The SpongeBob Movie: Find SquarePants review – smug, laughable silliness | film

CDid the students who worked their way through SpongeBob’s first adventures expect the franchise to continue for 25 years, even after metabolizing ever-more degraded pharmaceuticals? The longevity is partly due to non-commercial considerations, as the series has the ability to tickle the funny bones of adults – perhaps even those of fully grown students – as well as the very young. While it can’t claim anything quite as unexpected as David Hasselhoff’s cameo in 2004’s The SpongeBob SquarePants — which isn’t so much a high bar as it is a wonky, memorable film — the fourth film doesn’t think to have Clancy Brown talking like a pirate while handing out royalty checks to Barbra Streisand and Yellow. Anything can still happen in Bikini Bottom.

Preceded by a celebratory short for Paramount’s other jam, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the new SpongeBob movie quickly settles into a familiar goofy groove, its script a PG-rated treatise on the pros and cons of growing up. This SpongeBob (again voiced by Tom Kenny) is now 36 oysters tall, which is a source of special excitement because this will allow him to ride the rollercoaster of his dreams. (Early early laugh: Our overexcited hero fantasizes about repeating the loops.) As in the best contemporary American animation, the spiral plot is the real rollercoaster. SB’s quest to obtain the legendary swashbuckler’s certificate that will prove he’s a “big man” brings him into conflict with the Flying Dutchman, suddenly voiced by Mark Hamill.

The Dutchman’s ship rises to a higher level, but it’s mostly the usual form of hand-transformed pits and elements, bringing out the fun and cartoony effects properly. SpongeBob attaches himself to the air conditioning unit and somehow comes out square; There’s a cameo from a pair of false teeth in the chatty joke shop; And in a punishment guaranteed to resonate with the six-year-old crowd, our hero is subjected to endless washing. Whether the ridiculousness of the spitting continues when the lights come on is debatable, but it’s a solid SpongeBob movie — and by far the funniest Pirates of the Caribbean movie, featuring a hearty Davy Jones joke and a salty, suggestive line from SpongeBob’s friend Patrick: “The best guys are the big guys.” These students will laugh again.