🔗 Share this article

Would the original fans who chuckled through the initial SpongeBob escapades have envisioned the series enduring for a 25 years, following experiencing the most lysergic of plotlines? This longevity is partly attributed to its broad charm, amusing the funny bones of grown-ups – possibly even those former students – alongside the youngest viewers. Although it may not feature anything quite as surprising as a certain legendary David Hasselhoff appearance in the 2004 movie, this latest movie thinks nothing of making Clancy Brown speak as a pirate while handing out royalty cheques to music icons like Barbra Streisand. It seems anything can still in the whimsical world of Bikini Bottom.

A Familiar Zany Groove

Kicking off with a holiday short starring Paramount's other weathered babysitters, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the latest SpongeBob movie quickly finds a comfortably silly groove. Its script serves as a family-friendly treatise on the advantages and disadvantages of growing up. This iteration of SpongeBob (again brought to life by Tom Kenny) now stands a specific height, a fact that thrills him as it finally qualifies him to experience his dream rollercoaster. (An initial, trippy gag: our enthusiastic hero's imagined loop-the-loops.) Yet, as in the best contemporary American cartoons, the real thrill ride is the corkscrew plotting.

The Quest for Swashbuckling Credentials

SpongeBob's mission to obtain the legendary swashbuckler certificate that will prove him a “big guy” leads him into conflict with the ghostly Flying Dutchman, voiced by the currently ubiquitous Mark Hamill. Although the Dutchman's ghost ship adds a grander scope, the movie's visual style remains a charming mix of digimation and hand-crafted elements, forever highlighting pleasing, authentically cartoonish effects.

If its spitballing silliness will linger when the lights come up is debatable, but it's a solid SpongeBob movie.

Memorable moments include SpongeBob wedging himself into an AC unit and emerging somehow more rectangular than before; a brief appearance from a pair of chattering joke-shop false teeth; and a penalty guaranteed to resonate with the six-year-old audience: our hero being subjected to never-ending dishwashing.

Final Thoughts

Ultimately, Search for SquarePants stands as a reliable entry to the series – and arguably the funniest pirate-themed movie recently, including a hearty Davy Jones gag and a cheekily suggestive saying for SpongeBob's pal Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” It's certain: those original fans will likely be chuckling all over again.

Release Dates: The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants arrives on December 19th in the US, December 20th in Ireland, and December 26th in Australia and the UK.