Hey ladies and jellyfish, didn’t think I’d be making this video, especially now, so sorry
about my weird upload schedule lately, but I just watched SpongeBob: Sponge on the Run.
That’s right, being in Canada means this movie released in theatres exclusively today,
at the time of recording.
I know that the rest of the world will see this movie in early 2021 on Netflix, so until
then, let me tell you a bit about it without a single spoiler.
Now, for Canadian viewers or other people watching this video in 2021, don’t worry.
I’ll eventually make a spoiler podcast in 2021, or maybe even sooner, so you can check
that out too!
Anyway, let’s get into my review of The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run!
Before I start, let me just say this is all my opinion.
It is a bit more negative than you might expect, so just take it with a grain of salt.
I don’t want to take away from your anticipation or expectation for this movie, just my single
opinion.
So what do I think of it?
I’d say its above average.
Maybe a 6/10?
I think the story is a bit average to be honest.
It’s really similar to something like Have You Seen This Snail from season 4 mixed with
the first movie, which I did predict in my parody easter eggs video by the way!
While the plot isn’t too original, it does offer some new locations and introduces us
to a few new characters.
But that’s also where some problems arise.
The new characters are all super bland and underdeveloped.
I don’t know if this is a spoiler or not, but we get introduced to King Neptune ripoff
#6000, who is this king of Atlantic City, and he has literally no backstory and is a
very weak and...let’s just say he’s not the hardest villain to beat.
The main cast is fine, and the voice acting is fantastic, but some new characters are
all voiced by random pop stars that Nickelodeon managed to pay enough to be in this.
Snoop Dogg?
Why is Snoop Dogg in this movie?
Do kids like Snoop Dogg now?
Why is Awkafina in this movie?
I DON’T EVEN KNOW WHO AWKAFINA IS!!!
And I know each of the Spongebob movies has one celebrity character, like Hasselhoff and
Banderas in the previous ones, but why is Keanu Reeves in this again?
His character is literally one of the most useless characters I’ve ever seen in a movie.
There’s this random scene near the middle where SpongeBob and Patrick have a dream,
but then they just wake up, with nothing being explained.
They just wanted to have an excuse to have random dancers and Snoop Dogg in the movie.
That’s all I’m saying.
And remember in my Scoob review where I talked about the abundance of pop culture references?
Well, while SOTR isn’t quite on the Scoob level, it is FULL of pop culture references!
There are tons of references to things like the Blue Man Group, and even a line where
a character talks about Skype and Facetime.
Like, I’m watching SpongeBob, I didn’t pay for a commercial.
Now, while I am harping on about the negatives, there are tons of good things about it too.
The animation looks really nice and cute, especially on the main cast.
I think SpongeBob might be one of the only characters that looks great in both 2D and
3D, and the fact that this is all 3D with some live-action definitely says a lot about
how much 3D has taken over.
I love Sandy’s new design with all the hair, especially since I don’t think we’ve ever
seen her in 3D before, without her being a literal squirrel.
That being said, some scenes look a bit cheap, especially since this movie’s budget was
only $60M, 14M less than Sponge out of Water.
Some things like food look really weird in this 3D style, so things like chicken look
like plastic goo in the middle and stuff like that.
There was also a fully obvious animation error in one scene, where Patrick loses his eyebrows
for a few seconds, and that’s really not acceptable for a theatrically released movie.
To touch on some more positives, I like the setup for Kamp Koral, I actually think they
introduced the origins of the characters pretty well without too many retcons.
I also really like the music, surprisingly by Hans fricking Zimmer, but only when its
not forced pop songs like Livin' La Vida Loca and fricking Take on Me covers.
Yes, that’s a thing to look forward to.
It’s things like this that make me worried that they really didn’t care about Hillenburg,
because even though things like the rap at the end of Sponge out of Water are like this,
its really not as blatant and pandering to this extent.
And yeah, I know they said In Memory of Stephen Hillenburg at the end, and that was very sweet
(probably the sweetest moment of this completely unemotional mess), but I don’t think that
was quite enough.
And I’m not even that hard on Nickelodeon and their practices, to be honest!
Predominantly, Sponge on the Run is definitely the worst SpongeBob movie and doesn’t even
come close to the others.
Maybe one day I’ll make a 3-way comparison, but until then, I’d like to explain why
this movie may have missed the mark.
After all, context is important.
To touch on my friend Auroral’s sentiments on Twitter: “I was expecting this.
originally I had high hopes but ever since the hundred of delays, weird release and the
leak from the movie book, I expected it’ll end up average.”
But what do you think?
Have you seen the movie?
If so, what did you think of it?
Are you watching this in 2038 and looking back at how stupid humanity was?
Whatever the case may be, tell me all your thoughts in the comments below, be sure to
subscribe and hit that bell, follow me on Twitter and join my Discord with the links
below, and I’ll see you ladies and jellyfish next time! Ciao!