SpongeBob's Latest: Search for SquarePants Review – A Swashbuckling Helping of Snicker-Inducing Silliness
Would the original fans who chuckled through the initial SpongeBob escapades have envisioned the franchise persisting for a 25 years, even after experiencing the most lysergic of narrative twists? This longevity is in part due to its wide-ranging charm, tickling the funny bones of grown-ups – perhaps even those now grown students – as well as the very young viewers. Although it may not feature anything quite as unexpected as a certain legendary David Hasselhoff cameo in the 2004 film, this latest movie thinks nothing of making a veteran voice actor talk like a pirate while dispensing payments to music icons like Barbra Streisand. This proves anything can still in the whimsical world of Bikini Bottom.
An Established Zany Vibe
Starting with a holiday short starring Paramount's other long-running babysitters, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the new SpongeBob film soon finds a comfortably goofy rhythm. Its script acts as a family-friendly exploration on the advantages and disadvantages of growing up. This iteration of SpongeBob (again voiced by Tom Kenny) now measures a specific height, a detail that excites him as it finally qualifies him to ride his fantasy coaster. (An early, psychedelic laugh: our overexcitable hero's imagined loop-the-loops.) However, as in the finest contemporary American cartoons, the true rollercoaster is the twisting plotting.
The Quest for Swashbuckling Proof
SpongeBob's mission to secure the fabled swashbuckler certificate that will declare him a “big guy” leads him into a showdown 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 aesthetic remains a charming bricolage of digimation and hand-turned elements, forever highlighting satisfying, properly cartoonish visuals.
Whether its freewheeling humor will resonate when the lights come up is up for discussion, but it's a strong SpongeBob movie.
Memorable scenes feature SpongeBob wedging himself into an AC unit and coming out somehow squarer than before; a cameo from a pair of chattering novelty false teeth; and a penalty sure to delight the younger audience: our hero being subjected to never-ending dishwashing.
Final Thoughts
Ultimately, Search for SquarePants is a reliable addition to the series – and arguably the most humorous Pirates of the Caribbean movie in years, including a robust Davy Jones gag and a saltily innuendo-laden saying for SpongeBob's friend Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” It's certain: those original fans will probably be chuckling anew.
Coming to Theaters: The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants arrives on 19 December in the US, 20 December in Ireland, and 26 December in Australia and the UK.
