The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants Review – An Adventurous Helping of Giggle-Provoking Silliness

Would the original fans who laughed through the first SpongeBob adventures have predicted the franchise persisting for a quarter-century, following experiencing the most lysergic of plotlines? Such longevity is partly due to its broad appeal, tickling the funny bones of grown-ups – perhaps even those now grown students – alongside the youngest viewers. While it may not feature anything quite as surprising as a certain legendary David Hasselhoff cameo in the 2004 film, this fourth feature thinks nothing of making a veteran voice actor talk like a pirate while dispensing royalty cheques to stars like Barbra Streisand. It seems everything remains possible in the whimsical world of Bikini Bottom.

A Familiar Zany Vibe

Kicking off with a festive short featuring Paramount's other weathered family favorites, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the new SpongeBob film soon finds a recognizably goofy groove. Its storyline serves as a PG-rated treatise on the pros and cons of growing up. This iteration of SpongeBob (again brought to life by Tom Kenny) now measures a specific height, a detail that excites him as it finally qualifies him to ride his fantasy coaster. (An initial, trippy gag: our enthusiastic hero's fantasized loop-the-loops.) Yet, like the best contemporary American animation, the real rollercoaster is the corkscrew narrative.

The Adventure for Pirate Proof

SpongeBob's quest to secure the legendary swashbuckler certificate that will declare him a “big guy” leads him into a showdown with the spectral Flying Dutchman, brought to life by the suddenly ubiquitous Mark Hamill. Although the Dutchman's ship adds a larger scale, the film's aesthetic remains a delightful bricolage of digimation and hand-crafted elements, consistently highlighting satisfying, authentically animated effects.

Whether its freewheeling silliness will resonate when the lights come up is debatable, but it's a strong SpongeBob movie.

Notable moments feature SpongeBob squeezing himself into an air conditioner and emerging inexplicably more rectangular than before; a brief appearance from a pair of chattering joke-shop false teeth; and a punishment guaranteed to resonate with the younger crowd: our hero being subjected to endless dishwashing.

The Verdict

Ultimately, Search for SquarePants is a reliable entry to the franchise – and perhaps the funniest pirate-themed movie in years, including a hearty Davy Jones joke and a saltily innuendo-laden saying for SpongeBob's pal Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” One thing is clear: those original fans will probably be chuckling anew.

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