The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants Review – A Swashbuckling Dose of Snicker-Inducing Fun
Would the early viewers who laughed through the first SpongeBob adventures have predicted the series enduring for a 25 years, even after experiencing the most surreal of narrative twists? Such staying power is partly due to its wide-ranging charm, tickling the sense of humor of adults – possibly even those now grown students – as well as the very young viewers. While it can't claim anything as surprising as the memorable David Hasselhoff appearance in the 2004 film, this latest movie thinks nothing of having Clancy Brown speak as a pirate while handing out royalty cheques to music icons like Barbra Streisand. It seems everything can still in the whimsical world of Bikini Bottom.
An Established Zany Groove
Kicking off with a holiday short featuring Paramount's alternative weathered family favorites, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the latest SpongeBob film soon finds a comfortably goofy groove. Its script acts as a PG-rated treatise on the advantages and disadvantages of growing up. This version of SpongeBob (again voiced by Tom Kenny) now stands a specific height, a fact that excites him as it at last qualifies him to experience his fantasy coaster. (An early, psychedelic gag: our enthusiastic hero's fantasized loop-the-loops.) Yet, like the best contemporary American animation, the real thrill ride is the twisting narrative.
The Quest for Pirate Credentials
SpongeBob's mission to secure the fabled swashbuckler certificate that will declare him a “big guy” leads him into a showdown with the spectral Flying Dutchman, voiced by the suddenly ubiquitous Mark Hamill. While the Dutchman's ghost ship adds a larger scale, the movie's aesthetic remains a delightful bricolage of digital animation and hand-turned elements, consistently showcasing pleasing, properly cartoonish visuals.
If its spitballing silliness will linger after the credits is up for discussion, but it's a solid SpongeBob movie.
Memorable scenes feature SpongeBob wedging himself into an air conditioner and emerging somehow squarer than before; a brief appearance from a pair of chattering novelty false teeth; and a punishment guaranteed to delight the younger crowd: our hero being subjected to endless dishwashing.
The Verdict
Ultimately, Search for SquarePants is a solid addition to the series – and perhaps the most humorous Pirates of the Caribbean movie in years, encompassing a hearty Davy Jones joke and a cheekily suggestive catchphrase for SpongeBob's friend Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” It's certain: those original fans will probably be snickering all over again.
Coming to Theaters: The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants arrives on 19 December in the US, 20 December in Ireland, and December 26th in Australia and the UK.
