SpongeBob's Latest: Search for SquarePants Film Critique – A Swashbuckling Dose of Giggle-Provoking Fun
Could those original fans who laughed through the initial SpongeBob adventures have envisioned the franchise enduring for a 25 years, even after absorbing the most lysergic of narrative twists? Such longevity is in part attributed to its wide-ranging appeal, amusing the funny bones of adults – perhaps even those former students – as well as the youngest viewers. Although it can't claim anything as unexpected as the memorable David Hasselhoff appearance in the 2004 film, this latest movie thinks nothing of making Clancy Brown speak as a pirate while handing out royalty cheques to stars like Barbra Streisand. This proves anything remains possible in the whimsical world of Bikini Bottom.
A Familiar Zany Groove
Kicking off with a holiday short starring Paramount's alternative weathered babysitters, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the latest SpongeBob movie soon finds a comfortably goofy groove. Its storyline serves as a PG-rated treatise on the advantages and disadvantages of maturity. This iteration of SpongeBob (again voiced by Tom Kenny) now measures a specific height, a fact that excites him as it at last allows him to experience his fantasy coaster. (An initial, psychedelic laugh: our enthusiastic hero's fantasized loop-the-loops.) Yet, like the finest contemporary American animation, the true thrill ride is the corkscrew narrative.
The Quest for Swashbuckling Proof
SpongeBob's mission to secure the fabled swashbuckler certificate that will prove him a “big guy” leads him into a showdown with the ghostly Flying Dutchman, voiced by the currently ever-present Mark Hamill. Although the Dutchman's ghost ship introduces a larger scale, the film's aesthetic remains a charming bricolage of digimation and hand-turned components, consistently highlighting pleasing, properly animated effects.
If its spitballing humor will linger when the lights come up is up for discussion, but it's a strong SpongeBob movie.
Memorable moments feature SpongeBob squeezing himself into an air conditioner and emerging somehow more rectangular than before; a brief appearance from a pair of chattering novelty false teeth; and a penalty sure to delight the six-year-old crowd: our hero being subjected to never-ending dishwashing.
The Verdict
In the end, Search for SquarePants is a reliable addition to the series – and arguably the funniest Pirates of the Caribbean movie in years, encompassing a robust Davy Jones gag and a cheekily innuendo-laden catchphrase for SpongeBob's friend Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” One thing is certain: those original students will probably be chuckling anew.
Coming to Theaters: The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants debuts on 19 December in the US, 20 December in Ireland, and December 26th in Australia and the UK.
