When it comes to the marketing team of the SpongeBob creators, they really deserve the audiences’ applause. Nickelodeon and Paramount Pictures just dropped the new trailer for ‘The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants’ with a specific quotation stating, “This Christmas, They’re in Deep Ship.” (Bravo)
And honestly, they didn’t even need to try this hard. SpongeBob is one of the most popular pop-culture creatures, with fans ranging from preschoolers to Millennials who refuse to grow up (and proudly so). People were already going to show up.
Flying Dutchman Dominates Story While Bikini Bottom Favorites Take A Break
But when a franchise is this big, with TV shows, games, toys, T-shirts, theme-park rides, and yes, even a Broadway musical, the audiences can understand why Nickelodeon treats every SpongeBob release like it’s a huge deal.
One of SpongeBob’s signature strengths has always been its wild, weird cast of undersea weirdos. We have SpongeBob spreading positivity, Patrick radiating cluelessness, Squidward being the misery, dude, and Mr. Krabs always having financial desperation. Add in Pearl, Sandy, Plankton, Karen, and the rest of Bikini Bottom, and there’s usually never enough screen time to go around.
This time, though, most of the regular crew gets pushed to the sidelines to make way for the Flying Dutchman and his spooky green pirate squad. It works, mostly, because the Dutchman is entertaining enough to carry big chunks of the movie. But the audiences may miss the usual neighborhood and character banter. It’s kind of a trade-off, and we can feel it.
Everything starts as usual, as we see SpongeBob saying out loud that it is totally a normal day (which makes it automatically suspicious). He’s thrilled to learn he’s finally tall enough to ride the monstrous “Shipwreck” roller coaster at the local amusement park. He declares himself the “big guy” and immediately chickens out once he sees the thing in person. To escape Patrick’s judgment, he lies and says he wants to ride it with Mr. Krabs first. For once, Krabs rolls with the lie, mostly because he wants SpongeBob to prove he actually is brave.
Krabs proudly flashes his old “swashbuckler certificate,” earned back in his sailor days by facing down the Flying Dutchman. Inspired, SpongeBob sets his heart on earning one, too. Naturally, he and Patrick poke around in Krabs’ stash of nautical junk and accidentally summon the actual Dutchman. He shows up bursting with evil enthusiasm and a very suspicious willingness to help.
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Cursed Pirate Schemes While SpongeBob’s Innocence Drives Another Absorbent Adventure
He whisks SpongeBob and Patrick away on his ghostly ship and promises to guide SpongeBob through a series of bravery challenges. What SpongeBob doesn’t know is that the Dutchman is trying to manipulate him into breaking a curse that keeps him stuck in ghost mode. When Krabs finds out what happened, he panics and drags Squidward and Gary into a rescue mission that none of them are remotely prepared for.
Director Derek Drymon, who is one of the OG minds behind early SpongeBob, clearly had fun while building the Dutchman’s ghostly underworld playground. Fans will catch references to The Matrix, Apocalypse Now, and other classics sprinkled in like Easter eggs for film nerds.
And despite of everything, audiences are happy that the crew kept SpongeBob’s most iconic trait alive. His ridiculous, unstoppable faith in everyone and everything. His desperate desire to prove he’s not a “bubble-blowing baby” makes him the perfect target for the Dutchman’s trickery. And, as always, it’s SpongeBob’s mix of innocence, integrity, and emotional honesty that ends up saving the day.
Search for SquarePants is full of the exact nonsense that made SpongeBob a generational icon. It’s another wonderfully absorbent adventure in Bikini Bottom. And honestly? We can’t wait for Christmas.
