During the 1990 Just For Laughs festival, I was working as a talent assistant backstage at the St. Denis Theatre in Montréal. One of the comedians who was assigned to me was Tom Kenny. We immediately bonded thanks to Jeopardy; he was a fan of the show, and I had been a contestant on it five months earlier.
Tom was also a classic movie animation buff, and he transcended that passion with a routine called “The Laws of the Cartoon Universe.” Nine years later, I saw an item on Entertainment Tonight about a new cartoon series debuting on Nickelodeon called SpongeBob SquarePants. One of the people who was interviewed for the piece was Tom, who was to provide the voice of the title character. Somehow, I knew that was a match made in cartoon heaven.
Since its debut in 1999, SpongeBob SquarePants has become a massive hit for Nickelodeon. In its 16 seasons, the show has won numerous awards, become the fourth-longest-running American animated series in TV history, become a multimedia franchise, generated over $13 billion in merchandising revenue, and become a pop culture phenomenon amongst Millennials, Generation Z, and the internet generation. And now it has returned to the big screen with a vengeance with its sixth theatrical feature film, The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants.
The movie returns to the underwater city of Bikini Bottom with SpongeBob and the citizens who make up his maritime world: his best friend Patrick Star, his pet snail Gary, Mr. Krabs, the owner and proprietor of The Krusty Krab (where SpongeBob works as a fry cook), and Squidward, SpongeBob’s sourpuss Krusty Krab colleague.
This time, SpongeBob marks a personal accomplishment: he has grown to a height of 36 clams, officially making him a “big guy”. It also means that he can finally ride the mega roller coaster at the local amusement park because he has reached the height requirement. But when he realizes how terrifying the ride is, this sea creature chickens out. That’s when Mr. Krabs comes into the picture. He tells SpongeBob he can conquer his fear by becoming a swashbuckler and earn his bravery certificate, just like he did many years ago at the hands of the phantom pirate, the Flying Dutchman. Determined to earn that certificate, SpongeBob and Patrick go to Mr. Krabs’ home and manage to summon the ghost ship that is skippered by the Flying Dutchman, who, in turn, tells SpongeBob he can become a swashbuckler by traveling to his undersea underworld and passing several arduous challenges.
However, Mr. Krabs realizes that it could mean a lot of peril for SpongeBob. So he embarks upon a rescue mission with Gary and Squidward to make sure SpongeBob doesn’t fall into the clutches of the evil Flying Dutchman before it’s too late.
Whether you’re a SpongeBob SquarePants fan or just watched a few episodes of the series, you will find this big-screen adventure a nonstop wild ride filled with generous doses of animation, adrenaline, and plenty of laughs. The computer-generated animation is clean and pleasant to watch, and it allows the movie to push the envelope by stretching the boundaries of what movie animation can do; the result is similar to the experience of high-tech rides found in many contemporary theme parks.
And of course, the regular SpongeBob cast of voices are back to bring their under-the-sea characters to life: Tom Kenny, Bill Fagerbakke, Mr. Lawrence and Clancy Brown. Guest voices Regina Hall (as Barb, the Dutchman’s second-in-command) and Brian Doyle-Murray (as the animated Dutchman), along with Mark Hamill as the unanimated Dutchman, really add to this rollicking time at the movies.
The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants is a frenetically-paced, never-ending wild ride that’s endless fun for all ages. You will screech with laughter and delight as SpongeBob SquarePants and his Bikini Bottom friends learn what it’s really like to be a “big guy”. The cartoon universe would be proud.
by Stuart Nulman
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