kenny and Fagerbakke. Objectively, I consider the first two movies to be a lot funnier but I found myself laughing at many of the jokes here, most of the scenes involving Keanu Reeves as a talking tumbleweed in particular got huge laughs out of me, the boat driving robot voiced by Awkwafina is also very funny an entire saloon of Cowboy, Pirate, Zombies that are being controlled by Machete (Only in SpongeBob…and it is epic!), and watching and listening to SpongeBob and Patrick work off of one another is always a delight.
The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run is a perfectly serviceable third SpongeBob film that has enough of the charm and goofy wit that made the original Nickelodeon show so enjoyable. If you got kids who want to see it or if you’re a longtime fan of the series, you’ll probably get some inoffensive and silly laughs. Decent but nothing special and personally, I’ll just stick to the first two movies and early episodes of the series.
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