The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run Revisit: A Cute Threequel Feature That Clearly Ran Out of Ideas

November 21, 2025

Title: The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run
Director: Tim Hill

Based on: Characters by Stephen Hillenburg

Release Date: March 4, 2021

The ups and downs of the current SpongeBob movies will determine the franchise's legacy. It is a sure thing that the series is getting milked after the original SpongeBob SquarePants Movie. Even though we can mostly get bad things from the post-Hillenburg era, we can also get a few good things sometimes, like Plankton: The Movie. The question right now is this: is this movie any good? Today, we will revisit The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run, the third SpongeBob movie that was released on video-on-demand as a premium Paramount+ offering. For a good reason, the movie flopped (domestically in the US and Canada) with a $4.8 million box office gross against a $60 million budget, which is thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic in the past. Critics praised the animation quality but panned the recycled plot, whereas audiences enjoyed it for the humor and its heart. Although it uses a recycled plot from an episode, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run is a visual feast that does have its light moral heart.

Summary

"When SpongeBob SquarePants' beloved pet snail Gary goes missing, a path of clues leads SpongeBob and his best friend Patrick to the powerful King Poseidon, who has Gary held captive in the Lost City of Atlantic City. On their mission to save Gary, SpongeBob and the Bikini Bottom gang team up for a heroic and hilarious journey, where they discover nothing is stronger than the power of friendship." - Google

Reasons
The gleaming shell points of Sponge on the Run are the upgraded animation, decent humor, and likable characters. The franchise does experiment with different animation styles, so it can transition to 3D animation for the "cinematic" vibe. Like a few other animated films released in its time, the stop-motion-inspired CGI is visually appealing. The vibrant color palette also recreates what the franchise would look like in 3D. As another iconic part, the humor is decent. I mean, it does not have as many clever jokes as the first two have, but it can be funny at times. The cast is energetic in both the good and bad moments in the story. Moving on, the characters are still likable. SpongeBob keeps his usual optimism, Patrick keeps his adorable dumbness, Squidward balances both temper and friendliness, Mr. Krabs balances both greed and loyalty, and Sandy keeps her enthusiastic courage. In addition, most of the new characters, like Otto, are also great.
For the neutral, the slimy qualities of Sponge on the Run are the fan service, villain, and celebrity cameos. Well, a SpongeBob movie needs fan service because it is SpongeBob SquarePants after all. Despite that, the movie may excel with it using a clever explanation, while it just forces it. The movie should have had both a good story and good fan service on a scale. Although a lot of the characters are fine, the villain, King Poseidon, was not as entertaining. We did have a few Poseidon villains in the series, though. This one had a great personality, but his motivation for stealing Gary was so shallow and basic. As for the other citizens of Atlantic City, the celebrity cameos can barely work. The movie does have a few celebrities, like Keanu Reeves, that people will know. Meanwhile, the rest of them are celebrities that a lot of people will not recognize from their fish forms.
Then, the hisses of Sponge on the Run are the unoriginal story, contradictory canon, and confusing dream quest logic. Instead of coming up with something new or at least satirical to Hollywood, it uses a derivative plot that it can turn into a feature-length quest. It never seems to take any stakes to make the movie exciting. Pretty much, this is "Have You Seen This Snail?" as a movie. Putting aside the derivative story, it tends to contradict the original TV series. If you watch the scene with the backstories of how SpongeBob met friends and adopted Gary, you can tell what is wrong. The "I Met You When I Was a Kid" trope was a gimmick to make us feel for the characters when the fans are not that dumb. Finally, the dream quest logic is confusing. It does not make any sense because dreams are not real, yet SpongeBob and Patrick got something from that dream that goes into real life. That scene was just filler for the road trip part.

Conclusion

The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run may lack the originality and charm of the first two movies, but it is a visual feast with at least some morality. It's pretty much a movie version of an old SpongeBob episode with alternate backstories included with friends and Gary. Let's hope that Paramount will not screw up with Search for SquarePants a month later. If you are a loyal SpongeBob fan, you might get enjoyment out of this film, but do not expect it to be anything amazing. You watched the cartoon before, so you must test your trivia on this to see if you think it is part of the Secret Formula.

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