🔗 Share this article

Would the original fans who chuckled through the initial SpongeBob adventures have envisioned the franchise persisting for a 25 years, even after absorbing the most surreal of narrative twists? Such staying power is partly due to its broad appeal, amusing the funny bones of grown-ups – perhaps even those former students – as well as the youngest viewers. While it can't claim anything as unexpected as a certain memorable David Hasselhoff appearance in the 2004 movie, this latest movie thinks nothing of having a veteran voice actor talk like a pirate while handing out royalty cheques to stars like Barbra Streisand. It seems anything remains possible in the zany world of Bikini Bottom.

An Established Zany Vibe

Kicking off with a holiday short featuring Paramount's other weathered family favorites, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the latest SpongeBob movie quickly settles into a comfortably goofy rhythm. Its storyline serves as a family-friendly treatise on the pros and cons of growing up. This iteration of SpongeBob (again voiced by Tom Kenny) now measures a specific height, a fact that thrills him as it finally allows him to experience his fantasy coaster. (An initial, trippy laugh: our overexcitable hero's fantasized loop-the-loops.) Yet, like the best contemporary American cartoons, the true rollercoaster is the corkscrew plotting.

The Quest for Pirate Credentials

SpongeBob's mission to obtain the fabled pirate license that will declare him a “big guy” leads him into a showdown with the ghostly Flying Dutchman, voiced by the currently ever-present Mark Hamill. While the Dutchman's ship introduces a larger scale, the movie's visual style remains a charming bricolage of digital animation and hand-turned elements, consistently highlighting satisfying, properly cartoonish visuals.

If its spitballing humor will resonate when the lights come up is up for discussion, but it's a solid SpongeBob movie.

Notable moments include SpongeBob squeezing himself into an air conditioner and emerging somehow more rectangular than ever; a brief appearance from a pair of chattering joke-shop false teeth; and a punishment sure to delight the younger audience: our hero being forced into endless dishwashing.

The Verdict

Ultimately, Search for SquarePants is a reliable addition to the franchise – and arguably the funniest pirate-themed movie recently, encompassing a robust Davy Jones gag and a saltily suggestive saying for SpongeBob's friend Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” It's certain: those early students will likely be snickering anew.

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