SpongeBob's Latest: Search for SquarePants Film Critique – A Swashbuckling Dose of Snicker-Inducing Fun
Would the original fans who chuckled through the initial SpongeBob escapades have envisioned the franchise enduring for a 25 years, following absorbing the most lysergic of narrative twists? Such longevity is in part due to its broad charm, tickling the sense of humor of adults – perhaps even those now grown students – alongside the very young viewers. Although it can't claim anything as surprising as a certain legendary David Hasselhoff cameo in the 2004 movie, this fourth feature has no qualms about making Clancy Brown talk like a pirate while dispensing payments to stars like Barbra Streisand. It seems anything can still in the whimsical world of Bikini Bottom.
An Established Goofy Vibe
Starting with a holiday short starring Paramount's alternative weathered babysitters, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the new SpongeBob film quickly finds a comfortably silly rhythm. Its storyline serves as a PG-rated treatise on the advantages and disadvantages of growing up. This version of SpongeBob (again voiced by Tom Kenny) now measures 36 clams high, a detail that thrills him as it finally allows him to experience his dream rollercoaster. (An initial, psychedelic gag: our overexcitable hero's imagined loop-the-loops.) However, like the finest modern American cartoons, the real rollercoaster is the corkscrew plotting.
The Adventure for Pirate Proof
SpongeBob's mission to secure the fabled pirate license that will declare him a “big guy” leads him into a showdown with the spectral Flying Dutchman, brought to life by the currently ever-present Mark Hamill. While the Dutchman's ship introduces a larger scale, the movie's visual style remains a delightful bricolage of digital animation and hand-turned components, forever showcasing satisfying, properly cartoonish effects.
If its spitballing silliness will resonate after the credits is debatable, but it's a strong SpongeBob movie.
Notable moments include SpongeBob squeezing himself into an air conditioner and emerging inexplicably squarer than ever; a cameo from a pair of chattering joke-shop false teeth; and a penalty guaranteed to delight the six-year-old crowd: our hero being subjected to endless dishwashing.
Final Thoughts
Ultimately, Search for SquarePants is a reliable entry to the series – and perhaps the most humorous Pirates of the Caribbean movie in years, encompassing a hearty Davy Jones joke and a cheekily innuendo-laden catchphrase for SpongeBob's friend Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” One thing is certain: those original students will likely be chuckling all over again.
Coming to Theaters: The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants debuts on 19 December in the US, 20 December in Ireland, and December 26th in Australia and the UK.
