The appeal of SpongeBob Squarepants is something unique in kids television. Plenty of animated films and TV shows chuck in the occasional joke for the parents, but few embrace pure, unadulterated silliness the way SpongeBob does. It’s something that creator Stephen Hillenberg introduced and which has been a staple of the series ever since. An irreverent, almost anarchic sensibility combined with a genuine sweetness and a sense of the absurd that is hard to adequately describe. It’s not that adults enjoy the wordplay and kids enjoy the characters – all ages love SpongeBob for the exact same thing. Yet despite the enduring charm of the series, the film spin-offs have rarely matched its impact. They’re often really funny, but they have a tendency to blur together in hindsight.
The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants, the fourth feature-length outing, doesn’t completely break this pattern, but it does stand out as one of the most purely fun films of the year. It retains the series’ tone and chaotic energy, and even finds a few unexpected angles on characters who usually linger at the periphery. Crucially, SpongeBob himself – voiced as ever by Tom Kenny – remains the same perennially cheerful character we all know and love. He’s somewhere between Pee-Wee Herman and Roger Rabbit: a childlike, irrepressible idiot who would be unbearable in real life but remains utterly charming onscreen.
This time around, Bikini Bottom’s most talented burger flipper is more excitable than ever – having discovered he’s now 36 clams tall, making him officially tall enough to ride Captain Booty Beard’s infamous Shipwreck rollercoaster. Joined by his inseparable (and impossibly thick) best friend Patrick (Bill Fagerbakke), SpongeBob heads to the theme park only to back out when confronted with the reality of how dangerous the ride looks. Cue a wonderfully silly montage of the town’s residents being thrown about on increasingly dangerous-looking rides – although I was a little disappointed that no one yells the iconic “My legs!”
In an attempt to save face, SpongeBob pretends that he promised to take his boss, Mr Krabs (Clancy Brown), on the ride first. Surprisingly though, his usually avaricious boss doesn’t exploit the situation, and instead covers for him – at least until he learns SpongeBob thinks he’s a “big guy” now. This kicks off a story delving into Mr. Krabs’ swashbuckling past, and inadvertently summoning the ghostly Flying Dutchman (a delightfully committed Mark Hamill), catapulting SpongeBob on a mission into the underworld to prove he’s more than a “bubble-blowing baby.”
What sets this film apart from its predecessors is its curious focus on Mr Krabs, who becomes the unlikely emotional centre of the plot. In truth the script takes more than a few liberties with the character, making him a lot warmer and considerate than the TV version of the character, but it works in the context of the film. In a nice touch, Brown himself turns up in a live action cameo, playing the ship captain in the film’s prologue, one of several well deployed fourth wall breaks. Other regulars get shorter shrift: Sandy Cheeks and Plankton are reduced to cameos, and Squidward is present but has less to do than the others, although there’s a nice running gag about his increasingly thinning hair-piece that mostly plays out in the background.
Hamill, meanwhile, fits right in, sinking his teeth into the absurdities of the script with real voracity. The Flying Dutchman himself a great creation, avuncular, sinister, and very funny. He’s even better when we finally see the live action version, although the prosthetic nose is more than a little distracting. Regina Hall’s Barb, the Ducthman’s long suffering second-in-command, is another memorable creation, acting as a deadpan foil for Hamill’s gurning villain. The pair’s conspiratorial bickering while the oblivious SpongeBob stands nearby is perhaps the best recurring gag in the film.
With Derek Drymon, a writer from the original show, at the helm, the jokes land more often than not, though the writing isn’t quite as disciplined as in previous films. The joke about characters dropping their “special bricks” is laugh-out-loud funny the first time around, but elicits groans after about the fifth mention. I also can’t recall seeing quite so many butt gags in the previous films, (apparently Gary has a backside now? Who knew!) in another case of diminishing returns. Still, when Search for SquarePants taps into dad-joke territory, the results are inspired. The reveal of Davy Jones’ Locker is a standout, and the fourth-wall breaks recapture the anarchic spirit of the early days. But there’s a conventionality to the underlying story that makes you long for the surreal touches and absurdity that the late great Stephen Hillenberg brought to the series.
Similarly, the 3D animation style is polished and occasionally striking (particularly the underworld scenes), but lacks the charm of the original 2D style. This feeling is only exacerbated by the short film that plays ahead of the main feature, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Chroma Lone 2 – Lost in New Jersey, which is the perfect demonstration of just how vibrant and appealing 2D animation can be when deployed creatively. By comparison, Search for SquarePants feels a bit safe and old-fashioned.
The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants is a breezy, colourful distraction – ideal for keeping kids entertained and offering enough jokes and performances to keep adults smiling. Much like the previous SpongeBob movies, you might struggle to recall specific jokes after the credits roll, but what you will remember unfortunately is the aggressively irritating Ice Spice theme song, which will worm itself in your subconscious and stay for days. The film might never quite reach the heights of the first SpongeBob film, but it does feel like a course correction after the previous entry, and suggests there’s life in Bikini Bottom yet!
★★★
In cinemas from December 26th / Tom Kenny, Mark Hamill, Clancy Brown, Bill Fagerbakke / Dir: Derek Drymon / Paramount Pictures / U
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