The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge On The Run (2020) Perspective

SpongeBob was able to pick up another movie with his third film entry, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run. Originally slated for a worldwide theatrical release, the rise of the Covid-19 pandemic made things much more complicated. The film received a theatrical release in Canada on August 14, 2020 and digitally on Netflix in other regions on November 5th, 2020. It wasn’t until March 4, 2021 where the movie got a full release in America, releasing as a premium video-on-demand offering and airing as a launch title for Paramount Plus. It was directed by Tim Hill, who also received credited for story and screenplay.  Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger, the writers of the previous SpongeBob movie, Sponge Out of Water, returned as well to come up with the story with Mr. Hill. The film is dedicated to the show’s creator Stephen Hillenburg, who passed away in 2018 from Lou Gehrig’s disease, and also served as a executive producer until his unexpected death.

Similar to the first two SpongeBob films, it received generally positive reviews from critics, praising the animation and the loyalty to the franchise. However, it did not get the same love from the fans and audiences, with many taking issues of the retcons being made to the previously established continuity, mainly how SpongeBob met his friends, and feeling like the whole movie was just one giant advertisement for the Kamp Koral spin-off show, a series which had just ended this year. For it’s limited theatrical release, it managed to make just 4.8 million dollars against it’s 60 million dollar budget. Despite the mixed to negative reactions from fans, it likely would have made much more if it’s weren’t for the pandemic.

Before the release of Sponge on the Run, things felt very uncertain about what the future of SpongeBob would consist of and if it had lost all of it’s remaining staying power and will. Yes, the series did see a revival with Seasons 9-11 and a bit with Sponge Out of Water, but this all came before the biggest possible tragedy for the show occurred, that being the passing of the creator of SpongeBob SquarePants himself, Stephen Hillenburg. With him having a hand-in guidance to Seasons 10, 11, and part of 12, it felt like he was the only person that could give SpongeBob the second leash on life that Nickelodeon wanted for their brand. With Hillenburg’s unexpected death and the announcement of multiple SpongeBob spin-offs in the works shortly after, Sponge On The Run didn’t really fill a lot of people with confidence. And……they were mostly right.

Even in the wake of Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie being the new whipping boy in town for fans and the animation community to take their turns whipping repeatedly, Sponge On The Run just doesn’t work in any way, shape, or form. That being said, when rewatching it again, I couldn’t help but see the germs of a potentially good SpongeBob film here. It made me think how this film would have looked before Stephen Hillenburg died.

In case anyone doesn’t know, the original title and concept for the third SpongeBob movie was The SpongeBob Movie: It’s a Wonderful Sponge. It was set to be it’s own spin on the classic movie, It’s A Wonderful Life, where SpongeBob enters an alternate universe of how Bikini Bottom would operate without his presence, with Keanu Reeves being the main guide that would follow SpongeBob throughout his journey. The movie would also dive deeper into the origin story of SpongeBob and the Bikini Bottom as a whole than any previous SpongeBob movie. In many respects, this would be like the Shrek: Forever After of SpongeBob movies.

However, around the time It’s A Wonderful Sponge was in the works, the Kamp Koral spin-off series was in the works and Nickelodeon was wanting to let people know about that. During the development of the third movie, Nick demanded that the cast and crew to use that the film to advertise Kamp Koral and have the movie tie-in to that spin-off series. Stephen Hillenburg refused, claiming he wanted the movie to be it’s own thing and have nothing to do with Kamp Koral. Nick then backed off and left him alone. It was shortly after Stephen’s passing that Nick had the cast and crew of the third movie, which was already in it’s early stages of storyboarding, scrapped the whole It’s A Wonderful Sponge premise into something else. They wanted a new script started from scratch that would advertise Kamp Koral and give Keanu Reeves a lesser role to work with. Because of all of that, we got Sponge On The Run instead of It’s A Wonderful Sponge.

