The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants Review – A Swashbuckling Dose of Giggle-Provoking Silliness
Would the original fans who chuckled through the initial SpongeBob escapades have predicted the franchise persisting for a quarter-century, following absorbing the most surreal of plotlines? This staying power is in part due to its broad appeal, amusing the funny bones of grown-ups – perhaps even those now grown students – as well as the youngest viewers. While it may not feature anything quite as surprising as the memorable David Hasselhoff appearance in the 2004 movie, this latest movie has no qualms about making a veteran voice actor speak as a pirate while handing out payments to stars like Barbra Streisand. It seems everything can still in the whimsical world of Bikini Bottom.
An Established Zany Groove
Starting with a festive short starring Paramount's other weathered babysitters, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the new SpongeBob film quickly settles into a comfortably goofy groove. Its storyline serves as a family-friendly exploration on the advantages and disadvantages of maturity. This iteration of SpongeBob (again brought to life by Tom Kenny) now measures 36 clams high, a fact that excites him as it finally allows him to experience his dream rollercoaster. (An early, psychedelic laugh: our overexcitable hero's imagined loop-the-loops.) However, like the finest contemporary American animation, the true rollercoaster is the twisting narrative.
The Quest for Pirate Credentials
SpongeBob's quest to obtain the legendary pirate license that will prove him a “big guy” leads him into conflict with the ghostly Flying Dutchman, brought to life by the currently ubiquitous Mark Hamill. While the Dutchman's ship adds a larger scale, the film's aesthetic remains a delightful bricolage of digimation and hand-crafted elements, consistently highlighting satisfying, authentically cartoonish effects.
If its spitballing humor will resonate when the lights come up is debatable, but it's a strong SpongeBob movie.
Memorable moments feature SpongeBob wedging himself into an air conditioner and coming out somehow more rectangular than ever; a cameo from a pair of chattering joke-shop false teeth; and a punishment guaranteed to resonate with the younger crowd: our hero being subjected to endless dishwashing.
The Verdict
In the end, Search for SquarePants is a reliable addition to the franchise – and arguably the funniest Pirates of the Caribbean movie in years, including a robust Davy Jones joke and a cheekily innuendo-laden catchphrase for SpongeBob's friend Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” It's clear: those early fans will probably be snickering all over again.
Coming to Theaters: The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants debuts on December 19th in the US, 20 December in Ireland, and December 26th in Australia and the UK.
