The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants Review – An Adventurous Helping of Snicker-Inducing Fun
Would the early viewers who laughed through the first SpongeBob adventures have envisioned the series persisting for a quarter-century, even after experiencing the most surreal of narrative twists? This staying power is partly attributed to its wide-ranging charm, amusing the funny bones of grown-ups – perhaps even those former students – alongside the youngest viewers. Although it can't claim anything quite as unexpected as a certain legendary David Hasselhoff appearance in the 2004 film, this latest movie thinks nothing of making Clancy Brown speak as a pirate while dispensing payments to stars like Barbra Streisand. It seems everything remains possible in the whimsical world of Bikini Bottom.
A Familiar Goofy Groove
Kicking off with a festive short featuring Paramount's other weathered babysitters, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the new SpongeBob movie soon settles into a comfortably silly rhythm. Its script serves as a PG-rated treatise on the advantages and disadvantages of growing up. This iteration of SpongeBob (again voiced by Tom Kenny) now stands a specific height, a detail that thrills him as it finally qualifies him to ride his dream rollercoaster. (An initial, trippy laugh: our enthusiastic hero's imagined loop-the-loops.) However, as in the best modern American cartoons, the true rollercoaster is the twisting plotting.
The Adventure for Swashbuckling Credentials
SpongeBob's mission to obtain the legendary swashbuckler certificate that will prove him a “big guy” brings him into conflict with the ghostly Flying Dutchman, brought to life by the currently ubiquitous Mark Hamill. Although the Dutchman's ship adds a larger scale, the movie's visual style remains a delightful mix of digimation and hand-crafted components, forever highlighting satisfying, authentically animated visuals.
Whether its spitballing humor will linger after the credits is up for discussion, but it's a solid SpongeBob movie.
Memorable moments feature SpongeBob squeezing himself into an AC unit and coming out inexplicably squarer than ever; a brief appearance from a pair of chattering joke-shop false teeth; and a punishment sure 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 solid addition to the franchise – and arguably the most humorous pirate-themed movie recently, including a hearty Davy Jones joke and a cheekily innuendo-laden catchphrase for SpongeBob's pal Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” One thing is clear: those original fans will likely be chuckling anew.
Coming to Theaters: The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants debuts on 19 December in the US, December 20th in Ireland, and December 26th in Australia and the UK.
