THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SPONGE ON THE RUN

Name: THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SPONGE ON THE RUN
Item: THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SPONGE ON THE RUN
Author: Tess Farrand

"Friendship Saves the Day"

Content: +1 Moderately questionable elements. (Discernment required for young children.)

Entertainment Quality:

	None	Light	Moderate	Heavy
Language
Violence
Sex
Nudity

Credits →

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What You Need To Know:

In THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SPONGE ON THE RUN, Plankton discovers that SpongeBob is the one who’s always foiling his plans to steal the secret Krabby Patty formula. So, when King Poseidon needs a snail’s secretions to keep his skin looking new, Plankton kidnaps SpongeBob’s beloved pet snail, Gary. SpongeBob and his friend, Patrick, must travel to the Kings palace in the Lost City of Atlantic City to rescue Gary. However, they face some comical challenges and temptations along the way.

THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SPONGE ON THE RUN is delightful, creative and funny. It tells a very strong, heartfelt, uplifting message about friendship. All the major characters in Bikini Bottom realize that SpongeBob’s friendship and kindness made them better creatures. Also, a sequence in the middle is a Christian allegory based on Dante’s classic Christian work, INFERNO. In the sequence, SpongeBob must free the souls of some people turned into zombies by El Diablo, which is Spanish for The Devil. MOVIEGUIDE® advises caution for younger children for SPONGE ON THE RUN, because of slapstick violence, a light “h” obscenity, gambling, and some lightly scary images.

Content:

(BBB, CC, FR, L, V, N, AA, M):

Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements:

Very strong moral worldview extols friendship, kindness, helping others, and always encouraging your friends (which happens multiple times in the movie), with an allegorical Christian sequence that uses Dante’s INFERNO, set in a western ghost town, where SpongeBob SquarePants frees the souls of some people transformed into zombies by a character called El Diablo, who, it turns out, can only be destroyed by Light, and the hero is repeatedly counseled by the wise Sage, Keanu Reeves in a sage tumbleweed, who tells the hero that courage is within him, plus a couple references to Greek gods (one villain is Poseidon)

Foul Language:

One “h” obscenity, no profanities, one use of “butt,” at least two “heck” words, two characters burp, and SpongeBob makes a fart sound with his armpit

Violence:

Light cartoon violence includes falls such as a young SpongeBob tumbles down the steps of a bus that takes him to summer camp, a character falls down a shaft and makes a dent in a floor, character gets blackened when a grill explodes, customers trample the owner of a restaurant when he opens the doors in the morning, fish soldiers chase the hero and his friends, the hero and his friends get into a suit of armor to fight the soldiers, character falls into the bubbling oil of a French fry machine, the King schedules the hero and his best friend to be executed, etc.

Sex:

No sex

Nudity:

King Poseidon is a bare chested merman

Alcohol Use:

No alcohol use, but hero wakes up and appears drunk after being tempted by a night of gambling

Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse:

No smoking or drugs; and,

Miscellaneous Immorality:

Hero and his friend are tempted by a night of gambling in the Lost City of Atlantic City, hero is shown very briefly doing a yoga class, one villain is obsessed with revenge but learns that revenge doesn’t taste so sweet when earned too easy, and another villain is obsessed with power, youth and appearance but learns that life is empty without friends.

More Detail:

In THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SPONGE ON THE RUN, SpongeBob and Patrick must rescue SpongeBob’s pet snail, Gary, when Plankton kidnaps Gary to prevent SpongeBob from stopping Plankton’s latest attempt to steal the secret formula to Krusty Krab patties. THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SPONGE ON THE RUN is a delightful, funny animated comedy with a strong, heartfelt, uplifting message about making friends and encouraging your friends, but there are a few slightly scary images, slapstick violence and a light “h” obscenity.

The movie’s opening shows how much SpongeBob loves his pet snail, Gary, and his job at the Krusty Krab. However, his behavior annoys his co-worker, Squidward, who mans the cash register.

When Mr. Krabs tells SpongeBob to save a leftover Krabby Patty to sell to customers the next day, Plankton sees another chance to steal the secret formula to the patty. It’s Plankton’s 3,008th plan. Karen, Plankton’s “computer wife,” warns him that SpongeBob is the one who’s foiled every one of Plankton’s evil plans, but Plankton rejects her advice. Sure enough, when Plankton sneaks into the Krusty Krab after hours, SpongeBob foils Plankton’s new plan and the copy of the secret formula Plankton made burns up in the boiling fry grease.

Meanwhile, King Poseidon in the Lost City of Atlantic City is using snail trails to keep his skin wrinkle free. However, the snail he’s using runs out of slime, and the King has noticed a tiny wrinle! The King’s Chancellor informs him that there are no more snails in the city. So, King Poseidon sends out a royal decree asking for more snails.

Back in Bikini Bottom, Plankton sees Poseidon’s Royal Decree. He now realizes that Karen was right about SpongeBob. Plankton decides that if he can get rid of Gary, he can get rid of SpongeBob. So, he kidnaps Gary and sends him to the King.

SpongeBob doesn’t know about Plankton’s involvement, but hos friend, Patrick, tells him about the Royal Decree. They decide Gary must have been kidnapped and taken to the King. They look up information about the Lost City of Atlantic City and find out it’s a “cesspool of vice and depravity.” SpongeBob tells Patrick he doesn’t have the courage to go there to rescue Gary, but Patrick encourages him, and they decide to go together.

However, they don’t have a way to get there, and can’t drive. Just then, the sneaky Plankton shows up. He lets them use his boat and his new robot, Otto, to drive it. Otto was created by SpongeBob’s friend, Sandy the squirrel, to help his boss automate the Krusty Krab, but Mr. Krabs threw Otto out when he tried to fire Mr. Krabs.

THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SPONGE ON THE RUN is delightful, creative and funny. It tells a very strong, heartfelt, uplifting message about friendship. All the major characters in Bikini Bottom realize that SpongeBob’s friendship and kindness made them better creatures. Flashbacks show SpongeBob encouraging them from the very beginning, when they all met in summer camp as children. In addition, a sequence set in a western ghost town is a comical Christian allegory based on Dante’s INFERNO. SpongeBob is given a challenge to enter the Inferno Saloon and free the souls of some people transformed into zombies by a character called El Diablo. Viewers find out that El Diablo, which is Spanish for The Devil, can only be destroyed by Light. Finally, SpongeBob is repeatedly counseled by the Sage, a mystical Keanu Reeves in a sage tumbleweed. The Sage keeps telling SpongeBob that courage is within him, and he will find his courage when he needs it the most.

MOVIEGUIDE® advises caution for younger children for SPONGE ON THE RUN, because of slapstick violence, a light “h” obscenity, and slightly scary images. Also, SpongeBob and Patrick are tempted to indulge in a night of gambling in the Lost City of Atlantic City.

SPONGE ON THE RUN can be seen in theaters or on the new Paramount+ streaming service.