The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie 3: Sponge On the Run (1990)

The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie 3: Sponge on the Run is a 1990 Japanese/American animated adventure comedy film based on the animated television series SpongeBob SquarePants. Directed by former series writer Makoto Tezuka. The regular voice cast of the series are expected to reprise their respective roles from the series and the previous films.

The film is produced by Toho and Tezuka Productions. Toho plans to release the film in theaters on August 14, 1990. The English-dubbed version of the film was initially set to release in late May 1990, but it was pushed back to April 9, 1991 to avoid competition of A Wind Named Amnesia (1990).

Plot
The movie starts with an opening shot of Bikini Bottom, that take us to the pineapple house where we find Gary waking up SpongeBob leaving snail trail on his face, after this, SpongeBob rushes to yell "Good Morning" to Patrick, then we see SpongeBob feeding Gary and Puffy Fluffy which leads to an unrealistic montage showing SpongeBob, Gary and Puffy Fluffy's daily routine, once the montage finishes, SpongeBob rushes to the Krusty Krab in order to be early, leaving Gary and Puffy Fluffy sad and alone.

In the Krusty Krab 2, SpongeBob unintentionally annoys Squidward with his shenanigans when Mr. Krabs walks out of office commanding SpongeBob to raise the colors, hoist the mainsail and to deploy smokestacks, meanwhile at the Chum Bucket, we see plankton plotting yet another evil plan to get the secret formula, until Karen stops him, reminding him of his "wall of failures", which is a huge wall filled with pictures of Plankton's failures. Karen then convinces Plankton that SpongeBob is the factor of all his failures, Plankton of course ignores her and continues his plan.

Meanwhile, in the Krusty Krab 2, SpongeBob is busy cooking and serving Krabby Patties, when Sandy arrives with a special invention, a robot named Otto, so she shows the robot to Mr. Krabs and the crustacean falls in love with it when he realizes it's free and has no emotions, as he thinks it's a great invention to fire people without remorse, so after some humorous antics Mr. Krabs throws Otto to Plankton's garbage can, so then Karen decides to adopt Otto.

A bubble wipe takes us to the Krusty Krab 2 at night, where Mr. Krabs tells SpongeBob to clean up the place. One cleaning montage later, SpongeBob is ready to go home when suddenly the camera zooms into a jar of pickles, revealing Plankton, disguised as a Pickle is ready to steal a Krabby Patty, so he uses a giant mechanical claw to remove a food cover from a Krabby Patty, so once he's about to accomplish this, SpongeBob enters the kitchen looking for keys, causing Plankton to fall on a puddle, a series of comical mishaps leads us to landing on the fryer, when he suddenly realizes that SpongeBob truly is the factor for all his failures.

We then are taken to the Lost City of Atlantic City, where we meet Poseidon who discovers the existence of a wrinkle right next to his eye, so he demands Chancellor to bring him a snail, he uses the snail's trail as a face cream, when suddenly he discovers that the snail's trail has ran out, so he orders another snail to be brought to him immediately, then the Chancellor tells Poseidon that they ran out of snails, leading to the Chancellor writing a royal decree and posting it all over town, when Plankton reads one, he gets the brilliant idea of kidnapping Gary and sending SpongeBob on a risky mission to get Gary from the Lost City of Atlantic City, thereby getting rid of SpongeBob forever.

Next morning, SpongeBob arrives home, where he can't seem to find Gary and Puffy Fluffy anywhere, leading to a flashback to Kamp Koral, where SpongeBob met Gary. Patrick then tells SpongeBob that he found one of his "Lost Snail" posters, when he gets the idea of looking for clues, his plan eventually works as they both find the royal decree mentioned earlier, so SpongeBob assumes Gary's been snailnapped and taken to the Lost City of Atlantic City.

After a comedic pep talk, SpongeBob and Patrick are ready to go rescue Gary and Puffy Fluffy, but they'll need some wheels first, luckily Plankton (as part of his plan) provides SpongeBob and Patrick a free ride to the Lost City of Atlantic City, with Otto as the driver, so our heroes embark on a very dangerous mission to go rescue Gary and Puffy Fluffy. Meanwhile, Mr. Krabs and Squidward find out SpongeBob is missing and can't cook for the customers leading to them acting like savages. While that is going on, SpongeBob and Patrick seem to be on a dream where they find a bar called "The Inferno Saloon" in the middle of nowhere, when suddenly a taking tumbleweed who gives the duo a so-called "Challenge Coin" that's supposed to give SpongeBob the courage needed on his journey.

