Spongebob Squarepants. My favorite cartoon of all time, and the first entertainment property I truly loved. Running since 1999, and currently in it’s 13th season on Nickelodeon, Spongebob is one of the most beloved cartoons of all time, and arguably the most profitable cartoon ever produced.
One would think that with as much revenue as Spongebob brings in (nearly 8 billion dollars in 2019) the network, and more importantly Viacom (Nickelodeon’s owner) wouldn't need to produce such a lazy, uninspired, dumpster-fire cash grab in absolute defiance of late series creator and long time producer Stephen Hillenburg that we know as “Sponge on the Run”
The third film in the now oversaturated Spongebob movie series, Sponge on the Run is downright awful. With little to no redeeming qualities, this was a terrible watch that does not deserve your time, attention, or money. Lazy writing, idiotic and plot irrelevant celebrity cameos, and flashbacks with extraordinary amounts of retconning plague Sponge on the Run. These ridiculous features take a beloved property and devolve it into one of the worst movies I've had to sit through in recent years.
I understand that this is a movie made for children, from a children's TV series, but in the 21 years Spongebob has been on the air, and the two movies that came before this one, there has ALWAYS been something for older audiences. That’s why Spongebob is so appealing to kids and parents alike. However, Sponge on the Run is an unoriginal rehash of ideas previous episodes have already done better.
Sponge on the Run follows SpongeBob and Patrick as they “travel to the lost city of Atlantic City to solve the mysterious kidnapping of Gary the snail. They soon prove that there's nothing stronger than the power of friendship as they encounter danger and delight at every turn.” If you’re a fan of the show, this may sound familiar, due to the fact that it’s almost the exact same plot as the first movie, but this time, some details are changed and ideas are taken from a popular episode called “Have you seen this snail?” from season four.
One other shining example of this movie being an uninspired cash grab is the fact that it serves as a backdoor pilot episode for a spinoff series set to air in 2021 titled “Kamp Koral” about the characters of the series as children at summer camp. The main issue with this is that the flashback scenes in Sponge on the Run act as an introduction for the show, and take away from the movie heavily. In addition to derailing the plot, the flashbacks retcon many details from the show, such as how Spongebob met Sandy, Patrick, and Squidward, and not only is it hard to sit through, the flashbacks last for nearly 20 minutes of the 90 minute film.
Nickelodeon has dropped the ball hard on this one. Not only is this movie terrible, but it’s an utter slap in the face of Stephen Hillenburg, the series creator. Hillenburg never wanted the show to continue after the original 2004 film, but corporate greed being what it is, sadly, Viacom has bleed this series dry and in doing so, has tarnished the legacy Hillenburg so desperately wanted to preserve.
Before his untimely death in 2018 after a long battle with ALS, Hillenburg made it clear his wishes for the show were violated and ignored, and now that this film has been released it is incredibly clear that Nickelodeon and Viacom have no respect for the man who made them billions.
Sponge on the Run, if for some reason you’re interested, is streaming on CBS All Access, or if you have a VPN, you can watch it on Netflix from international servers.