20 Recent Movie Sequels We Were ALL Wrong About

5. The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants

After 2020's The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run was middlingly received by most fans, it was tough to have high expectations for last year's follow-up, The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants.

Plus, with this film originally being a direct-to-streaming release starring Mr. Krabs before being retooled into a SpongeBob-centric theatrical movie, it seemed like the production was anything but smooth.

Yet Search for SquarePants was ultimately a bit of a return to form for the series, with a more inspired, heartfelt narrative and spritely animation compared to Sponge on the Run's utterly by-the-numbers writing and underwhelming visuals.

And beyond strong critical reviews, casual audiences seemingly agreed too, given that the sequel grossed a mighty $169 million worldwide, compared to Sponge on the Run's admittedly pandemic-hobbled $4.8 million.

While there's an easy argument to be made that SpongeBob's best days are long behind him, his latest adventure at least proved there's still some life left in the ol' sponge yet.