The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants Film Critique – A Swashbuckling Helping of Snicker-Inducing Silliness
Would the original fans who chuckled through the initial SpongeBob adventures have predicted the franchise persisting for a quarter-century, even after experiencing the most lysergic of narrative twists? Such staying power is partly due to its wide-ranging charm, tickling the sense of humor of adults – perhaps even those now grown students – alongside the very young viewers. While it may not feature anything quite as unexpected as the legendary David Hasselhoff appearance in the 2004 movie, this fourth feature has no qualms about making Clancy Brown 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.
A Familiar Zany Vibe
Starting with a holiday short featuring Paramount's other weathered babysitters, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the latest SpongeBob film soon settles into a recognizably silly rhythm. Its storyline serves as a PG-rated treatise on the advantages and disadvantages of maturity. This version of SpongeBob (again voiced by Tom Kenny) now stands 36 clams high, a fact that excites him as it at last allows him to experience his dream rollercoaster. (An early, trippy gag: our enthusiastic hero's fantasized loop-the-loops.) Yet, as in the best contemporary American animation, the true rollercoaster is the twisting narrative.
The Adventure for Pirate Proof
SpongeBob's quest to obtain the legendary swashbuckler certificate that will declare him a “big guy” leads him into conflict with the ghostly Flying Dutchman, brought to life by the suddenly ever-present Mark Hamill. While the Dutchman's ship adds a grander scope, the film's visual style remains a delightful mix of digimation and hand-crafted components, consistently highlighting pleasing, properly cartoonish visuals.
Whether its spitballing silliness will linger when the lights come up is debatable, but it's a solid SpongeBob movie.
Memorable scenes include SpongeBob wedging himself into an air conditioner and coming out somehow more rectangular than before; a cameo from a pair of chattering joke-shop false teeth; and a punishment guaranteed to resonate with the six-year-old audience: our hero being forced into never-ending dishwashing.
Final Thoughts
Ultimately, Search for SquarePants stands as a solid addition to the series – and arguably the most humorous Pirates of the Caribbean movie recently, encompassing a robust Davy Jones gag and a saltily suggestive catchphrase for SpongeBob's friend Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” One thing is clear: those early students will likely be snickering anew.
Coming to Theaters: The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants arrives on 19 December in the US, 20 December in Ireland, and December 26th in Australia and the UK.
