🔗 Share this article

Could those original fans who chuckled through the first SpongeBob adventures have envisioned the series persisting for a 25 years, even after absorbing the most surreal of plotlines? Such staying power is partly attributed to its broad charm, tickling the sense of humor of grown-ups – possibly even those former students – alongside the youngest viewers. Although it may not feature anything as surprising as a certain legendary David Hasselhoff cameo in the 2004 movie, this latest movie thinks nothing of having Clancy Brown speak as a pirate while handing out payments to music icons like Barbra Streisand. It seems anything remains possible in the zany world of Bikini Bottom.

An Established Zany Groove

Starting with a festive short starring Paramount's alternative long-running family favorites, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the new SpongeBob movie soon finds a recognizably silly groove. Its script serves as a family-friendly treatise on the advantages and disadvantages of growing up. This version of SpongeBob (again voiced by Tom Kenny) now stands a specific height, a fact that excites him as it at last allows him to experience his fantasy coaster. (An early, trippy gag: our overexcitable hero's fantasized loop-the-loops.) However, as in the best contemporary American animation, the true thrill ride is the twisting narrative.

The Quest for Swashbuckling Proof

SpongeBob's mission to secure the fabled swashbuckler certificate that will declare him a “big guy” leads him into a showdown with the spectral Flying Dutchman, voiced by the currently ever-present Mark Hamill. While the Dutchman's ghost ship adds a grander scope, the film's aesthetic remains a charming bricolage of digital animation and hand-crafted elements, forever showcasing pleasing, authentically animated visuals.

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

Memorable scenes include SpongeBob wedging 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 penalty guaranteed to resonate with the six-year-old crowd: our hero being forced into never-ending 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, including a hearty Davy Jones gag and a saltily innuendo-laden catchphrase for SpongeBob's pal Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” One thing is certain: those original students will likely be chuckling all over again.

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