The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants Review – A Swashbuckling Dose of Snicker-Inducing Silliness
Could those original fans who chuckled through the first SpongeBob adventures have predicted the series enduring for a 25 years, even after experiencing the most surreal of plotlines? This longevity is partly due to its broad charm, tickling the sense of humor of adults – possibly even those former students – alongside the youngest viewers. Although it may not feature anything as unexpected as the memorable David Hasselhoff appearance in the 2004 film, this fourth feature thinks nothing of having Clancy Brown talk like a pirate while dispensing payments to stars like Barbra Streisand. It seems anything can still in the whimsical world of Bikini Bottom.
A Familiar Zany Groove
Starting with a holiday short featuring Paramount's other weathered family favorites, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the new SpongeBob film quickly settles into a recognizably silly rhythm. Its storyline serves as a family-friendly treatise on the advantages and disadvantages 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 qualifies him to experience his fantasy coaster. (An initial, trippy gag: our enthusiastic hero's imagined loop-the-loops.) Yet, as in the finest contemporary American cartoons, the true rollercoaster is the corkscrew plotting.
The Quest for Pirate Proof
SpongeBob's mission to obtain the legendary swashbuckler certificate that will declare him a “big guy” brings him into a showdown with the ghostly Flying Dutchman, brought to life by the suddenly ever-present Mark Hamill. While the Dutchman's ghost ship introduces a larger scale, the movie's visual style remains a delightful mix of digital animation and hand-turned elements, forever highlighting satisfying, properly animated effects.
If its spitballing silliness will linger after the credits 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 brief appearance from a pair of chattering novelty false teeth; and a punishment guaranteed to delight the six-year-old crowd: our hero being forced into endless dishwashing.
The Verdict
Ultimately, Search for SquarePants is a reliable addition to the franchise – and perhaps the funniest Pirates of the Caribbean movie recently, including a hearty Davy Jones joke and a cheekily innuendo-laden saying for SpongeBob's pal Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” One thing is clear: those early students will likely be snickering anew.
Coming to Theaters: The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants debuts on 19 December in the US, 20 December in Ireland, and December 26th in Australia and the UK.