I don’t know how accurate all of that information is considering these were just rumors I read about what went wrong from behind the scenes but that would all make sense to me. Because when watching Sponge On The Run, you got the sense that it was meant to be something else entirely. Not just in terms of plot, character, and story, but just have it’s own beating heart to it and making for a bittersweet culmination of the past 20+ years of SpongeBob, similar to how the first SpongeBob movie acted as a culmination of the first three seasons. However, because Nickelodeon was more concerned about advertising Kamp Koral than making a good movie, this is what we got.

Before discussing the things I actually liked or thought could have worked, let’s discuss the main negatives that fans tend to bring up regarding this movie.

First off, the story is…….non-existent. It’s nothing more than the plots of several different SpongeBob mediums with practically no connective tissue to tie it all together in a cohesive way. There’s so much of this barley there plot that is basically “been there, done that”. SpongeBob searching to find Gary? Check! SpongeBob going on a grand adventure with Patrick to find something that could cost them their lives? Check! Seeing the aftermath of Bikini Bottom when SpongeBob is not there? Check! The characters driving in a burger car? Check! A change in status quo by the end that will likely not matter much in the grand scheme of things because of Nickelodeon desire to keep the show going or else they will be dead? Check-er-aoo! When the story is not being bogged down by a bunch of filler and awkwardly implemented teases for Kamp Koral, it’s just throwing in plot elements from other, better SpongeBob material without understand why those individual stories worked in the first place.

Speaking of which, the Kamp Koral segments are the most forced and poorly implemented parts of any movie that I have ever seen. There is not a single part involving Kamp Koral that feels natural, earned, or fitting in the movie in the slightest. Every time those segments appear on screen, it’s like the movie is pausing for intermission and claiming that “WE INTERUPT THIS PROGRAM TO GIVE YOU A SNEAK PEEK OF THIS SPIN-OFF SERIES THAT NO ONE ASKED FOR OR WANTS!”. I don’t care if you are making a SpongeBob spin-off, Nickelodeon! That only makes me want to watch even less when you shove it in my face. If you thought the Avengers teases in Iron Man 2 and Age of Ultron were bad or even the Justice League tie-ins in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, the Kamp Koral sections in Sponge on the Run makes those look like a perfectly fitting puzzle piece in comparison.

And the biggest offender to fans is the way that the film rewrites how SpongeBob meet his friends, only for the sake of tying in Kamp Koral to the SpongeBob mythos.

Remember how the first episode established that SpongeBob met Sandy when she was an adult? Instead, they both actually met at summer camp when they were kids, which I guess Sandy already made her way underwater when she was just a little squirrel girl.

Remember how the first episode also made it seem like SpongeBob first met Mr. Krabs or was the most familiar with him when he went to apply for a job at the Krusty Krab? Instead, they both met a summer camp when SpongeBob was a kid and Mr. Krabs was a young adult, even tho Mr. Krabs has to be like 30 years older than SpongeBob and looks more like….five or ten years older here.

Remember how Truth or Square established that SpongeBob first met Squidward when he moved in right next door to him, where SpongeBob politely introduces himself to Squidward when he first sees him? Instead, they both met a summer camp when they were kids, where SpongeBob tries to cheer Squidward up after losing a contest to him by giving him his trophy, even tho Squidward didn’t earn it in any way.

Oh, and I guess Mrs. Puffs first met SpongeBob when he attended summer camp and not when he attended boating school?

And that was also where SpongeBob and Patrick first met as well. Actually, I could perfectly buy that and that’s the only supposed first meeting here that actually makes sense.

I know certain folks out there will claim that I am just exaggerating here and that SpongeBob is not a series where you should take continuity all that seriously. The problem here is that these include elements added to the SpongeBob mythos from the start or in a main episode event with no ifs or buts about it. This isn’t some trivial matter like SpongeBob’s perfect attendance in school or work, it’s part of the main foundation that the series has established. And it’s basically only being done just for Nick to justify having the Kamp Koral series play a part in SpongeBob’s history.

Now, that those things are out of way, here’s how I think Sponge On The Run COULD have worked.