The two are assigned with a task before they can actually look for Gary and Puffy Fluffy, the task is to free the souls from "The Inferno Saloon" so after a musical number, a human known as "El Diablo" enters the bar capturing SpongeBob and Patrick in a cage, once they get out of the cage, "El Diablo" tries to kill them with a knife until the duo open the curtains letting the sunlight evaporate "El Diablo" thereby freeing the souls from "The Inferno Saloon" like Sage told them to. However, "El Diablo" comes back as a smoke monster and tries to kill SpongeBob and Patrick once again, but is quickly defeated. Soon after they both wake up from the dream but somehow Sage is still in the picture and tells them to look at the Window of Meanwhile, a magical device which allows them to watch what's happening in the kingdom, where they find Poseidon using Gary and Puffy Fluffy as a face cream, horrified by this SpongeBob and Patrick hurry to the Lost City of Atlantic City.

A bubble transition takes us to an empty Krusty Krab, where we see an upset Mr. Krabs devastated for losing each and every customer he once had (not too long ago), when suddenly Plankton enters the Krusty Krab and demands Mr. Krabs to give him the secret formula once it for all, Mr. Krabs takes out a tiny secret formula from his belt and hands it to Plankton, who at first happily receives it, feels empty and upset at seeing Mr. Krabs so depressed.

Meanwhile the duo finally arrive to the Lost City of Atlantic City, where Sage advices them to not lose any focus, when at first the duo ignore him, they quickly do in fact lose focus, leading to a montage of SpongeBob and Patrick riding rollercoasters, eating food, and gambling, it all leads to them waking up drunk and confused. When they finally regain consciousness, they hurry to the kingdom's stage entrance where they find themselves forced to participate on the talent show, then SpongeBob finds Gary and Puffy Fluffy and tries to get them home, but Poseidon won't let that so he gets SpongeBob arrested.

A fade out takes us to Sandy, Mindy, Spandy and Pindy sledding to SpongeBob's pineapple where they find out he's missing, so they go to the Krusty Krab 2 and starts blaming Mr. Krabs and Squidward on SpongeBob's disappearance, when they finally explain that they weren't guilty, a bikini bottom news report explaining SpongeBob and Patrick's arrest plays on the Krusty Krab television, so Mr. Krabs, Squidward, Sandy, Mindy, Spandy, Pindy and Plankton embark on another dangerous journey to free SpongeBob and Patrick.

We then find SpongeBob and Patrick in Poseidon's dungeon, when Spongebob finds out he lost his "Challenge Coin" by gambling it, the duo get on a fight and are then sent to their frightening execution, only to be sabotaged by Mr. Krabs, Squidward, Sandy and Plankton, they then start explaining why SpongeBob shouldn't get executed by travelling back to Kamp Koral in the form of flashbacks.

Sandy's Flashback: We see SpongeBob and Sandy having a tea party at the tree dome.

Patrick's Flashback: We see a young Patrick crying on top of a log, then SpongeBob finds him crying and asks him what's wrong, Patrick explains he's homesick and has no friends, so SpongeBob decides to befriend the little sea star and invites him to jellyfish with him.

Squidward's Flashback: Squidward explains that back then, he wanted to win the Annual Kamp Koral Talent Show more that anything, and when SpongeBob and Patrick's act steals the crowd, Squidward runs crying to his cabin, then SpongeBob and Patrick enter his cabin and explain that there was an evaluating mistake and Squidward actually won the Kampy Award by a landslide.

After these flashbacks, Mr. Krabs gives out a speech about how SpongeBob inspired him to open the Krusty Krab and how SpongeBob is in fact the secret formula to the Krabby Patty, after that, the crew perform Secret to the Formula which is a distraction for SpongeBob to get his hands on Gary and replace it with a wooden imitation, so once Poseidon discovers this, he sends his guards to get them.

After an exciting chase scene, the gang hide in a knight armor leading to an intense climax with the guards fighting the knight armor being controlled by SpongeBob, Patrick, Squidward, Mr. Krabs, Sandy and Plankton, they all get rounded up by Poseidon, so the Greek god proposes to let them go only if they hand over Gary and Puffy Fluffy, when at first SpongeBob is destroyed by this proposal, Sage appears and remembers the yellow sponge that the courage he needs to confront Poseidon is inside him.

