On December 19, the fourth installment of official SpongeBob movies, “The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants,” was released to theaters all around the globe.
The movie featured the cast from the original SpongeBob television series, most notably Tom Kenny, the voice of SpongeBob since the show’s debut in 1999. Outside of the original cast, however, the movie also features Mark Hamill voicing the Flying Dutchman, the film’s main antagonist. Hamill is most known for his role as Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars saga, but this was also not his first rodeo in the voice acting space — having portrayed the Joker in the DC Universe and Fire Lord Ozai in “Avatar: The Last Airbender” amongst other roles.
In “Search for SquarePants,” SpongeBob finds that he is finally tall enough to enter and ride the most intense roller coaster at Bikini Bottom. Unfortunately, he finds himself unable to do so after chickening out. After a conversation with Mr. Krabs, where SpongeBob is told of a journey to claim a swashbuckler’s certificate, he decides to do the same and summons the ghost of the Flying Dutchman to bring him on a journey to prove his bravery — and that he can be a big guy and a swashbuckler.
The film features a 3D animation style that echoes many new animated movies today, but is a far cry from the 2D style when the character of SpongeBob first debuted on people’s screens. While the new style felt fresh and modern, it took away from the nostalgia of the original TV show. SpongeBob SquarePants is arguably one of the most recognizable characters in the world, and the film would have benefited more from keeping the original style rather than “upgrading” to match current animated movies being released at this time.
Despite the visual style of the movie, the humor, jokes, and simplistic plot remained the same. SpongeBob is the same simple-minded and naive character he has always been, and the comedy of the movie perfectly reflects that. While maybe not geared towards high schoolers or adults, the movie’s plot and conflicts were perfectly digestible for its younger audience.
But just because the movie was made for younger audiences does not mean it’s excused from good plot pacing or structure. The beginning was just like any other movie, but once it got to the main chunk of the story in which the movie is centered, the plot started to feel as if it was dragging itself out. Simply said, the plot felt like it stopped at a stationary point in time — where things were happening, but also nothing was really happening at the same time. This was the point in the movie where, while I was watching in theaters, I quite literally fell asleep in my seat. Due to the dragged-out nature of the second act, the conclusion felt rushed and wrapped up way too quickly, which created a solution to a conflict that felt too obvious and too sudden.
At the end of the day, “The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants” is a movie that is finally child-appropriate enough to go see as a family in theaters. It provides for a great opportunity to see our favorite childhood characters once again on the big screen, and a chance for a simple, fun time.
