The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run ★★

Tim Hill

Starring Tom Kenny, Bill Fagerbakke, Rodger Bumpass, Matt Berry, Keanu Reeves

As our favourite sponge graces the (not so) big screen once again, we are submerged into a sea of random cameos, strange animation and moisturising molluscs.

In the third instalment to the collection of Squarepants films, our beloved hero (Tom Kenny) has his snail Gary (Kenny again) stolen from him. It is up to him and his loveable pink friend Patrick Star (Bill Fagerbakke) to retrieve him from the ageing King Poseidon (Matt Berry).

I'll give credit where it's due, this film had me laughing within literally two minutes. Some of the random jokes that landed were brilliantly executed by the voice cast, and there were some rather relatable gags, usually in the form of Plankton (Mr. Lawrence). However, as Spongebob, as both a TV show and movie series so regularly tends to do, the shouting became a little too infuriating. Within the first film it's not as annoying, as you're so busy laughing at the on screen antics, but in this film it becomes way too loud and irritating.

The addition of Matt Derry to the voice cast gave me hope for an inventive villain and exciting conflict, but as there was no rising tension, this was left damp and inconclusive. Everything in the film just sort of happens, for no real, justified reason; and therefore you're left trying to keep up with a humorous narrative that only loosely exists.

This film gives you Keanu Reeves as Keanu Reeves, Snoop Dogg as Snoop Dogg and Mr Krabs (Clancy Brown) giving a rather touching final speech. If you think these things will be explained, you'll be disappointed. At no point did I know why anything was happening, and unfortunately there's a certain calibre of animation being released that this just doesn't match. Animation and live action being mixed has never appealed to me before, and that opinion definitely hasn't changed.

Bloody random!

The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run available now on Netflix