SpongeBob's Latest: Search for SquarePants Film Critique – An Adventurous Helping of Snicker-Inducing Fun
Could those original fans who chuckled through the first SpongeBob escapades have predicted the franchise persisting for a quarter-century, even after experiencing the most surreal of narrative twists? This staying power is in part attributed to its wide-ranging appeal, tickling the funny bones of adults – perhaps even those now grown students – as well as the youngest viewers. Although it may not feature anything quite as surprising as the legendary David Hasselhoff cameo in the 2004 movie, this fourth feature thinks nothing of having Clancy Brown speak as a pirate while handing out royalty cheques to music icons like Barbra Streisand. It seems everything can still in the whimsical world of Bikini Bottom.
A Familiar Zany Groove
Kicking off with a festive short starring Paramount's other long-running babysitters, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the latest SpongeBob film soon settles into a comfortably goofy groove. Its script serves as a family-friendly treatise 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 thrills him as it at last allows him to ride his fantasy coaster. (An early, trippy laugh: our enthusiastic hero's imagined loop-the-loops.) However, like the finest contemporary American animation, the real thrill ride is the corkscrew plotting.
The Adventure for Pirate Proof
SpongeBob's mission 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 ever-present Mark Hamill. While the Dutchman's ghost ship adds a larger scale, the movie's aesthetic remains a charming bricolage of digimation and hand-turned components, consistently highlighting pleasing, authentically animated effects.
If its spitballing humor will resonate when the lights come up is debatable, but it's a strong SpongeBob movie.
Notable scenes include SpongeBob wedging himself into an AC unit and coming out inexplicably squarer than ever; a brief appearance from a pair of chattering novelty false teeth; and a penalty sure to resonate with the six-year-old crowd: our hero being subjected to never-ending dishwashing.
The Verdict
Ultimately, Search for SquarePants stands as a reliable addition to the series – and perhaps the most humorous Pirates of the Caribbean movie recently, encompassing a hearty Davy Jones gag and a cheekily suggestive saying for SpongeBob's pal Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” One thing is certain: those early students will likely be snickering anew.
Coming to Theaters: 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.
