The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants Film Critique – A Swashbuckling Dose of Snicker-Inducing Silliness
Would the early viewers who laughed through the first SpongeBob escapades have envisioned the series enduring for a quarter-century, even after experiencing the most surreal of narrative twists? This staying power is partly attributed to its broad appeal, amusing the funny bones of grown-ups – possibly even those now grown students – as well as the very young viewers. Although it can't claim anything as surprising as a certain memorable David Hasselhoff cameo in the 2004 movie, this latest movie thinks nothing of having a veteran voice actor speak as a pirate while dispensing royalty cheques to music icons like Barbra Streisand. It seems anything can still in the whimsical world of Bikini Bottom.
An Established Zany Vibe
Kicking off with a festive short featuring Paramount's alternative long-running family favorites, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the latest SpongeBob film quickly settles into a comfortably silly groove. Its storyline serves as a PG-rated treatise on the advantages and disadvantages of growing up. This iteration of SpongeBob (again brought to life by Tom Kenny) now stands a specific height, a fact that excites him as it at last qualifies him to ride his fantasy coaster. (An initial, trippy laugh: our overexcitable hero's imagined loop-the-loops.) Yet, as in the best contemporary American animation, the true rollercoaster is the twisting plotting.
The Quest for Swashbuckling Credentials
SpongeBob's quest to secure the legendary pirate license that will declare him a “big guy” brings him into a showdown with the ghostly Flying Dutchman, voiced by the suddenly ever-present Mark Hamill. Although the Dutchman's ship adds a larger scale, the film's aesthetic remains a delightful mix of digital animation and hand-turned elements, forever highlighting satisfying, authentically animated visuals.
Whether its freewheeling humor will linger when the lights come up is up for discussion, but it's a solid SpongeBob movie.
Memorable moments include SpongeBob wedging himself into an air conditioner and emerging inexplicably squarer than before; a brief appearance from a pair of chattering joke-shop false teeth; and a penalty guaranteed to delight the six-year-old audience: our hero being forced into never-ending dishwashing.
The Verdict
In the end, Search for SquarePants stands as a solid entry to the series – and arguably the funniest pirate-themed movie in years, including a hearty Davy Jones gag and a cheekily innuendo-laden catchphrase for SpongeBob's friend Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” One thing is certain: those early students will probably be snickering all over again.
Coming to Theaters: The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants debuts on December 19th in the US, 20 December in Ireland, and December 26th in Australia and the UK.