So he defies Poseidon and tells him that he loves Gary and Puffy Fluffy too much to hand him over, so Poseidon is ready to attack when he is stopped by SpongeBob when he tells him he doesn't have any loyal friends, Poseidon laughs at it first but after actually checking with everyone on his kingdom, he comes to the sad conclusion that he doesn't have any friends, upset at this Poseidon cries but SpongeBob tells him that he'll gladly be his friend if he doesn't kidnap Gary and Puffy Fluffy, Poseidon explains that if he doesn't keep the snail and the nudibranch then he wouldn't be able to get rid of his wrinkle, but SpongeBob explains that looks don't matter, what matters is what's inside, so after this advice, Poseidon starts "loosening up a bit" by taking off his wig, removing his neck clip and dentures and taking off his chest plate and girdle.

When he realizes how free he feels like that, he salutes SpongeBob for having the courage to stand up against a powerful king, and frees Gary, Puffy Fluffy and all the snails and nudibranches he previously kidnapped, so SpongeBob has the idea to turn Bikini Bottom into a sea snail refuge, ending the movie.

Japanese Voices

 * Hisashi Katsuta as SpongeBob SquarePants
 * Tamio Ōki as Mr. Krabs, Plankton, and Sage
 * Shinpei Sakamoto as Patrick Star
 * Kazue Tagami as Karen, Mindy and Mrs. Puff
 * Kazuo Kumakura as Squidward Tentacles and Higeoyaji
 * Mari Shimizu as Sandy Cheeks, Puffy Fluffy, Pearl Krabs, Young SpongeBob, Young Patrick, Young Squidward, and Young Mr. Krabs
 * Shimizu also voices Spandy and Pindy

English Dub

 * Casey Kasem as SpongeBob SquarePants
 * Don Messick as Patrick Star and Poseidon
 * Brian Perry as Mr. Krabs
 * Del Lewis as Plankton and Sage
 * Bob Gonzalez as Squidward Tentacles and Higeoyaji
 * Patrica Kugler Whitely as Sandy Cheeks, Pindy, Spandy, Puffy Fluffy, Pearl Krabs, and Young SpongeBob

Production
Later in 1985, it was revealed that Toho was developing sequels to its franchises, including another SpongeBob film.

The film was initially scheduled for release in 1989, before being delayed to 1990. By January 1986, Kazunori Ito had been chosen to write the film.

In March 1987, Yoshishige Shimatani announced that the studio would work closely with Tezuka Productions on its TV brands, including the SpongeBob film. During the same month, Fuji TV stated that the film would be titled The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie 3.

In April 1988, the film's official title was revealed as The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie 3: It's a Wonderful Sponge, and Makoto Tezuka was announced as director and writer for the film. It was reported later in the year that the film would be written by Kazunori Ito. The principal cast are all expected to reprise the roles as their respective characters from the series and the previous films. In October 1988, Shimatani revealed the plot for the film. The same day, Kenji Kawai was announced as the composer for the film.

On June 12, 1989, Dreams Come True would be writing original songs for the film. The next day, Makoto Tezuka announced that Higeoyaji would be in the film.

On November 12, 1989, it was revealed that the film's title was changed from It's a Wonderful Sponge to Sponge on the Run.

Filmography
On January 22, 1989, it was confirmed that production on the film had officially begun.

Release
The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie 3: Sponge on the Run was originally set for February 9, 1989, but was pushed back to August 2, 1989, then July 31, 1989, later July 17, 1990, and then November 5, 1990.

On April 2, 1990, the English dubbed film was moved back to July 31 as a result. It was later announced that the film would instead be released on August 7, to avoid competition of Only Yesterday. However, in June 1990, it was pushed back to 1991 to avoid competition of A Wind Named Amnesia.

Marketing
The first teaser poster for the film was revealed at San Diego Comic Con on July 19, 1989 with the original title It's a Wonderful Sponge. A second teaser poster was released on November 12, 1989 with a new title. The first trailer was released 2 days later.

Television Spin-Off
Kamp Koral: SpongeBob's Under Years is a SpongeBob SquarePants spin-off prequel series, based on the flashback scene from The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie 3: Sponge on the Run, that introduces a 10-year-old SpongeBob at a summer sleepaway camp.

