The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants Review – An Adventurous Dose of Giggle-Provoking Fun
Would the early viewers who laughed through the initial SpongeBob escapades have predicted the series enduring for a 25 years, even after absorbing the most surreal of narrative twists? Such staying power is in part attributed to its broad appeal, tickling the funny bones of adults – possibly even those former students – alongside the very young viewers. While it can't claim anything quite as unexpected as the legendary David Hasselhoff cameo in the 2004 film, this fourth feature thinks nothing of making Clancy Brown speak as a pirate while handing out royalty cheques to stars like Barbra Streisand. It seems anything can still in the zany world of Bikini Bottom.
An Established Zany Vibe
Kicking off with a festive short featuring Paramount's alternative weathered family favorites, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the latest SpongeBob movie quickly finds a comfortably goofy groove. Its script serves as a family-friendly treatise on the pros and cons of growing up. This version of SpongeBob (again brought to life by Tom Kenny) now measures 36 clams high, a detail that excites him as it finally qualifies him to experience his dream rollercoaster. (An early, psychedelic laugh: our overexcitable hero's imagined loop-the-loops.) However, like the best contemporary American animation, the real rollercoaster is the twisting narrative.
The Adventure for Pirate 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. While the Dutchman's ghost ship introduces a grander scope, the movie's aesthetic remains a charming bricolage of digimation and hand-turned components, forever showcasing satisfying, authentically animated effects.
If its freewheeling silliness will resonate when the lights come up is debatable, but it's a solid SpongeBob movie.
Notable moments feature SpongeBob squeezing himself into an air conditioner and coming out inexplicably more rectangular than ever; a brief appearance from a pair of chattering joke-shop false teeth; and a penalty guaranteed to delight the younger crowd: our hero being subjected to endless dishwashing.
The Verdict
In the end, Search for SquarePants is a reliable addition to the series – and arguably the most humorous Pirates of the Caribbean movie in years, encompassing a hearty Davy Jones gag and a saltily innuendo-laden saying for SpongeBob's friend Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” It's certain: those original students 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.
