SYNOPSIS: In “The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants,” the new animated comedy based on the popular kid’s show, and now playing in theatres, SpongeBob tries to prove his bravery by embarking on a perilous marine journey. “The Dutchman’s taken SpongeBob to the deepest, most dangerous part of the sea…” says Mr. Krabs (voiced by Clancy Brown), “the Underworld.”
CAST: Tom Kenny, Clancy Brown, Rodger Bumpass, Bill Fagerbakke, Carolyn Lawrence, Mr. Lawrence, George Lopez, Isis “Ice Spice” Gaston, Arturo Castro, Sherry Cola, Regina Hall, Mark Hamill. Directed by Derek Drymon.
REVIEW: Packed to the gills with silly visual gags and absurdist wordplay, “The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants” is aimed at kids and stoned adults.
The movie starts as many good stories do. “Once Upon a time,” says The Flying Dutchman (Mark Hamill), “the most pants wettingly pirate to ever roam the seven seas, “a long, long time ago…” With that the tale of how a curse doomed him to 500 years in an oceanic nightmare realm called The Underworld. The only way he can beat the curse, and return to his dry land home of Santa Monica, is to transfer the hex to someone pure of heart and innocent in mind. “Does such a soul even exist?” he asks.
Meanwhile, in the underwater city of Bikini Bottom, SpongeBob (voice of Tom Kenny) has grown half a barnacle taller, and now thinks he’s a “big guy.”
“I’ve never felt so respected before,” he says.
That feeling quickly fades when his boss, Mr. Krabs (Clancy Brown) tells him he’s not ready to be a Swashbuckler. To prove he’s not SpongeBob ScaredyPants, the innocent, kind-hearted SpongeBob embarks on a quest that puts him directly in The Flying Dutchman’s territory. But is SpongeBob brave enough to accept the Dutchman’s Deal?
Set at breakneck speed, “The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants” wastes no time in unfurling its hero’s surreal journey.
It’s whiplash fast and frenetic but never loses the underlying theme that has made the Nickelodeon show such a favorite for a quarter of a century, and that’s SpongeBob’s optimism, kindness and joyfulness.
The odd little character, originally designed as a tool to teach marine biology at California’s Ocean Institute, has the playful whimsey of Pee Wee Jerman, the energy of Jerry Lewis and naïveté of Stan Laurel, all wrapped up in a spongey, kid-friendly package. That’s been the bedrock of the television series and the other half dozen theatrical and streaming movies in the franchise, and that sweetness and comedic unpredictability remain at the core of “The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants.”
So don’t expect the new movie to break new ground. Like The Three Stooges, SpongeBob and Company deliver an easily identifiable brand of silliness all their own. From visual gags—like Mr. Krabs entering the Dutchman’s undersea world through Davey Jones’s Gym Locker or a literal showing of intestinal fortitude—to the dense ratio of jokes—it seems like every line is a laugh line—and hidden references to older movies—including a splendid tribute to Ray Harryhausen—it doesn’t feel new exactly, but is a welcome return to SpongeBob’s strange world.
SpongeBob SquarePants (voiced by Tom Kenny) is an unlikely pop culture hero. A peppy and optimistic sea sponge, he should be a one-joke wonder but for more than two decades the character, who looks like a bright yellow kitchen sponge with googly eyes and little brown shorts, has soaked up love from kids and adults alike.
His new CGI adventure, “The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on The Run,” playing in theatres now, sees the animated invertebrate living in the underwater city of Bikini Bottom where he is a fry cook at Krusty Krab, the most successful restaurant in the sea. Life is good for SpongeBob and his friends like the dimwitted but funny starfish Patrick (Bill Fagerbakke) and restauranteur Mr. Krabs (Clancy Brown) until SpongeBob’s beloved pet Gary the Snail (also voiced by Kenny) is kidnapped by the wicked and vain ruler of The Lost City of Atlantic City, King Poseidon. With the help of Patrick and a wise tumbleweed played by Keanu Reeves, SpongeBob sets off on a perilous rescue mission.
“The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on The Run” brings with it the usual anarchy, inside jokes and unexpected celebrity cameos, but at its little osmotic heart is SpongeBob, a character who belongs to the same genus of entertainers as Soupy Sales, Stan Laurel and Pee Wee Herman. He, like his predecessors is sweet and unpredictable with a surreal streak that transcends silly and borders on high art. I think that’s why SpongeBob has survived and thrived as other characters of his vintage have faded. He’s silly enough for kids but surreal enough for the parents and underneath it all is a current of decency that transcends age.
In his television show and in the movies, including this new one, the rules of physics and storytelling may not apply, which is usually fun, but the things that make SpongeBob human (you know what I mean) are always on display. He’s loyal, caring, values his friends and is always optimistic. Those qualities are baked into “The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on The Run” and that, along with the absurd situations make it enjoyable for fans old and young.
Richard speaks to Tom Kenny and Bill Fagerbakke, the stars of “The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run.” For more than twenty years Kenny and Fagerbakke have voiced two of pop culture’s favorite animated characters, SpongeBob SquarePants and his pal Patrick Star. In the new film, playing in theatres in Canada, SpongeBob and Patrick go on a rescue mission to save SpongeBob’s pet snail Gary, who has been “snailnapped” by King Poseidon. In this interview e talk about the new movie, the popularity of SpongeBob memes and why these characters have endured for more than two decades.
SpongeBob SquarePants belongs to the same genus of entertainers as Soupy Sales, Stan Laurel and Pee Wee Herman. They’re sweet and unpredictable with a surreal streak that transcends silly and borders on high art.
For the uninitiated, SpongeBob (voice of Tom Kenny) is the star of his own wildly popular Nickelodeon show and looks like a bright yellow kitchen sponge with googly eyes and little brown shorts. The animated invertebrate lives in the underwater city of Bikini Bottom where he is a fry cook at Krusty Krab, the most successful restaurant in the sea.
“The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water” begins on a usual day in Bikini Bottom. The Krusty Krab is packed with customers enjoying the signature Krabby Patty, a burger so delicious that when the top-secret recipe goes missing, resulting in the Great Krabby Patty Famine, Bikini Bottom is thrown into chaos. “Everything we have ever known has ben destroyed,” says SpongeBob. “Looks like we’ll have to change the name of Bikini Bottom to Dirty Bottom,” replies Plankton (Mr. Lawrence).
To save the town SpongeBob must team with an unlikely ally, rival restaurateur Plankton, to recover the recipe even if it means a trip to the surface.
This is a story involving time travel, human sacrifice, food trucks and a pirate named Burger Beard (Antonio Banderas) with a family friendly message about teamwork wedged in for good measure. It’s a fairly linear tale but told with a sense of anarchy that promises and delivers a mind-bending array of jokes and sea shenanigans.
It doesn’t feel quite as unhinged as 2004’s “The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie”— which featured David Hasselhoff’s body hair as a plot point—and gets a little water logged when the characters hit land and turn into CGI creations, but it never loses its sense of silly whether it is above or below sea level.
