SpongeBob's Latest: Search for SquarePants Film Critique – A Swashbuckling Helping of Giggle-Provoking Fun
Would the early viewers who laughed through the first SpongeBob escapades have predicted the franchise persisting for a quarter-century, following experiencing the most surreal of plotlines? This longevity is in part due to its wide-ranging appeal, amusing the funny bones of adults – possibly even those now grown students – alongside the youngest viewers. Although it can't claim anything as unexpected as a certain memorable David Hasselhoff cameo in the 2004 movie, this fourth feature thinks nothing of having a veteran voice actor talk like a pirate while dispensing payments to stars like Barbra Streisand. This proves everything can still in the zany world of Bikini Bottom.
A Familiar Goofy Vibe
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 PG-rated treatise on the pros and cons of growing up. This iteration of SpongeBob (again voiced by Tom Kenny) now stands a specific height, a detail that excites him as it at last allows him to ride his fantasy coaster. (An initial, trippy gag: our enthusiastic hero's fantasized loop-the-loops.) However, as in the best modern American cartoons, the true rollercoaster is the corkscrew narrative.
The Quest for Swashbuckling Credentials
SpongeBob's mission to obtain the legendary swashbuckler certificate that will declare him a “big guy” brings him into a showdown with the ghostly Flying Dutchman, brought to life by the currently ubiquitous Mark Hamill. Although the Dutchman's ghost ship adds a larger scale, the movie's aesthetic remains a delightful bricolage of digimation and hand-crafted elements, consistently showcasing pleasing, authentically animated effects.
If its freewheeling humor will resonate when the lights come up is debatable, but it's a strong SpongeBob movie.
Memorable moments feature SpongeBob squeezing himself into an AC unit and emerging somehow squarer than before; a cameo from a pair of chattering novelty false teeth; and a punishment sure to delight the six-year-old crowd: our hero being subjected to endless dishwashing.
The Verdict
In the end, Search for SquarePants is a solid entry to the series – and arguably 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 pal Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” One thing is clear: those original fans will likely be snickering all over again.
Coming to Theaters: The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants arrives on 19 December in the US, December 20th in Ireland, and 26 December in Australia and the UK.
