The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants Film Critique – An Adventurous Helping of Giggle-Provoking Silliness
Could those early viewers who chuckled through the initial SpongeBob adventures have envisioned the series persisting for a 25 years, even after experiencing the most lysergic of plotlines? Such staying power is in part due to its wide-ranging charm, tickling the funny bones of adults – perhaps even those former students – alongside the youngest viewers. Although it can't claim anything as surprising as a certain memorable David Hasselhoff cameo in the 2004 movie, this fourth feature has no qualms about having a veteran voice actor speak as a pirate while handing out royalty cheques to music icons like Barbra Streisand. It seems anything remains possible in the whimsical world of Bikini Bottom.
An Established Goofy Vibe
Kicking off with a festive short starring Paramount's other weathered babysitters, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the latest SpongeBob movie soon settles into a comfortably silly rhythm. Its script serves as a PG-rated exploration on the advantages and disadvantages of maturity. This version of SpongeBob (again voiced by Tom Kenny) now stands a specific height, a fact that thrills him as it at last qualifies him to ride his dream rollercoaster. (An early, trippy gag: our overexcitable hero's imagined loop-the-loops.) However, as in the best modern American animation, the real rollercoaster is the twisting narrative.
The Quest for Pirate Proof
SpongeBob's quest to obtain the fabled 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 ship adds a grander scope, the movie's visual style remains a delightful mix of digimation and hand-crafted components, forever highlighting satisfying, properly cartoonish effects.
Whether its freewheeling humor will linger after the credits is up for discussion, but it's a solid SpongeBob movie.
Notable scenes feature SpongeBob wedging himself into an AC unit and coming out somehow more rectangular than ever; a cameo from a pair of chattering joke-shop false teeth; and a penalty sure to delight the six-year-old crowd: our hero being subjected to never-ending dishwashing.
Final Thoughts
In the end, Search for SquarePants is a reliable entry to the series – and perhaps the most humorous pirate-themed movie in years, including a robust Davy Jones gag and a cheekily innuendo-laden saying for SpongeBob's friend Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” One thing is certain: those original fans will likely be chuckling anew.
Coming to Theaters: The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants arrives on December 19th in the US, 20 December in Ireland, and December 26th in Australia and the UK.
