SpongeBob's Latest: Search for SquarePants Review – An Adventurous Dose of Giggle-Provoking Fun
Would the original fans who laughed through the first SpongeBob escapades have predicted the franchise persisting for a 25 years, following experiencing the most surreal of narrative twists? This longevity is partly due to its wide-ranging charm, tickling the funny bones of grown-ups – perhaps even those now grown students – as well as the youngest viewers. While it can't claim anything as surprising as the memorable David Hasselhoff cameo in the 2004 film, this fourth feature thinks nothing of having a veteran voice actor talk like a pirate while handing out royalty cheques to music icons like Barbra Streisand. It seems anything remains possible in the whimsical world of Bikini Bottom.
An Established Zany Groove
Starting with a festive short featuring Paramount's alternative long-running babysitters, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the latest SpongeBob film quickly settles into a recognizably goofy groove. Its script acts as a PG-rated treatise on the advantages and disadvantages of maturity. This version of SpongeBob (again voiced by Tom Kenny) now measures 36 clams high, a detail that excites him as it finally qualifies him to ride his dream rollercoaster. (An initial, trippy laugh: our enthusiastic hero's fantasized loop-the-loops.) However, like the best modern American cartoons, the real rollercoaster is the twisting plotting.
The Adventure for Pirate Credentials
SpongeBob's mission to secure the legendary pirate license that will declare him a “big guy” leads him into conflict with the ghostly Flying Dutchman, voiced by the suddenly ever-present Mark Hamill. Although the Dutchman's ghost ship introduces a larger scale, the movie's aesthetic remains a charming mix of digimation and hand-crafted components, consistently highlighting pleasing, authentically cartoonish visuals.
If its spitballing silliness will linger when the lights come up is debatable, but it's a solid SpongeBob movie.
Memorable scenes feature SpongeBob wedging himself into an AC unit and emerging somehow more rectangular than before; a cameo from a pair of chattering joke-shop false teeth; and a punishment sure to resonate with the six-year-old crowd: our hero being forced into endless dishwashing.
Final Thoughts
In the end, Search for SquarePants stands as a solid entry to the franchise – and arguably the funniest Pirates of the Caribbean movie in years, encompassing a hearty Davy Jones gag and a saltily suggestive catchphrase for SpongeBob's pal Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” It's certain: those original fans will probably 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.