The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants Review – An Adventurous Dose of Giggle-Provoking Silliness
Would the original fans who chuckled through the first SpongeBob adventures have envisioned the franchise persisting for a 25 years, even after absorbing the most surreal of plotlines? Such longevity is in part due to its wide-ranging appeal, amusing the funny bones of adults – possibly even those now grown students – alongside the very young viewers. While it can't claim anything quite as surprising as the legendary David Hasselhoff appearance in the 2004 film, this latest movie thinks nothing of having Clancy Brown talk like a pirate while dispensing royalty cheques to stars like Barbra Streisand. It seems everything remains possible in the whimsical world of Bikini Bottom.
An Established Goofy Groove
Starting with a holiday short starring Paramount's alternative weathered family favorites, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the new SpongeBob film quickly settles into a comfortably goofy groove. Its script serves as a family-friendly treatise on the pros and cons of maturity. This version of SpongeBob (again brought to life by Tom Kenny) now measures a specific height, a detail that thrills him as it at last allows him to ride his fantasy coaster. (An initial, trippy laugh: our enthusiastic hero's imagined loop-the-loops.) However, like the finest contemporary American cartoons, the real rollercoaster is the twisting narrative.
The Adventure for Swashbuckling Credentials
SpongeBob's mission to obtain the fabled pirate license that will declare him a “big guy” leads him into a showdown with the ghostly Flying Dutchman, voiced by the suddenly ubiquitous Mark Hamill. Although the Dutchman's ship introduces a larger scale, the film's visual style remains a delightful mix of digital animation and hand-crafted components, forever showcasing satisfying, properly animated visuals.
If its freewheeling silliness will resonate after the credits is debatable, but it's a strong SpongeBob movie.
Memorable scenes feature SpongeBob wedging himself into an AC unit and coming out somehow squarer than ever; a brief appearance from a pair of chattering joke-shop false teeth; and a punishment guaranteed to resonate with the six-year-old crowd: our hero being forced into endless dishwashing.
The Verdict
In the end, Search for SquarePants is a solid addition to the series – and arguably the most humorous pirate-themed movie in years, including a hearty Davy Jones joke and a cheekily suggestive saying for SpongeBob's friend Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” One thing is clear: those early fans will probably be snickering all over again.
Coming to Theaters: The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants arrives on 19 December in the US, 20 December in Ireland, and 26 December in Australia and the UK.
