SpongeBob's Latest: Search for SquarePants Review – An Adventurous Helping of Snicker-Inducing Silliness
Would the early viewers who chuckled through the initial SpongeBob escapades have envisioned the series persisting for a 25 years, following absorbing the most surreal of narrative twists? This longevity is partly attributed to its wide-ranging appeal, amusing the funny bones of grown-ups – possibly even those former students – alongside the youngest viewers. While it may not feature anything as surprising as a certain memorable David Hasselhoff cameo in the 2004 movie, this latest movie has no qualms about making Clancy Brown talk like a pirate while dispensing payments to music icons like Barbra Streisand. It seems everything remains possible in the zany world of Bikini Bottom.
An Established Zany Vibe
Kicking off with a festive short featuring Paramount's alternative long-running babysitters, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the new SpongeBob film soon finds a recognizably goofy rhythm. Its storyline acts as a PG-rated exploration on the pros and cons of maturity. This version of SpongeBob (again brought to life by Tom Kenny) now measures 36 clams high, a detail that thrills him as it finally qualifies him to ride his fantasy coaster. (An initial, trippy laugh: our enthusiastic hero's imagined loop-the-loops.) Yet, as in the best modern American cartoons, the true rollercoaster is the twisting plotting.
The Adventure for Pirate Credentials
SpongeBob's mission to secure the fabled swashbuckler certificate that will declare him a “big guy” brings him into a showdown with the spectral Flying Dutchman, voiced by the suddenly ever-present Mark Hamill. While the Dutchman's ghost ship adds a larger scale, the movie's visual style remains a charming bricolage of digimation and hand-turned elements, forever showcasing pleasing, properly cartoonish effects.
Whether its freewheeling silliness will resonate after the credits is debatable, but it's a strong SpongeBob movie.
Memorable moments feature SpongeBob wedging himself into an AC unit and coming out inexplicably squarer than before; a brief appearance from a pair of chattering joke-shop false teeth; and a penalty sure to resonate with the six-year-old audience: our hero being forced into never-ending dishwashing.
Final Thoughts
In the end, Search for SquarePants is a reliable entry to the franchise – and arguably the funniest pirate-themed movie in years, encompassing a hearty Davy Jones joke and a cheekily innuendo-laden catchphrase for SpongeBob's friend Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” One thing is certain: those early fans will likely be snickering all over again.
Release Dates: The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants debuts on December 19th in the US, 20 December in Ireland, and December 26th in Australia and the UK.
