Yellow Christmas

Just in time for the holidays, the little yellow fellow is back for a fourth big-screen outing.

The new family-friendly SpongeBob comedy-adventure never matches the surreal genius of the television series’ early seasons, but it’s still a showcase for the sweet, sublime silliness of its underwater protagonists, SpongeBob SquarePants (voiced by the unsinkable Tom Kenny) and his best pal, Patrick Star (Bill Fagerbakke).

We open with SpongeBob realizing he is now 36 clams high, which officially makes him “a big guy.”

He relates the good news to his boss, Mr. Krabs (Clancy Brown), who tells him he’ll have to stop being a “bubble-blowing baby boy” and start being a “rough and tumble” man. By way of example, Mr. Krabs recalls his own swashbuckling youth when he tangled with the fierce Flying Dutchman (Star Wars’ Mark Hamill, who’s gone on to do a lot of voice work).

Desperate to buckle his swash and impress the boss with his “courage, grit, guts, moxie and intestinal fortitude,” SpongeBob uses a magical pipe to call up the Dutchman, who has been cursed to unceasingly roam the seas, along with First Mate Barb (Regina Hall) and their ghostly green pirate crew.

The Dutchman, who has his own devious plan, plummets SpongeBob and Patrick into a monster-infested ocean underworld. (The monsters could be a wee bit intense for some small kids.)

They’re soon followed by Mr. Krabs, who has launched a rescue mission, along with SpongeBob’s intrepid pet snail, Gary, and a predictably grumpy Squidward (Rodger Bumpass).

Since this is SpongeBob, this is not a standard hero’s journey. SpongeBob’s real bravery involves resisting the Flying Dutchman’s pressure to man up, forgo his giggling, bubble-blowing ways and worst of all, leave behind adorable doofus Patrick. (“I’m not crying,” insists Patrick. “It’s just raining on my face.”)

Ultimately, we learn that being a big guy can mean a lot of different things. As the chastened Mr. Krabs comes to realize, it can mean being smart and good-natured and “fun to be around.” It can mean just being yourself.

Director Derek Drymon (an animation veteran and former SpongeBob writer) and scripters Pam Brady and Matt Leiberman respect the basic Bikini Bottom fundamentals, but the plotting feels needlessly complicated and the gags — including what feel like a lot of contractually obligated bum jokes — can be repetitive.

There are some quintessential SpongeBob moments, as when Squidward is seduced away by sirens playing smooth jazz, and Mr. Krabs calls him an “easy-listening” lubber. Or when SpongeBob’s infectious enthusiasm and innocence see him blithely skate through hair-raising situations where mere physical courage might fail.

The animation can be inspired and inventive and playful. (Some of the theatres offer a 3D option for enhanced sponginess.)

For all its sunny positivity, though, Search for SquarePants misses some of the freewheeling wackiness associated with original SpongeBob show creator, the late and much-missed Stephen Hillenburg.

Fans who can — and do! — sing along to the theme song will still find some familiar pleasures here, but in going from low-stakes nautical nonsense to a frantic large-scale epic, the SpongeBob gang loses some of its offbeat appeal.

winnipegfreepress.com/alisongillmor