The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants Review – A Swashbuckling Dose of Snicker-Inducing Fun
Could those early viewers who chuckled through the initial SpongeBob escapades have predicted the series enduring for a 25 years, following absorbing the most lysergic of narrative twists? Such staying power is in part due to its wide-ranging appeal, tickling the funny bones of adults – perhaps even those former students – alongside the very young viewers. While it can't claim anything quite as surprising as the legendary David Hasselhoff appearance in the 2004 movie, this fourth feature thinks nothing of making a veteran voice actor talk like a pirate while handing out royalty cheques to stars like Barbra Streisand. This proves anything remains possible in the whimsical world of Bikini Bottom.
An Established Zany Vibe
Kicking off with a holiday short featuring Paramount's other long-running babysitters, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the new SpongeBob film soon settles into a recognizably silly rhythm. Its storyline serves as a family-friendly 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 detail that excites him as it finally qualifies him to experience his dream rollercoaster. (An initial, trippy laugh: our enthusiastic hero's imagined loop-the-loops.) Yet, as in the finest modern American cartoons, the true thrill ride is the corkscrew narrative.
The Adventure for Pirate Proof
SpongeBob's quest to secure the legendary pirate license that will declare him a “big guy” brings him into conflict with the spectral Flying Dutchman, brought to life by the currently ever-present Mark Hamill. While the Dutchman's ghost ship adds a larger scale, the film's visual style remains a delightful bricolage of digital animation and hand-turned components, forever highlighting pleasing, properly cartoonish effects.
Whether its spitballing silliness will resonate after the credits 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 brief appearance from a pair of chattering novelty false teeth; and a penalty sure to delight the six-year-old crowd: our hero being subjected to endless dishwashing.
The Verdict
In the end, Search for SquarePants is a solid entry to the series – and arguably the funniest Pirates of the Caribbean movie recently, including a robust Davy Jones gag and a cheekily innuendo-laden catchphrase for SpongeBob's friend Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” It's clear: those early students will probably 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.
