THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SEARCH FOR SQUAREPANTS

Name: THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SEARCH FOR SQUAREPANTS
Item: THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SEARCH FOR SQUAREPANTS
Author: Review

"Being a Big Guy Is More Than Just Physical Size"

Family Content: -1 Caution advised for older children, including teenagers, and sensitive adults.

Entertainment Quality:

	None	Light	Moderate	Heavy
Language
Violence
Sex
Nudity

Credits →

What You Need To Know:

In THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SEARCH FOR SQUAREPANTS, SpongeBob has grown taller and desperately wants to be a “Big Guy.” However, he’s too scared to ride the adult roller coaster. So, he decides that being a Swashbuckler like his boss, Mr. Krabs, will make him a Big Guy. So, he leaves Bikini Bottom with his friend, Patrick, but the ghostly pirate Dave Jones entices them into the Underworld. Mr. Krabs, Squidward and SpongeBob’s pet snail travel into the Underworld to rescue SpongeBob.

SEARCH FOR SQUAREPANTS is funny and has strong, heartwarming moral and redemptive content. For instance, the movie has allegorical Christological features. The villain is looking for the world’s most pure “innocent soul” to remove a curse. Surprisingly, the hero’s innocence and childlike playfulness often foil the villain’s dastardly plans. Also, although the hero’s boss is greedy, he shows he really cares about the hero and travels to the scary Underworld to rescue the hero from the diabolical villain. However, THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SEARCH FOR SQUAREPANTS has many scary creatures and rude humor, including some scatological innuendoes. So, MOVIEGUIDE® advises caution for older children.

Content:

(BB, C, CapCap, O, L, VV, N, M):

Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements:

Strong moral worldview with some allegorical Christological, redemptive facets where comical hero looks up to his boss who’s often greedy but shows he cares about his favorite employee and travels into a scary underworld to rescue hero from diabolical villain, the comic hero is an “innocent soul” whose innocence often spoils the comical villain’s plans to use hero to end a curse, and movie extols courage, fortitude, friendship, and playfulness as well as a childlike innocence, but the pirate villain and his first mate and crew are ghosts who cruise an underworld deep beneath the seas;

Foul Language:

Some crude uses of the word “butt,” a few scatological innuendos, and two childlike characters take some tubular seaweed and pretend their intestines have exited their bodies, and the humor causes scary skeleton creatures to break apart with laughter and no longer pose a threat to them;

Violence:

Some comical and scary violence, including some scary creatures, many with sharp teeth, threaten the movie’s two comical heroes who often scream, starfish gets a hook stuck into his bare bottom, ship‘s cannon sometimes fire and cause explosions, comic hero climbs dangerously atop a raveling roller coaster to stop comical pirate villain, characters fall, a character dives into the air and lands on a pet snail;

Sex:

None;

Nudity:

Some brief images of the comical hero’s friend’s rear end, the comical hero wears his underwear in two or so scenes, and his friend wears a pirate’s patch on his front;

Alcohol Use:

No alcohol use;

Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse:

No smoking or drugs; and,

Miscellaneous Immorality:

Villain deceives comic hero, but hero’s innocence often foils the villain’s evil plans and disarms the scary monsters sent after hero, and hero’s boss lies about being a swashbuckler, but he eventually confesses.

More Detail:

THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SEARCH FOR SQUAREPANTS is another theatrical entry into the popular TV series, and in this one Mr. Krabs forces Squidward to help him save SpongeBob, who wants to be a “Big Guy” and become a Swashbuckler but has been enticed by the ghost of Davey Jones who thinks SpongeBob is the world’s most “innocent” patsy, er soul, who can remove the curse that’s condemned Davey to sail the seas forever. SEARCH FOR SQUAREPANTS is funny and has some strong moral, redemptive moments, but it also contains many scary creatures and rude humor, including some body jokes, so MOVIEGUIDE® advises caution for older children.

The movie opens with SpongeBob waking up and discovering he’s now reached the height of 36 clams. His first order of business as a “Big Guy”? To ride the roller coaster at the adult Bikini Bottom amusement park, Captain Booty Beard’s Fun Park Rides. However, when he and his friend Patrick get to the ride, SpongeBob’s too scared to ride the tall roller coaster.

SpongeBob trudges to work at the Krusty Krab. There, he finds out his boss and mentor, Mr. Krabs, has a Swashbuckler Certificate. SpongeBob figures that, if he can display the virtues of a Swashbuckler, including courage and fortitude, he too can get a “Swashbuckler Certificate” and become a real “Big Guy.”

The Flying Dutchman, the ghost of Davey Jones, entices SpongeBob and Patrick onto his ghost ship. He promises SpongeBob he can make him a Swashbuckler if SpongeBob passes a series of tests. In reality, however, Davey Jones needs the world’s “most innocent soul” to pass the tests to remove the curse that’s turned Davey Jones into a ghost and condemned him to be the Flying Dutchman, doomed to sail the seas forever. He wants SpongeBob to take his place, so he can become a live human being again and live in Santa Monica. The Flying Dutchman hides the truth from SpongeBob and fools him into accepting his deal.

Back at Bikini Bottom, Mr. Krabs realizes Davey Jones has kidnapped SpongeBob. He forces Squidward to come with him to save SpongeBob. Gary, SpongeBob’s pet snail, accompanies them.

Can they save SpongeBob in time?

SEARCH FOR SQUAREPANTS is funny and has some strong, heartwarming moral and redemptive content. For instance, the movie has some allegorical Christological facets. The villain is looking for the world’s most pure “innocent soul” to remove a curse. Surprisingly, the hero’s innocence and childlike playfulness often foils the villain’s dastardly plans. However, it also allows the hero to pass the villain’s tests. Also, although the hero’s boss and mentor is often greedy, his boss shows he cares about his favorite employee. He even travels to a scary underworld to rescue the hero from the diabolical villain. The movie also extols courage, fortitude, friendship, and playfulness as well as a childlike innocence.

However, THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SEARCH FOR SQUAREPANTS also contains some scary violence with many scary creatures with sharp teeth. It also has some rude humor, including some scatological innuendoes. So, MOVIEGUIDE® advises caution for older children.

Add Movieguide® as preferred on Google