🔗 Share this article

Would the original fans who laughed through the initial SpongeBob adventures have envisioned the franchise enduring for a 25 years, even after absorbing the most surreal of narrative twists? This staying power is in part due to its broad charm, tickling the sense of humor of grown-ups – perhaps even those now grown students – as well as the youngest viewers. While it may not feature anything quite as unexpected as the legendary David Hasselhoff cameo in the 2004 movie, this fourth feature thinks nothing of making a veteran voice actor speak as a pirate while dispensing royalty cheques to stars like Barbra Streisand. This proves anything can still in the whimsical world of Bikini Bottom.

A Familiar Zany Groove

Starting with a holiday short starring Paramount's other long-running babysitters, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the new SpongeBob film quickly settles into a recognizably goofy rhythm. Its script acts as a PG-rated treatise on the advantages and disadvantages of growing up. This iteration of SpongeBob (again voiced by Tom Kenny) now stands a specific height, a detail that excites him as it at last qualifies him to experience his dream rollercoaster. (An early, trippy gag: our enthusiastic hero's imagined loop-the-loops.) However, as in the best modern American animation, the real rollercoaster is the corkscrew narrative.

The Quest for Pirate Credentials

SpongeBob's quest to obtain the fabled pirate license that will prove him a “big guy” leads him into conflict with the ghostly Flying Dutchman, brought to life by the suddenly ever-present Mark Hamill. While the Dutchman's ghost ship introduces a grander scope, the movie's visual style remains a delightful mix of digimation and hand-crafted elements, consistently highlighting pleasing, authentically animated visuals.

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

Memorable scenes include SpongeBob squeezing himself into an air conditioner and coming out somehow squarer than ever; a brief appearance from a pair of chattering joke-shop false teeth; and a penalty sure to resonate with the six-year-old audience: our hero being forced into endless dishwashing.

The Verdict

Ultimately, Search for SquarePants stands as a reliable addition to the franchise – and perhaps the most humorous pirate-themed movie recently, including a robust Davy Jones gag and a saltily innuendo-laden saying for SpongeBob's friend Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” It's clear: those early fans will probably be chuckling anew.

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