The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants Film Critique – A Swashbuckling Helping of Snicker-Inducing Silliness
Would the original fans who chuckled through the initial SpongeBob escapades have envisioned the franchise persisting for a 25 years, even after absorbing the most lysergic of plotlines? This longevity is partly due to its broad appeal, tickling the funny bones of adults – perhaps even those now grown students – alongside the youngest viewers. Although it can't claim anything quite as unexpected as a certain legendary David Hasselhoff appearance in the 2004 movie, this fourth feature has no qualms about having Clancy Brown speak as a pirate while dispensing payments to stars like Barbra Streisand. This proves anything can still in the zany world of Bikini Bottom.
A Familiar Zany Vibe
Kicking off with a holiday short starring Paramount's other long-running babysitters, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the new SpongeBob film soon settles into a comfortably goofy groove. Its script serves as a family-friendly treatise on the pros and cons of maturity. This version of SpongeBob (again voiced by Tom Kenny) now measures 36 clams high, a detail that excites him as it at last allows him to experience his fantasy coaster. (An early, trippy gag: our enthusiastic hero's imagined loop-the-loops.) However, as in the finest contemporary American cartoons, the true rollercoaster is the twisting narrative.
The Quest for Pirate Credentials
SpongeBob's quest to obtain the fabled swashbuckler certificate that will prove him a “big guy” brings him into conflict with the spectral Flying Dutchman, brought to life by the currently ever-present Mark Hamill. While the Dutchman's ghost ship adds a larger scale, the movie's aesthetic remains a delightful mix of digital animation and hand-turned elements, consistently showcasing satisfying, properly animated effects.
Whether its spitballing humor will linger when the lights come up is debatable, but it's a strong SpongeBob movie.
Memorable scenes include SpongeBob squeezing himself into an air conditioner and emerging inexplicably more rectangular than ever; a brief appearance from a pair of chattering joke-shop false teeth; and a penalty sure to resonate with the six-year-old audience: our hero being forced into never-ending dishwashing.
The Verdict
In the end, Search for SquarePants is a reliable addition to the franchise – and arguably the most humorous pirate-themed movie in years, including a hearty 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 students will probably be chuckling 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.
