In Sponge on the Run, SpongeBob SquarePant's beloved snail Gary (both characters voiced by Tom Kenney) is snailnapped. SpongeBob and his pal Patrick the starfish (Bill Fagerbakke) hit the rode to rescue him.
This film has its highs and lows. There are a lot of funny bits, including a couple clever ones and a couple that were as delightfully bonkers as found in the previous film Sponge Out of Water. But for every joke that lands, there is one that doesn't and that's often too obvious or has been done before.
In fact, the strongest bits happen in the middle of the film. The opening starts slow and spends too much time reintroducing us to the characters. The end part just kinda stalls, plus the conclusion is too obvious and feels like it's been done before.
The script follows the structure of the original SpongeBob SquarePants Movie a little too closely. We got SpongeBob and Patrick on a roadtrip. We have our characters dealing with a god of the seas, King Poseidon (voiced by The IT Crowd/What We do in the Shadows' Matt Berry) this time. The plot involves Plankton's attempts to steal the Krabby Patty secret formula. (All three films have done this last one. I mean, I know that happens a lot in the show but not every episode.) The lack of originality is disappointing given how creative Sponge out of Water was.
The film is further hampered by flashbacks which serve solely and cynically to plug the upcoming spinoff show Kamp Koral. They bring the momentum to a halt.
The movie looks great. It's entirely in 3D, and the shift from 2D works amazingly well. The animation never goes too detailed and captures the cartooniness that make the SpongeBob designs work. The textures in this are impressive. Plust, the whole thing is colorful to boot.
Keanu Reeves seems to be having fun playing a wise sage named Sage. I'm glad they brought back Berry, who voiced a dolphin in the last film, He plays an amusingly self-involved antagonist. Sure, Berry uses the exact same voice in every role, but he's downright trademarked the suave-voiced, comical narcissist. I never get tired of him.
This is the weakest in the SB trilogy. I already mentioned that this doesn't touch the second one. Though the first film suffered from a weak first two acts, it still was more confident in what it was and better paced than Sponge on the Run (which I encourage you to see if you haven't; it's this generation's Yellow Submarine).
I know I pointed a lot of flaws, but as a whole, this is generally entertaining. The good bits make up for the weak bits. This will probably entertain your kids. And as I said, visually it's definitely something to see.
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