Sponge on the run skipping theatre's.

THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE PART 3: SPONGE ON THE RUN has the problem that we all feared THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE PART 2: SPONGE OUT OF WATER was going to have (based on the misleading marketing): The animation is entirely 3D. It's not terrible on its own, but it doesn't look good compared to the TV show, because the characters and objects were originally designed in 2D. The title characters' holes have so much texture that they look like spots. Usually, animal fur should look detailed and realistic, but here, the animators go way too far with Sandy Cheeks (a squirrel scientist). She looks uglier than a [insert joke where Sandy uses Texan slang to make a comparison]. I would've tolerated all that if there had been more funny jokes or if the plot had had more meaning. Sure, the previous 2 installments were essentially long episodes, but they still felt like the Krusty Krab cook was going on an important personal journey. Do you remember when THE MUPPETS TAKE MANHATTAN had a sequence where the characters were younger? It had nothing to do with the story, but it was popular enough that The Jim Henson Company turned that into the show MUPPET BABIES. That felt like a natural response. That happens here too, except that KAMP KORAL: SPONGEBOB'S UNDER YEARS was already in development before the release of this movie, so the flashback feels like a shameless plug. Sorry, I meant flashbacks. Yes, there's more than one. And most of them are shown while something dramatic is happening, so they come off as interruptions. To be fair, I'm not sure how this prequel spin-off could've made a good first impression. The makers are trying way too hard to make the characters look cute. Their bodies are smaller but their eyes are more or less the same size. Also, Sandy's nose as a grown-up is just a triangle, but as a child, it's shaped like a heart. I know that cartoons have a loose continuity, but are you seriously going to ignore the very 1st episode where SpongeBob and Sandy meet (as adults)? In one of these flashbacks, Squidward (as usual) plays the clarinet and everyone hates it. However, he performs Celine Dion's MY HEART WILL GO ON. Is this a reference to the "TITANIC flute fail" meme? Back to the present, Keanu Reeves plays a Sage and we only see his (live-action) head. The downside of him being inside a tumbleweed is that the size of his head is only slightly bigger than the sea creatures' bodies, which looks weird. On the other hand, the tumbleweed moves whenever the head moves, which helps to sell the illusion that it's all part of the same being.

4/10
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