The reassuringly zany first trailer for Paramount’s The Spongebob Movie: Sponge on the Run is here, featuring casinos, a gag about ironing, and Keanu Reeves’s disembodied head. But what might be most impressive is the 2d-to-cg translation of the characters, which surpasses expectations for a Spongebob adaptation and suggests this film could be a refreshingly original visual treat.
Sponge on the Run is billed as an origin story for the Pollyannaish sponge, who turned 20 this year. Watch the trailer and read the official synopsis below:
After Spongebob’s beloved pet snail Gary is snail-napped, he and [his best friend Patrick Star] embark on an epic adventure to The Lost City of Atlantic City to bring Gary home. As they navigate the delights and dangers on this perilous and hilarious rescue mission, Spongebob and his pals prove there’s nothing stronger than the power of friendship.
This is the third feature in the franchise, and the first to come out since the death of its creator Stephen Hillenburg. It’s also the first to offer a fully cg version of the Spongebob universe. Some sequences employ a hybrid style in which the characters interact with the real world (this also happened in the previous film, The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out of Water). Hence Keanu Reeves’s head.