On February 19, 1990, the official title was revealed, and it was announced that the series would be premiering in July 1990. The main series voice cast will be reprising their roles.

Songs

 * 1) It's Always Summer On Bikini Bottom
 * 2) How Do We Do
 * 3) El Diablo
 * 4) Aka Waka Maka Mia
 * 5) The Astro Boy Theme Song (1963 version; cameo)
 * 6) The Kimba The White Lion Theme Song (1965 version; cameo)
 * 7) The Secret to the Formula
 * 8) Gary's Song
 * 9) Agua
 * 10) Krabby Step
 * 11) Snail, I'm Avail
 * 12) The SpongeBob SquarePants Theme Song (1969 version; cameo)

General

 * This was originally going to be the first SpongeBob SquarePants film to be shot in the 1.85:1 aspect ratio, but this will not be used as well, and it will instead used to be shot in the 1.33:1 aspect ratio.
 * Gary will play a much more major role in this film compared to the previous two, where he was mostly a background character.
 * Three copies of Perch Perkins can be seen in Atlantic City. This marks the first time that he has been used as a generic background character model, rather than just as an individual character.
 * Karen's design in this movie is unique and mixes elements of her silver design from the first movie and her blue design from the main series. She is silver and has bolts on her screen like in the first movie, but she has panels and wheels on the bottom like in the series.
 * Karen's voice is also slightly warped to more resemble a robotic tone.
 * This movie has a similar plot to the season 4 episode "Have You Seen This Snail?," as both involve Gary being taken in by a stranger and SpongeBob and Patrick teaming up to go find him.
 * It is also referenced in the promotional material, as SpongeBob and Patrick make "Lost Pet" posters for Gary, which happened in the episode as well.
 * This is the third time Gary goes missing. The first time was the aforementioned "Have You Seen This Snail?" and the second time was "Gary in Love" from season 7.
 * He was also mentioned by SpongeBob to have been lost for eight minutes in "Plankton's Pet," though that was never shown onscreen.
 * SpongeBob also looks for Gary and shouts his name several times, once in the elongated speech, similar to how he does in "Have You Seen This Snail?"
 * This will be the first entry in the SpongeBob SquarePants franchise to be released after Osamu Tezuka's death.
 * This is the third time the SpongeBob characters go to a land-locked place in the surface world, the first being "The Great Man-Eating Tree" from the 1969 Dororo, and the second being "Why is Mars Crying?" from Jettermars.
 * One of the "lost pet" posters in the promotional material lists "Garebare" as one of the nicknames Gary responds to. This is a reference to "Krab Borg" where SpongeBob calls him that name.
 * King Poseidon's tattoo artist has the date May 1, 196[9] tattooed on his arm, which is date SpongeBob SquarePants (1969) premiered on NBC.
 * In most episodes that flashback to SpongeBob as a kid, his voice sounds similar to his modern adult one if not done with a somewhat higher pitch. However, in this film, he has a realistic-sounding kid voice.
 * This marks the first time someone other than Hisashi Katsuta voices SpongeBob, unless his singing voice in "Ripped Pants", "Band Geeks" and "Squidward's School for Grown-Ups" is counted. In this case, it is Mari Shimizu during the flashbacks of Camp Coral.
 * There is a major series continuity error: SpongeBob mentions having adopted Gary at the animal shelter in "Plankton's Pet," and is also suggested to have had him ever since he was a little boy in "Have You Seen This Snail?" and "Treats!," however, this film reveals that he met him at Camp Coral after soaking up a big puddle.
 * In the film's poster, Patrick is seen using a pair of binoculars backward. He also does this in Sponge out of Water, which is a reference to that gag.
 * In the trailer, the Krusty Krab's basement from the first film is seen, as well as a Patty Wagon-like vehicle, but it resembles either a hoagie or submarine sandwich, instead of the burger shape that the original Patty Wagon had.
 * The movie serves as the backdoor pilot for Kamp Koral: SpongeBob's Under Years.
 * This movie has a similar plot to the first SpongeBob film, as both involve SpongeBob and Patrick traveling away from Bikini Bottom to go save something or someone.
 * Patrick jokes that his name means "toaster" in Celtic.
 * In actuality, the name "Patrick" originates from the Latin Patricius, meaning patrician or nobleman.
 * This is the second time a casino has been shown in the series, the first being "Have You Seen This Snail?" Although, this is the first time the interior of one is shown.
 * This is the first time since "Sailor Mouth" that we hear SpongeBob swear, but this time it's uncensored saying the word "crappy."
 * Unlike the previous SpongeBob films, this marks the first SpongeBob movie to not have a post-credits scene.
 * The Balding guy is seen as a baker as he returns for the first time.
 * Patrick mistakes a "7" for an "L." The reverse happened in "Party Pooper Pants."
 * SpongeBob is revealed to have several photos of Gary hung on his wall and a playpen for Gary, neither of which have been shown in his house before.
 * As of June 14, 1990, the film was officially rated PG due to "rude humor, some thematic elements, and mild language."
 * In the series, the anchovies have an American accent combined with their "Meep!" catchphrase. In this film, however, they have British accents and can talk.
 * On the international posters, the signs on the characters' backs are replaced with a person outline, "Kik me" and "Idiot."
 * This is the third time Goofy Goobers is shown in a movie.
 * The red flower in Bikini Bottom shown in "Pizza Delivery" makes an appearance.
 * In one scene at The Krusty Krab, you can see an Astro Boy sketch near the cashier window.
 * This movie has been delayed more times than the previous 2 SpongeBob movies.
 * In the first trailer and the actual film, SpongeBob finds green slime in Gary's playpen, but in the second trailer, it is blue instead.
 * Another edit made in the second trailer is that fecal matter is visible in Gary's litter box in the first trailer, but in the second one and the actual film, the image of feces is removed.
 * There's two versions of the same scene where SpongeBob kicks his door open. In the first trailer, SpongeBob has a mad look on his face while Patrick talks to him. While in the World Laughter Day TV spot, SpongeBob is shown plugging his nose and airing himself while laughing with Patrick.
 * There's two versions of the scene where SpongeBob says to Patrick "Do I smell a road trip?!", the first one from the Big Game spot, the second one from the etalk exclusive sneak peek.


