The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants Review – A Swashbuckling Dose of Giggle-Provoking Silliness
Could those early viewers who laughed through the first SpongeBob adventures have predicted the series persisting for a 25 years, following experiencing the most surreal of plotlines? This longevity is in part attributed to its broad appeal, tickling the funny bones of grown-ups – perhaps even those now grown students – as well as the youngest viewers. Although it may not feature anything as surprising as a certain legendary David Hasselhoff cameo in the 2004 movie, this fourth feature has no qualms about having Clancy Brown speak as a pirate while handing out royalty cheques to music icons like Barbra Streisand. This proves anything remains possible in the whimsical world of Bikini Bottom.
An Established Goofy Groove
Starting with a holiday short starring Paramount's alternative long-running babysitters, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the new SpongeBob film quickly settles into a recognizably silly rhythm. Its storyline serves as a PG-rated treatise on the pros and cons of maturity. This iteration of SpongeBob (again voiced by Tom Kenny) now stands a specific height, a fact that thrills him as it finally allows him to ride his fantasy coaster. (An initial, trippy laugh: our enthusiastic hero's imagined loop-the-loops.) Yet, as in the finest modern American animation, the real rollercoaster is the corkscrew plotting.
The Quest for Pirate Proof
SpongeBob's mission to secure the legendary pirate license that will prove him a “big guy” brings him into a showdown with the spectral Flying Dutchman, voiced by the currently ever-present Mark Hamill. While the Dutchman's ship introduces a grander scope, the movie's aesthetic remains a charming bricolage of digital animation and hand-crafted components, consistently highlighting pleasing, authentically animated effects.
If its freewheeling silliness 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 coming out somehow squarer than ever; a cameo from a pair of chattering joke-shop false teeth; and a punishment guaranteed to delight the six-year-old audience: our hero being forced into never-ending 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 robust Davy Jones joke and a saltily innuendo-laden saying for SpongeBob's friend Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” One thing is clear: those early students will likely be chuckling anew.
Release Dates: The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants debuts on 19 December in the US, December 20th in Ireland, and December 26th in Australia and the UK.