First off, the animation is absolutely STUNNING. Even though it’s a completely different animation style for SpongeBob than ever before, it actually works very well here. It makes everything so bright and colorful and leaves room for crafting the kind of animation and set pieces that no SpongeBob medium has ever had before. Heck, you could have used some of the set pieces from Sponge Out of Water that I thought were kinda lackluster and it would have worked much more fondly here. I wouldn’t go as far to say that it’s my favorite animation style for SpongeBob nor one do I care to see for every new SpongeBob thing going forward but in Sponge On The Run‘s case, it works incredibly well.

Secondly, the movie would be a least slightly coherent if they at least decided to just use ONE story element/idea they had for the third movie instead of a million all at once and still set up Kamp Koral in a way that Nickelodeon would have like. You could have gone with the original idea for It’s A Wonderful Sponge but also show an alternate universe where SpongeBob first met his friends at summer camp and have that contrast with the universe that SpongeBob has always been a part of. You could have use the plot of finding Gary and also have SpongeBob run into his own summer camp, where he remembers first meeting Gary and starting an alternate timeline where that is where SpongeBob met all of his friends. Heck, you could have just made the entire movie be about SpongeBob being a camp counselor at Kamp Koral, A.K.A. his childhood summer camp. If you did any one of those plots, this movie would have made much more sense and felt much more cohesive than the finished product.

However, there is not one aspect of this movie that perfectly displays the complete wasted potential in Sponge on the Run than the scene in the climax where all of the main characters come to SpongeBob’s defense during his public execution. This is the moment that is practically design to make or break not just your movie but your entire franchise up to this point. It’s a moment where all of the main side characters of SpongeBob come together and tell SpongeBob and the audience directly what he has meant to them for the past 20+ years. If done right, this scene could have made for a perfect culmination of the past two decades of the sponge and be a proper resolution for the whole series up to this point.

While that was perhaps the intention of the filmmakers, it’s the things that Nickeldeon forced in there that makes this scene break the entire movie instead of making it. Instead of feeling like a bittersweet way for the characters to describe how important SpongeBob is to Bikini Bottom and themselves, it’s ruined by constant flashbacks to Kamp Koral, where you have the characters disregarding everything that has happened in the past and at the moment just to give a wink to the audiences that a new SpongeBob spin-off series is in the works. This happens like four to five times, feeling like a parody of those Family Guy sketches where they cut to a random gag out of nowhere. The difference though is that while those sketches from Family Guy are meant to get a laugh or two from the audiences, the Kamp Koral sections come during a moment where the audience is suppose to be taking everything seriously.

I repeat, these Kamp Koral section take place during a moment where SpongeBob is on his death trial and his friends have to talk the King and everyone there to NOT execute him. This could have been the scene that saved the entire picture or at least have it end on a strong note. This could have been the scene that justified this film’s existence. This could have been the scene that celebrated the long history of SpongeBob SquarePants while giving it a fitting stopping point. Instead, this one scene brings everything down so hard that it’s impossible to recover from.

In Conclusion

There are plenty of other things I can talk about with Sponge on the Run that has been talked about in length by hardcore fans. Like how the film acts like snails are incredibly rare now in the ocean despite the show having plenty of different snails in multiple episodes. Or that SpongeBob and Patrick can go into a casino even tho they are technically still kids. Or how SpongeBob literally now has a name for his stove at work. Or how SpongeBob literally says the word, “crappy”. But honestly, they have been talked about so much that there’s not much I can add to that.

It’s hard to know what Sponge On The Run would have been like if Stephen Hillenburg was still alive throughout the entire production. Outside of a different title and premise, I would believe the third SpongeBob film would have acted as a perfect love letter to the entire first two decades of the show’s existence. It would have been a lovely reminder as to why kids and audiences fell in love with this yellow sponge and why he’s as important to animation and pop culture as he is. While there are definitely hints at that throughout Sponge On The Run, it can never escape that sense of cynicism and studio meddling that I imagine Tim Hill and crew really wanted to break out of.

What’s most unfortunate about Sponge On The Run is the path forward that SpongeBob has taken since this film’s release. The kind of path that proves that Nickelodeon doesn’t have a clue of what to do with the yellow sponge we all know and love without Stephen Hillenberg. And I will go into EXACTLY that path next month.

Next Month: The “New Bad” Era (Season 12-Present)