The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants Film Critique – An Adventurous Helping of Giggle-Provoking Silliness
Would the original fans who laughed through the first SpongeBob escapades have envisioned the series enduring for a quarter-century, following absorbing the most surreal of plotlines? Such longevity is partly attributed to its broad charm, amusing the sense of humor of grown-ups – perhaps even those now grown students – alongside the youngest viewers. While it can't claim anything as surprising as the legendary David Hasselhoff cameo in the 2004 movie, this fourth feature thinks nothing of making Clancy Brown talk like a pirate while handing out royalty cheques to stars like Barbra Streisand. It seems anything remains possible in the whimsical world of Bikini Bottom.
An Established Goofy Groove
Kicking off with a holiday short starring Paramount's alternative long-running family favorites, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the new SpongeBob movie soon settles into a comfortably goofy groove. Its storyline serves as a PG-rated exploration on the advantages and disadvantages of maturity. This iteration of SpongeBob (again voiced by Tom Kenny) now measures 36 clams high, a detail that excites him as it finally allows him to experience his dream rollercoaster. (An early, psychedelic gag: our enthusiastic hero's fantasized loop-the-loops.) Yet, like the finest modern American cartoons, the real thrill ride is the corkscrew narrative.
The Adventure for Swashbuckling Credentials
SpongeBob's mission to secure the legendary swashbuckler certificate that will prove him a “big guy” leads him into a showdown with the spectral Flying Dutchman, brought to life by the suddenly ever-present Mark Hamill. Although the Dutchman's ghost ship adds a larger scale, the film's aesthetic remains a delightful bricolage of digital animation and hand-turned components, consistently highlighting pleasing, properly animated effects.
Whether its freewheeling humor will linger after the credits is debatable, but it's a solid SpongeBob movie.
Memorable scenes include SpongeBob wedging himself into an AC unit and emerging inexplicably squarer than before; a brief appearance from a pair of chattering joke-shop false teeth; and a punishment guaranteed to delight the six-year-old audience: our hero being forced into endless dishwashing.
Final Thoughts
In the end, Search for SquarePants stands as a reliable entry to the franchise – and perhaps the most humorous pirate-themed movie recently, encompassing a robust Davy Jones joke and a saltily innuendo-laden catchphrase for SpongeBob's friend Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” It's certain: those original fans will likely be snickering anew.
Coming to Theaters: The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants debuts on December 19th in the US, December 20th in Ireland, and December 26th in Australia and the UK.
