The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants Review

SpongeBob SquarePants is Nickelodeon’s most popular original property, and he stars in his fourth feature film, The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants.

SpongeBob SquarePants (Tom Kenny) has finally grown to be 36 calms tall, meaning he can ride the Shipwreck rollercoaster, but ends up bottling it after seeing it. After Mr. Krabs (Clancy Brown) tells SpongeBob about his adventures as a swashbuckler, the young fry cook sets out to prove himself as a swashbuckler, and he gets his chance when he summons The Flying Dutchman (Mark Hamill). However, The Flying Dutchman has his own agenda.

The SpongeBob SquarePants franchise has been colossal. The TV series started in 1999, and it’s still going, with spin-off shows and a mountain of merchandise. It’s hard to escape: even those who haven’t seen a SpongeBob episode still have some awareness of the franchise. The franchise can be genuinely funny, but SpongeBob walks a tightrope between charmingly innocent and incredibly irritating, especially when he was with Patrick (Bill Fagerbakke). This sums up The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants.

The Search for SquarePants was a film that was made for a younger demographic. This movie did have funny moments that did make me chuckle, and the kids in my audience enjoyed it. Search for SquarePants was a hyper film like a kid on a sugar rush. It moved at a brisk pace as SpongeBob went on his Underworld adventure, and Mr. Krabs and his party were giving chase. The film was so rapid that it even went meta.

Children could relate to SpongeBob. He’s hyperactive and playful, and many kids have had a phrase where they wanted to grow up to do an activity. I was a short child who was mistaken for being younger, so I could relate to SpongeBob on that level. The screenplay by Pam Brady and Matt Lieberman was perfectly functional, and it did the job of tying everything together. It had a nice message about how to be brave and conquer one’s fears. Yet, the fourth SpongeBob film wasn’t as rich as some other recent animated films like The Wild Robot, Flow, or Zootropolis 2.

Fans know the characters by this point. SpongeBob and Patrick were dumb and dumber, and Squidward (Rodger Bumpass) was the character who had enough of everyone’s nonsense. The character given the most development was Mr. Krabs. He’s generally been a money-grabbing character to the point that there’s the ‘I Like Money’ meme. In this film, Mr. Krabs actually cared for his employee and goes on the chase to save him. He did have a heart. Mark Hamill was a surprise as the Flying Dutchman, but it shows how good a voice actor he is.

The Search for SquarePants should appeal to younger audience member and it was tolerable for parents/guardians.

Before The Search for SquarePants was a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles short, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Chrome Alone 2 – Lost in New Jersey. It was a follow-up to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem. The short had terrific animation that matched the feature film, and it was an amusing takedown of generative AI and corporate theft. Good to warn kids about AI Slop. Longtime TMNT fans will enjoy the references to some obscure TMNT media.