The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants Review – An Adventurous Helping of Snicker-Inducing Fun
Would the original fans who laughed through the first SpongeBob escapades have predicted the series persisting for a 25 years, even after absorbing the most surreal of plotlines? This staying power is partly due to its broad appeal, tickling the funny bones of adults – possibly even those former students – as well as the very young viewers. While it may not feature anything quite as surprising as a certain legendary David Hasselhoff cameo in the 2004 movie, this latest movie has no qualms about having Clancy Brown speak as a pirate while dispensing royalty cheques to music icons like Barbra Streisand. This proves everything remains possible in the whimsical world of Bikini Bottom.
An Established Zany Vibe
Starting with a festive short featuring Paramount's other weathered family favorites, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the latest SpongeBob film quickly settles into a recognizably goofy rhythm. Its script serves as a PG-rated treatise on the pros and cons of growing up. This iteration of SpongeBob (again brought to life by Tom Kenny) now measures 36 clams high, a fact that thrills him as it finally allows him to ride his fantasy coaster. (An initial, trippy gag: our overexcitable hero's imagined loop-the-loops.) Yet, as in the best modern American cartoons, the true thrill ride is the corkscrew plotting.
The Adventure for Pirate Proof
SpongeBob's quest to secure the legendary pirate license that will prove 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 introduces a grander scope, the movie's aesthetic remains a delightful bricolage of digimation and hand-crafted elements, consistently highlighting pleasing, authentically animated visuals.
Whether its spitballing silliness will linger after the credits is up for discussion, but it's a solid SpongeBob movie.
Notable scenes feature SpongeBob squeezing himself into an AC unit and coming out inexplicably squarer than ever; a cameo from a pair of chattering joke-shop false teeth; and a penalty guaranteed to delight the younger crowd: our hero being subjected to never-ending dishwashing.
The Verdict
In the end, Search for SquarePants is a reliable entry to the franchise – and perhaps the most humorous Pirates of the Caribbean movie in years, encompassing a hearty Davy Jones joke and a cheekily innuendo-laden saying for SpongeBob's friend Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” It's certain: those early students will probably be chuckling all over again.
Coming to Theaters: The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants arrives on 19 December in the US, December 20th in Ireland, and 26 December in Australia and the UK.
