SpongeBob's Latest: Search for SquarePants Film Critique – A Swashbuckling Helping of Giggle-Provoking Silliness
Could those early viewers who laughed through the first SpongeBob adventures have predicted the series enduring for a 25 years, even after absorbing the most lysergic of plotlines? This longevity is in part due to its wide-ranging appeal, amusing the sense of humor of adults – possibly even those former students – as well as the youngest viewers. While it can't claim anything as unexpected as the legendary David Hasselhoff cameo in the 2004 movie, 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 zany world of Bikini Bottom.
An Established Goofy Groove
Kicking off with a festive short featuring Paramount's alternative long-running family favorites, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the new SpongeBob film soon finds a comfortably goofy rhythm. Its storyline serves as a family-friendly exploration on the advantages and disadvantages of maturity. This iteration of SpongeBob (again voiced by Tom Kenny) now measures 36 clams high, a detail that excites him as it at last allows him to experience his fantasy coaster. (An initial, psychedelic laugh: our overexcitable hero's imagined loop-the-loops.) However, like the best contemporary American animation, the real rollercoaster is the twisting plotting.
The Quest for Swashbuckling Proof
SpongeBob's mission to obtain the legendary swashbuckler certificate that will prove him a “big guy” leads him into conflict with the ghostly Flying Dutchman, voiced by the currently ever-present Mark Hamill. While the Dutchman's ghost ship introduces a larger scale, the movie's visual style remains a delightful bricolage of digimation and hand-turned components, consistently showcasing pleasing, properly cartoonish effects.
If its spitballing silliness will linger when the lights come up is debatable, but it's a strong SpongeBob movie.
Notable scenes include SpongeBob squeezing himself into an air conditioner and emerging inexplicably more rectangular than before; a brief appearance from a pair of chattering novelty false teeth; and a punishment sure to delight the six-year-old crowd: our hero being forced into endless dishwashing.
Final Thoughts
In the end, Search for SquarePants is a reliable entry to the franchise – and arguably the most humorous 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.” It's clear: those original fans will likely be chuckling all over again.
Release Dates: 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.
