The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants Film Critique – An Adventurous Helping of Snicker-Inducing Silliness
Would the original fans who laughed through the initial SpongeBob adventures have envisioned the franchise enduring for a quarter-century, following absorbing the most lysergic of narrative twists? This staying power is in part due to its wide-ranging appeal, amusing the funny bones of grown-ups – possibly even those now grown students – alongside the youngest viewers. While it can't claim anything quite as surprising as a certain legendary David Hasselhoff appearance in the 2004 film, this latest movie thinks nothing of having a veteran voice actor speak as a pirate while handing out royalty cheques to music icons like Barbra Streisand. It seems anything can still in the zany world of Bikini Bottom.
An Established Zany Groove
Kicking off with a festive short featuring Paramount's alternative weathered family favorites, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the new SpongeBob movie quickly settles into a comfortably goofy groove. Its storyline serves as a PG-rated 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 finally qualifies him to ride his fantasy coaster. (An initial, trippy gag: our overexcitable hero's fantasized loop-the-loops.) Yet, like the finest contemporary American cartoons, the true thrill ride is the corkscrew narrative.
The Adventure for Pirate Credentials
SpongeBob's mission to obtain the legendary swashbuckler certificate that will declare him a “big guy” brings him into a showdown with the spectral Flying Dutchman, voiced by the currently ubiquitous Mark Hamill. Although the Dutchman's ghost ship adds a larger scale, the movie's aesthetic remains a delightful mix of digimation and hand-crafted elements, forever highlighting pleasing, authentically cartoonish visuals.
Whether its spitballing humor will resonate when the lights come up is up for discussion, but it's a solid SpongeBob movie.
Memorable moments include SpongeBob wedging himself into an air conditioner and coming out somehow more rectangular than before; a brief appearance from a pair of chattering novelty false teeth; and a penalty sure to delight the six-year-old audience: our hero being subjected to never-ending dishwashing.
The Verdict
Ultimately, Search for SquarePants stands as a solid entry to the series – and arguably the most humorous Pirates of the Caribbean movie in years, encompassing a hearty Davy Jones gag and a saltily suggestive catchphrase for SpongeBob's pal Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” One thing is certain: those early students will likely be snickering anew.
Coming to Theaters: The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants debuts on 19 December in the US, December 20th in Ireland, and 26 December in Australia and the UK.
