SpongeBob's Latest: Search for SquarePants Review – A Swashbuckling Dose of Snicker-Inducing Silliness

Would the early viewers who laughed through the initial SpongeBob adventures have envisioned the franchise persisting for a quarter-century, following absorbing the most surreal of plotlines? This longevity is partly attributed to its wide-ranging appeal, tickling the sense of humor of grown-ups – possibly even those now grown students – as well as the youngest viewers. Although it may not feature anything quite as surprising as the legendary David Hasselhoff cameo in the 2004 film, this latest movie thinks nothing of making a veteran voice actor talk like a pirate while handing out payments to music icons like Barbra Streisand. This proves everything remains possible in the whimsical world of Bikini Bottom.

An Established Zany Groove

Starting with a festive short featuring Paramount's other long-running family favorites, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the new SpongeBob film quickly finds a comfortably silly rhythm. Its storyline serves as a family-friendly treatise on the advantages and disadvantages of maturity. This version of SpongeBob (again voiced by Tom Kenny) now stands 36 clams high, a fact that thrills him as it at last allows him to experience his fantasy coaster. (An early, psychedelic gag: our overexcitable hero's imagined loop-the-loops.) Yet, like the best modern American cartoons, the real thrill ride is the twisting plotting.

The Quest for Pirate Credentials

SpongeBob's mission to secure the fabled pirate license that will declare him a “big guy” brings him into a showdown with the ghostly Flying Dutchman, brought to life by the suddenly ubiquitous Mark Hamill. Although the Dutchman's ship introduces a grander scope, the film's visual style remains a charming bricolage of digital animation and hand-turned components, consistently highlighting pleasing, authentically animated effects.

Whether its spitballing humor will resonate after the credits is debatable, but it's a solid SpongeBob movie.

Notable moments feature SpongeBob squeezing himself into an air conditioner and coming out inexplicably squarer than before; a brief appearance from a pair of chattering novelty false teeth; and a penalty sure to resonate with the six-year-old crowd: our hero being forced into endless dishwashing.

Final Thoughts

Ultimately, Search for SquarePants is a solid entry to the franchise – and perhaps the most humorous Pirates of the Caribbean movie in years, encompassing a robust Davy Jones gag and a cheekily suggestive saying for SpongeBob's friend Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” One thing is certain: those original students will likely be snickering all over again.

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