 * Was originally to be released during the 20th anniversary SpongeBob SquarePants (1969), but its release date was moved from 1989 to May 1990 to avoid clashing with the Kimba remake. However, it is pushed further to August 7, 1990, and then, 1991.
 * Confirmed to be dedicated to the memory of Osamu Tezuka, who died on 1989 of stomach cancer.
 * This has been confirmed to include the origin story of SpongeBob.
 * Originally announced as a prequel for the TV show, but apparently it will serve a both, a brief prequel and a continuation to the series.
 * This movie will mainly be inspired by the SpongeBob episode "Have You Seen This Snail".
 * The first theatrically released animated triquel, before Pókemon 3: Spell of the Unown (2000), Toy Story 3 (2010), Cars 3 (2017), Despicable Me 3 (2017), Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation (2018), and How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019)

Cultural references

 * The movie's previous title was It's a Wonderful Sponge, a parody of the Christmas film It's a Wonderful Life.
 * Atlantic City is based on the real Atlantic City in New Jersey and Las Vegas, which are both famous because of the casinos, hotels, attractions, and shops.
 * The dancing zombies during the Higeoyaji musical number pay homage to Michael Jackson's Thriller.
 * The beginning of the 1969 Dororo theme song plays when Otto drives with Plankton to SpongeBob's house.
 * The song that plays when Otto driving away when SpongeBob and Patrick try to get in the boat is the 1963 Astro Boy theme song.
 * The song that plays when Sage describes himself as the Dream Weaver is the Tezuka World theme song.
 * The song that plays when SpongeBob and Patrick lose focus and have fun in the Lost City of Atlantic City is the 1965 Kimba the White Lion theme song. SpongeBob and Patrick sing along to it in some parts of the sequence.
 * There's a 2021 Peacock Gum Girl film with a similar plot, Dr. Gomez on the Run.

Errors

 * When SpongeBob and Patrick are walking out of the pineapple house laughing, SpongeBob is seen without any pores for a split second.
 * When SpongeBob and Patrick were in the prison, when SpongeBob blinked when laying on his side, eyelashes were still visible on one eye.
 * SpongeBob's hole pattern either shifts or has missing holes throughout the movie.
 * Plankton's evil plan blueprint shows the number 3,084 but he says it's evil plan #3,087.
 * Sandy's flower switches right to left at times.
 * When a Patrick gives a speech to SpongeBob, when he said "Those laws should be broken," his eyebrows are missing.