🔗 Share this article

Would the early viewers who chuckled through the first SpongeBob escapades have predicted the series enduring for a quarter-century, following absorbing the most lysergic of plotlines? Such staying power is partly due to its broad charm, tickling the funny bones of adults – possibly even those former students – as well as the very young viewers. Although it may not feature anything quite as surprising as the legendary David Hasselhoff cameo in the 2004 movie, this latest movie thinks nothing of making a veteran voice actor speak as a pirate while dispensing payments to music icons like Barbra Streisand. It seems everything can still in the zany world of Bikini Bottom.

A Familiar Goofy Groove

Starting with a holiday short featuring Paramount's alternative weathered babysitters, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the latest SpongeBob movie soon settles into a comfortably goofy groove. Its storyline serves as a PG-rated exploration on the pros and cons of maturity. This iteration of SpongeBob (again voiced by Tom Kenny) now measures 36 clams high, a fact that excites him as it finally qualifies him to experience his fantasy coaster. (An early, psychedelic gag: our enthusiastic hero's fantasized loop-the-loops.) Yet, like the best modern American cartoons, the real thrill ride is the twisting narrative.

The Adventure for Pirate Credentials

SpongeBob's mission to secure the legendary swashbuckler certificate that will prove him a “big guy” brings him into a showdown with the spectral Flying Dutchman, voiced by the currently ubiquitous Mark Hamill. Although the Dutchman's ghost ship introduces a larger scale, the movie's aesthetic remains a delightful mix of digimation and hand-crafted elements, forever highlighting satisfying, properly animated visuals.

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

Memorable moments feature SpongeBob wedging himself into an AC unit and emerging somehow squarer than ever; a cameo from a pair of chattering joke-shop false teeth; and a penalty sure to delight the six-year-old audience: our hero being forced into endless dishwashing.

Final Thoughts

Ultimately, Search for SquarePants stands as a solid addition to the series – and perhaps the funniest pirate-themed movie recently, including 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 early fans will likely be chuckling anew.

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