The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants Film Critique – A Swashbuckling Dose of Giggle-Provoking Fun
Could those original fans who laughed through the first SpongeBob adventures have predicted the series enduring for a quarter-century, even after absorbing the most lysergic of plotlines? This longevity is partly due to its broad charm, amusing the sense of humor of adults – possibly even those now grown students – alongside the youngest viewers. Although it may not feature anything quite as unexpected as the legendary David Hasselhoff cameo in the 2004 movie, this fourth feature thinks nothing of making a veteran voice actor speak as a pirate while handing out royalty cheques to stars like Barbra Streisand. This proves anything can still in the zany world of Bikini Bottom.
An Established Goofy Vibe
Kicking off with a holiday short featuring Paramount's alternative long-running family favorites, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the new SpongeBob film soon finds a recognizably silly groove. Its script serves as a PG-rated exploration on the advantages and disadvantages of maturity. This version of SpongeBob (again brought to life by Tom Kenny) now stands 36 clams high, a fact that thrills him as it at last qualifies him to experience his fantasy coaster. (An initial, psychedelic laugh: our overexcitable hero's fantasized loop-the-loops.) However, like the finest contemporary American cartoons, the true thrill ride is the twisting narrative.
The Adventure for Pirate Credentials
SpongeBob's mission to secure the fabled pirate license that will prove him a “big guy” brings him into a showdown with the ghostly Flying Dutchman, brought to life by the currently ever-present Mark Hamill. Although the Dutchman's ghost ship introduces a larger scale, the movie's visual style remains a delightful bricolage of digimation and hand-turned elements, consistently highlighting satisfying, authentically cartoonish effects.
If its freewheeling humor will resonate when the lights come up is debatable, but it's a solid SpongeBob movie.
Notable moments feature SpongeBob squeezing himself into an AC unit and emerging inexplicably squarer than ever; a cameo from a pair of chattering joke-shop false teeth; and a punishment sure to delight the younger crowd: our hero being forced into endless dishwashing.
The Verdict
In the end, Search for SquarePants stands as a reliable entry to the franchise – and arguably the most humorous pirate-themed movie recently, including a hearty Davy Jones joke and a saltily suggestive saying for SpongeBob's friend Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” It's clear: those early students will probably be chuckling all over again.
Coming to Theaters: The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants arrives on December 19th in the US, December 20th in Ireland, and 26 December in Australia and the UK.
