After Spongebob foils Plankton's latest plan to steal the Krabby Patty secret formula, the villain deduces that the yellow sponge is the only hinderance in his evil plans. After he steals Gary, Spongebob's beloved snail, and sends him to Atlantic City where the King Poseidon is keeping him hostage as a facial ointment, Plankton sends Spongebob and Patrick on their journey. As the film goes on, the iconic duo meet new allies and challenges while the rest of Spongebob's friends, including Plankton himself with a change of heart, try to save him from the heartless Poseidon. The story is very similar to the first film that has the two characters go on an adventure to retrieve something, although the first film had more locations and detours. It also borrows the story from one of the show's more iconic episodes, where Gary runs away from home. Aside from one strange stop, the gang reaches Atlantic City by the middle of the second act, which doesn't really make this film be considered a road-trip adventure. This is kind of a problem as the story is being pretty lazy or standard, but at the same time, the story isn't really important in a Spongebob movie. The tone and humour is still that goofy, over-the-top nonsense that we all know from the franchise, but this might have the most bizarre moments in any of the films, yes, even rivalling Bubbles from the second movie. While not every joke works, there's plenty of laughs and references to the entire franchise that does put a smile on a fan's face.
The titular character, Spongebob Squarepants, is the same annoying, yet, loveable sponge that we all recognize. He's naive, but has some intelligence. He's forgiving, but can be arrogant when he can't control his emotions. Patrick Star is also the same doofus who is Spongebob's best friend. His portrayal is definitely on the more likeable route with him being supportive and not stupid to the point of harming others, compared to how he can be sometimes portrayed in the show. The other popular side characters include the miserable Squidward, the greedy yet kind-hearted Krabs, the Texan scientist Sandy, and the evil yet fair Plankton. All of these characters are given that same charm and energy with the help from their classic voice actors who are still to this day portraying these iconic characters. My favourites are Patrick and Plankton, which I like the latter not repeating the same old formula of reverting back to being the bad guy and attempting to steal the formula yet again. It might not be welcome to some, but I like the character to not always be treated horribly every time. As for the new characters, there's the antagonist, King Poseidon, the ruler of Atlantic City and who cares far more for his looks than for others. He's pretty enjoyable, but is similar in personality to King Neptune from the first film. There's Poseidon's chancellor, who plays off of his ruler's personality and offer some nice gags. Lastly, there's Keanu Reeves, who plays Sage, a tumbleweed who helps out Spongebob and Patrick in completing their quest. Not only is Sage surprisingly in a good chunk of the film, but he is by far the most enjoyable character and it's just because Reeves is having this dry wit and fun that it's both surreal and hilarious with his inclusion. These are all of the character I can think of that are involved in the story. There are some cameos in the film that I would love to talk about, but I would rather keep them secret just because they happen to be part of one of the film's most memorable sequences. Overall, the characters are as good as always, and the new additions fit the universe and personality of the franchise and tone.
This film is the first time where the characters are fully CG throughout the entire film. While this might seem like a bad idea due to the charm of the 2D animated characters, the animation provided by Mikros Image, an animation studio in Montreal, provides a ton of care and attention to the modest budget. What makes the animation work is the fact that the film makes the CGI restricted to a hand-drawn style. It's similar to that of "The Peanuts Movie" or "Captain Underpants" where the characters move and act like they are mainly in a 2D plane, but are CG in design and style. Watching the film, you can imagine how scenes would look if they were hand-drawn, much like the series and previous films, proving that the animation works in capturing that 2D feel. And while the characters themselves act cartoony and zany for the medium, the textures and attention to detail on their designs are great. While some characters such as Plankton or Krabs looks a bit like polished clay due to their designs, it's characters like Spongebob and Sandy that have more detail such as the amount of tiny holes you can see on the sponge's body and the teddy bear-like fur that is presented on Sandy. On top of that, the clothing and materials of fabric, clothing, metal and glass are really good from how you can see how much use Sandy's glass bowl has to the individual thread of Spongebob and Patrick's pants. It also helps that the animation is just popping with bright, warm colours that match the softness of the characters. The music by Hans Zimmer is very much in nature to the series with the usual beats. To be honest, I didn't even know that Zimmer composed for this movie until I looked it up myself. His score is fine, but I think it's mainly the songs that I notice the most. Not only do you have your usual musical numbers that are in every movie in the franchise, but there's also some licensed songs such as Ricky Martin's "Viva la Vida Loca" and a cover of a-ha's "Take on Me". The songs, both original and licensed, are fun to listen to, with the licensed tracks just being enjoyable by how random their inclusions are. If there's one real issue with the film as a whole, it's the first half of the climax with a MILD SPOILER WARNING. While the second half of the climax is your fun chase/action scene, the first half, for some bizarre reason, really tries to market the Kamp Koral spin-off show that everyone is hating on for existing. I wouldn't be so distracted by it if the film didn't stop getting all of the characters to express their first time meeting Spongebob in summer camp. Not only does it kill the pacing, but fans will just complaining on how it ruins the series continuity, even though the franchise doesn't really have a huge continuity to begin with. I wouldn't go so far as to say it insults Stephan Hillenburg's creation, considering the film is in memory to him, but it does feel somewhat pandering and scummy by Nickelodeon and Paramount.
"The Spongebob Squarepants Movie: Sponge On The Run" is once again a fine film to join the expanding franchise. From the enjoyable motifs of the tone and humour, the numerous references and easter-eggs to the franchise, the loveable returning cast given life by the legendary voice actors, the new characters and cameos adding to the zaniness of the series and feeling strangely natural in a way, the great use of animation to transition a 2D series into 3D that adds plenty of texture detail and colours on the very animated characters, and the songs, both original or existing, are pretty enjoyable in their respective scenes and adding on to the fun nature of the film. However, there are a couple of issues. The story is just borrowing from previous Spongebob material without too much creative liberties thrown in, not every joke works, and the climax having nearly ten minutes to advertise the spin-off show that nobody asked for can be pretty salty to some fans of the series. However, I personally feel that the film is, for the most part, in spirit to the franchise and a film that Hillenburg would be mostly satisfied with. As for how it ranks with the other Spongebob movies, honestly, I can't decide. I think all of them have their positives and negatives that counteract to each other and offers a distinct experience to a type of person. I think all of them are equal to each other in their own kind of way.
Verdict: 7/10. Good overall, but could have been better if a little more creativity and less corporate pandering was involved. If you manage to live in Canada, watch it in theatres as soon as you can for a fun time. As for non-Canadian fans, wait until it comes out on Netflix or CBS All Access, depending on your nationality.
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