The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants Review – An Adventurous Helping of Snicker-Inducing Silliness
Could those early viewers who chuckled through the first SpongeBob adventures have predicted the franchise enduring for a 25 years, following experiencing the most lysergic of narrative twists? Such staying power is in part attributed to its broad appeal, tickling the funny bones of adults – perhaps even those now grown students – as well as the youngest viewers. Although it can't claim anything quite as unexpected as a certain memorable David Hasselhoff cameo in the 2004 movie, this latest movie thinks nothing of having Clancy Brown speak as a pirate while dispensing payments to stars like Barbra Streisand. This proves everything can still in the zany world of Bikini Bottom.
A Familiar Zany Vibe
Starting with a festive short featuring Paramount's other long-running babysitters, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the latest SpongeBob film soon finds a recognizably silly groove. Its script serves as a PG-rated exploration on the advantages and disadvantages of maturity. This iteration of SpongeBob (again brought to life by Tom Kenny) now measures 36 clams high, a detail that excites him as it at last allows him to ride his fantasy coaster. (An early, psychedelic gag: our enthusiastic hero's fantasized loop-the-loops.) Yet, like the best modern American cartoons, the real thrill ride is the twisting plotting.
The Quest for Pirate Proof
SpongeBob's quest to secure the legendary swashbuckler certificate that will declare him a “big guy” leads him into conflict with the ghostly Flying Dutchman, brought to life by the suddenly ubiquitous Mark Hamill. While the Dutchman's ghost ship introduces a larger scale, the film's aesthetic remains a charming mix of digital animation and hand-crafted elements, consistently highlighting satisfying, authentically cartoonish effects.
If its spitballing silliness will linger when the lights come up is debatable, but it's a strong SpongeBob movie.
Memorable moments feature SpongeBob squeezing himself into an air conditioner and coming out somehow squarer than before; a cameo from a pair of chattering novelty false teeth; and a penalty sure to delight the six-year-old audience: our hero being subjected to never-ending dishwashing.
The Verdict
In the end, Search for SquarePants is a reliable entry to the series – and arguably the funniest Pirates of the Caribbean movie in years, including a robust Davy Jones gag and a cheekily innuendo-laden saying for SpongeBob's friend Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” It's clear: those early fans will probably be chuckling anew.
Release Dates: The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants arrives on 19 December in the US, December 20th in Ireland, and December 26th in Australia and the UK.
