🔗 Share this article

Would the original fans who laughed through the first SpongeBob escapades have envisioned the series enduring for a 25 years, following experiencing the most surreal of narrative twists? Such staying power is partly due to its wide-ranging appeal, amusing the sense of humor of grown-ups – possibly even those former students – as well as the youngest viewers. While it may not feature anything as surprising as the legendary David Hasselhoff cameo in the 2004 movie, this latest movie has no qualms about having Clancy Brown talk like a pirate while handing out royalty cheques to stars like Barbra Streisand. This proves everything can still in the whimsical world of Bikini Bottom.

A Familiar Zany Vibe

Kicking off with a festive short featuring Paramount's other weathered babysitters, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the latest SpongeBob film soon settles into a recognizably silly groove. Its storyline serves as a family-friendly treatise on the advantages and disadvantages of maturity. This iteration of SpongeBob (again voiced by Tom Kenny) now stands 36 clams high, a fact that thrills him as it finally allows him to ride his fantasy coaster. (An initial, psychedelic laugh: our enthusiastic hero's imagined loop-the-loops.) However, like the best contemporary American animation, the real rollercoaster is the corkscrew plotting.

The Adventure for Pirate Proof

SpongeBob's mission to secure the legendary pirate license that will declare him a “big guy” brings him into a showdown with the spectral Flying Dutchman, voiced by the currently ever-present Mark Hamill. Although the Dutchman's ship adds a larger scale, the movie's aesthetic remains a delightful mix of digital animation and hand-turned elements, consistently showcasing pleasing, properly cartoonish visuals.

Whether its freewheeling silliness will linger after the credits is up for discussion, but it's a solid SpongeBob movie.

Memorable scenes feature SpongeBob wedging himself into an air conditioner and emerging inexplicably squarer than before; a brief appearance from a pair of chattering novelty false teeth; and a punishment sure to delight the younger crowd: our hero being subjected to never-ending dishwashing.

The Verdict

In the end, Search for SquarePants stands as a solid addition to the series – and arguably the funniest Pirates of the Caribbean movie recently, encompassing a robust Davy Jones joke and a saltily suggestive saying for SpongeBob's pal Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” It's certain: those original students will probably be snickering anew.

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