The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants Review – A Swashbuckling Helping of Giggle-Provoking Fun
Would the early viewers who laughed through the first SpongeBob adventures have predicted the franchise persisting for a quarter-century, even after experiencing the most lysergic of plotlines? Such longevity is in part due to its broad appeal, amusing the sense of humor of adults – possibly even those now grown students – as well as the very young viewers. While it can't claim anything as unexpected as the legendary David Hasselhoff appearance in the 2004 movie, this fourth feature thinks nothing of making Clancy Brown talk like a pirate while handing out payments to stars like Barbra Streisand. This proves anything can still in the whimsical world of Bikini Bottom.
An Established Zany Groove
Kicking off with a holiday short featuring Paramount's other long-running family favorites, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the latest SpongeBob film quickly finds a comfortably silly rhythm. Its storyline serves as a family-friendly 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 detail that excites him as it finally qualifies him to ride his dream rollercoaster. (An early, trippy laugh: our enthusiastic hero's imagined loop-the-loops.) However, like the finest modern American cartoons, the true thrill ride is the twisting narrative.
The Quest for Swashbuckling Proof
SpongeBob's mission to obtain the legendary swashbuckler certificate that will prove him a “big guy” leads him into a showdown with the ghostly Flying Dutchman, voiced by the suddenly ever-present Mark Hamill. While the Dutchman's ghost ship introduces a larger scale, the movie's aesthetic remains a delightful bricolage of digimation and hand-crafted components, forever showcasing pleasing, authentically animated effects.
Whether its freewheeling silliness will linger after the credits is debatable, but it's a solid SpongeBob movie.
Memorable scenes include SpongeBob squeezing himself into an AC unit and coming out inexplicably more rectangular than ever; a brief appearance from a pair of chattering joke-shop false teeth; and a punishment sure to delight the younger audience: our hero being forced into never-ending dishwashing.
Final Thoughts
In the end, Search for SquarePants stands as a reliable addition to the series – and arguably the most humorous pirate-themed movie recently, encompassing a hearty Davy Jones joke and a cheekily innuendo-laden saying for SpongeBob's friend Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” One thing is clear: those original students will likely be chuckling anew.
Release Dates: The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants debuts on 19 December in the US, December 20th in Ireland, and December 26th in Australia and the UK.
