SpongeBob's Latest: Search for SquarePants Film Critique – An Adventurous Helping of Giggle-Provoking Fun
Could those early viewers who chuckled through the initial SpongeBob adventures have predicted the series enduring for a quarter-century, following absorbing the most lysergic of narrative twists? Such staying power is in part attributed to its broad charm, amusing the funny bones of adults – perhaps even those former students – as well as the very young viewers. While it can't claim anything quite as surprising as the legendary David Hasselhoff appearance in the 2004 movie, this fourth feature has no qualms about making a veteran voice actor speak as a pirate while dispensing payments to music icons like Barbra Streisand. This proves everything can still in the zany world of Bikini Bottom.
An Established Goofy Vibe
Kicking off with a holiday short featuring Paramount's alternative long-running babysitters, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the latest SpongeBob movie soon finds a recognizably silly groove. Its script serves as a PG-rated exploration 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 thrills him as it at last allows him to ride his dream rollercoaster. (An early, trippy laugh: our enthusiastic hero's fantasized loop-the-loops.) However, like the finest contemporary American animation, the true rollercoaster is the corkscrew narrative.
The Adventure for Swashbuckling Proof
SpongeBob's quest to obtain the fabled swashbuckler certificate that will prove him a “big guy” brings him into a showdown with the spectral Flying Dutchman, voiced by the suddenly ubiquitous Mark Hamill. While the Dutchman's ghost ship adds a larger scale, the movie's aesthetic remains a charming mix of digimation and hand-turned components, forever highlighting pleasing, properly cartoonish effects.
If its spitballing silliness will resonate after the credits is debatable, but it's a solid SpongeBob movie.
Memorable scenes feature SpongeBob squeezing himself into an air conditioner and coming out somehow squarer than before; a cameo from a pair of chattering joke-shop false teeth; and a punishment sure to delight the six-year-old crowd: our hero being subjected to never-ending dishwashing.
Final Thoughts
Ultimately, Search for SquarePants is a solid entry to the series – and perhaps the most humorous pirate-themed movie recently, including a robust Davy Jones joke and a cheekily innuendo-laden saying for SpongeBob's friend Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” One thing is clear: those early fans will probably be chuckling anew.
Coming to Theaters: The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants arrives on December 19th in the US, December 20th in Ireland, and December 26th in Australia and the UK.
