The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants Film Critique – A Swashbuckling Dose of Snicker-Inducing Fun
Would the early viewers who laughed through the initial SpongeBob escapades have predicted the franchise enduring for a 25 years, even after absorbing the most lysergic of plotlines? This longevity is in part due to its wide-ranging charm, amusing the sense of humor of grown-ups – perhaps even those now grown students – as well as the youngest viewers. While it may not feature anything as unexpected as a certain memorable 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 music icons like Barbra Streisand. This proves anything remains possible in the whimsical world of Bikini Bottom.
An Established Goofy Groove
Kicking off with a festive short starring Paramount's other weathered babysitters, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the new SpongeBob film quickly finds a comfortably goofy groove. Its script serves as a family-friendly treatise on the pros and cons of maturity. This iteration of SpongeBob (again brought to life by Tom Kenny) now measures a specific height, a fact that thrills him as it at last allows him to ride his dream rollercoaster. (An initial, psychedelic laugh: our overexcitable hero's imagined loop-the-loops.) Yet, like the finest modern American cartoons, the real rollercoaster is the corkscrew 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 spectral Flying Dutchman, voiced by the suddenly ubiquitous Mark Hamill. Although the Dutchman's ghost ship adds a larger scale, the film's aesthetic remains a delightful mix of digimation and hand-turned components, consistently showcasing satisfying, properly animated visuals.
Whether its spitballing humor will linger when the lights come up is up for discussion, but it's a strong SpongeBob movie.
Memorable moments feature SpongeBob squeezing himself into an AC unit and emerging somehow more rectangular than before; a cameo from a pair of chattering novelty false teeth; and a punishment guaranteed to resonate with the six-year-old crowd: our hero being subjected to never-ending dishwashing.
The Verdict
Ultimately, Search for SquarePants stands as a reliable entry to the franchise – and arguably the funniest Pirates of the Caribbean movie recently, encompassing a hearty Davy Jones gag and a cheekily innuendo-laden catchphrase for SpongeBob's pal Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” It's certain: those original students will likely be chuckling all over again.
Coming to Theaters: The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants debuts on December 19th in the US, 20 December in Ireland, and 26 December in Australia and the UK.
