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Star Cast: Tom Kenny, Clancy Brown, Rodger Bumpass, and Bill Fagerbakke.
Director: Derek Drymon
What’s Good: The visuals are nice, and seeing the characters on the surface never gets old.
What’s Bad: The story and the plotting are just so over the place that there are no real stakes or anything to care about.
Loo Break: You can take a break any time you want; you won’t be missing much, just a few jokes here and there.
Watch or Not?: This is a film meant for true fans, not for the general audience.
Language: English (with subtitles).
Available On: Theaters
Runtime: 88 Minutes.
User Rating:
Opening:
It seems like SpongeBob will never leave us, with the character being part of pop culture for almost three decades now, and with no signs of stopping in popularity thanks to its TV show and the many merchandising products that have made it an icon, but even with so much success on its back, the character has never managed to do a real dent at the box-office both from a creative and numbers perspective, and it seems this new film won’t be the exception.
The SpongeBob Movie: Search For SquarePants Movie Review: Script Analysis
It is strange to talk about a single, if not all, SpongeBob films from a script point of view, because the films, just like the TV show, are basically composed of numerous sketches, one after the other. While this means the film consistently presents new characters and situations, it also means that the narrative will struggle to maintain a consistent level of stakes. It will have a hard time delivering a proper story, and this new SpongeBob adventure falls into those same trappings.
The script gives the story the chance to tough upon many characters and situations at once, and so, even if SpongeBob (Tom Kenny) and Patrick (Bill Fagerbakke) are our main characters, having everyone else on board is very easy to do, but because of it, tracking what it matters in the film becomes a difficult task, and sometimes the movie doesn’t seem to know what is important for the story, and it reminds the audience constantly to keep things in line.
The sketches themselves are quite nice, but as in every other comedy, some of the jokes land. In contrast, others fall flat, but thankfully, the pirate journey device does a lot of heavy-lifting, making the jumping between several scenarios feel a bit consistent in terms of plot. Still, it is just too much, and by the middle of the runtime, you will wonder why you are watching this in the first place.
There are many cameos and references to other films, and to the TV show itself, and so, this SpongeBob is totally made for the more hardcore fans, leaving casuals and general audience members a bit in the dust.
The SpongeBob Movie: Search For SquarePants Movie Review: Star Performance
Voice acting is in line with everything that has been done in the TV show, and also in the previous films, so, it is hard to give any sort of grade to the performances as they all are so iconic that changing them would feel wrong, but there is also quite a bit of repetition that might make the entire runtime a bit tiresome, especially for general audience members who are not as committed to the entire premise running the way it does.
Tom Kenny and Bill Fagerbakke are a perfect pair as SpongeBob and Patrick, and they will be remembered for these roles for years to come, as with Brown, whose Mr. Krabs has also become an icon of pop culture. The rest of the cast does an amazing job, and even new characters shine in their commitment to the roles.
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The SpongeBob Movie: Search For SquarePants Movie Review: Direction, Music
Derek Drymon serves as the film’s director, and he definitely has the experience to keep the tone of the film throughout and never betrays the franchise’s tone and atmosphere, keeping things moving at a frantic pace and also being quite creative in the way many sequences are introduced. If only he could harness all that creativity and give the film a proper form and a tight narrative, then it would be more conventional, but it would also be something new for the franchise, and that is exactly what it needs.
The quality of the animation is nice, and as the story moves, the sketches become crazier. Drymon and his team manage to keep the quality going, and the soundtrack also goes to crazy places, keeping the energy up even when the plot has already lost all of its gas.
The SpongeBob Movie: Search For SquarePants Movie Review: The Last Word
It is difficult to say whether the new SpongeBob film was needed, and in my opinion, it wasn’t. Still, the franchise and the character are so popular that, from a business angle, it makes total sense to keep releasing these films. Still, as a cinematic experience, there are definitely better options right now in theaters. It is definitely one of the weakest in the franchise overall, but that doesn’t really matter, as surely there will be many other SpongeBob films on the horizon.
The SpongeBob Movie: Search For SquarePants Trailer
The SpongeBob Movie: Search For SquarePants released on 1st January, 2026.
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