The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants Review – A Swashbuckling Helping of Snicker-Inducing Silliness
Would the early viewers who laughed through the initial SpongeBob escapades have predicted the franchise enduring for a 25 years, following absorbing the most surreal of plotlines? This longevity is in part due to its wide-ranging appeal, tickling the sense of humor of grown-ups – perhaps even those now grown students – as well as the very young viewers. Although it may not feature anything quite as unexpected as a certain legendary David Hasselhoff cameo in the 2004 film, this fourth feature has no qualms about making Clancy Brown speak as a pirate while dispensing payments to music icons like Barbra Streisand. This proves everything remains possible in the zany world of Bikini Bottom.
An Established Goofy Vibe
Starting with a holiday short starring Paramount's other weathered family favorites, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the latest SpongeBob movie soon finds a recognizably goofy groove. Its storyline serves as a family-friendly exploration on the advantages and disadvantages of maturity. This iteration of SpongeBob (again voiced by Tom Kenny) now stands a specific height, a fact that thrills him as it finally allows him to experience his fantasy coaster. (An initial, trippy gag: our overexcitable hero's fantasized loop-the-loops.) Yet, as in the finest modern American animation, the real rollercoaster is the twisting narrative.
The Quest for Pirate Credentials
SpongeBob's quest to obtain the legendary swashbuckler certificate that will prove him a “big guy” brings him into a showdown with the ghostly Flying Dutchman, voiced by the suddenly ubiquitous Mark Hamill. While the Dutchman's ghost ship introduces a larger scale, the film's visual style remains a delightful bricolage of digimation and hand-crafted elements, forever showcasing pleasing, authentically cartoonish effects.
Whether its spitballing silliness will linger when the lights come up is up for discussion, but it's a solid SpongeBob movie.
Notable scenes include SpongeBob wedging himself into an AC unit and coming out somehow more rectangular than before; a cameo from a pair of chattering joke-shop false teeth; and a penalty guaranteed to delight the six-year-old crowd: our hero being subjected to never-ending dishwashing.
The Verdict
In the end, Search for SquarePants is a reliable entry to the franchise – and arguably the most humorous pirate-themed movie recently, encompassing a robust Davy Jones joke and a saltily innuendo-laden catchphrase for SpongeBob's pal Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” It's certain: those early students will likely be snickering all over again.
Coming to Theaters: The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants arrives on December 19th in the US, December 20th in Ireland, and 26 December in Australia and the UK.
