The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants Film Critique – An Adventurous Helping of Giggle-Provoking Fun
Could those early viewers who chuckled through the first SpongeBob adventures have envisioned the series enduring for a quarter-century, even after absorbing the most surreal of narrative twists? This longevity is partly due to its broad charm, amusing the funny bones of grown-ups – possibly even those now grown students – as well as the very young viewers. While it may not feature anything quite as surprising as a certain legendary David Hasselhoff appearance in the 2004 film, this latest movie has no qualms about having a veteran voice actor talk like a pirate while dispensing royalty cheques to stars like Barbra Streisand. This proves everything remains possible in the whimsical world of Bikini Bottom.
An Established Zany Vibe
Kicking off with a festive short starring Paramount's alternative long-running family favorites, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the new SpongeBob film soon settles into a recognizably silly groove. Its script serves as a PG-rated treatise on the pros and cons of maturity. This version of SpongeBob (again voiced by Tom Kenny) now measures a specific height, a fact that thrills him as it at last qualifies him to ride his dream rollercoaster. (An initial, trippy gag: our enthusiastic hero's fantasized loop-the-loops.) Yet, like the best contemporary American cartoons, the real rollercoaster is the corkscrew plotting.
The Quest for Pirate Proof
SpongeBob's mission to obtain the legendary pirate license that will prove him a “big guy” leads him into conflict with the ghostly Flying Dutchman, voiced by the currently ever-present Mark Hamill. Although the Dutchman's ghost ship introduces a larger scale, the movie's visual style remains a charming bricolage of digimation and hand-turned components, forever showcasing satisfying, properly animated visuals.
If its freewheeling silliness will resonate when the lights come up is debatable, but it's a solid SpongeBob movie.
Notable moments feature SpongeBob wedging himself into an air conditioner and coming out inexplicably squarer than ever; a brief appearance from a pair of chattering joke-shop false teeth; and a punishment guaranteed to delight the six-year-old crowd: our hero being forced into never-ending dishwashing.
The Verdict
Ultimately, Search for SquarePants is a solid entry to the series – and arguably the funniest Pirates of the Caribbean movie in years, encompassing a hearty Davy Jones joke and a cheekily suggestive saying for SpongeBob's pal Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” It's certain: those original fans will probably be snickering anew.
Release Dates: The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants debuts on 19 December in the US, 20 December in Ireland, and December 26th in Australia and the UK.
