The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants Review – An Adventurous Dose of Snicker-Inducing Silliness

Could those early viewers who chuckled through the first SpongeBob adventures have predicted the franchise enduring for a 25 years, following absorbing the most lysergic of plotlines? This staying power is in part due to its wide-ranging appeal, amusing the funny bones of grown-ups – possibly even those former students – alongside the very young viewers. While it can't claim anything as unexpected as a certain legendary David Hasselhoff appearance in the 2004 film, this latest movie has no qualms about making a veteran voice actor talk like a pirate while handing out payments to stars like Barbra Streisand. This proves everything can still in the whimsical world of Bikini Bottom.

A Familiar Goofy Vibe

Starting with a holiday short starring Paramount's alternative long-running family favorites, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the latest SpongeBob movie soon finds a recognizably silly rhythm. Its storyline acts as a family-friendly treatise on the pros and cons of maturity. This version of SpongeBob (again voiced by Tom Kenny) now stands a specific height, a detail that thrills him as it finally qualifies him to ride his dream rollercoaster. (An early, trippy laugh: our enthusiastic hero's imagined loop-the-loops.) Yet, like the best contemporary American cartoons, the real thrill ride is the corkscrew narrative.

The Adventure for Pirate Proof

SpongeBob's mission to obtain the fabled pirate license that will prove him a “big guy” leads him into conflict with the spectral Flying Dutchman, voiced by the currently ubiquitous Mark Hamill. While the Dutchman's ship adds a grander scope, the movie's aesthetic remains a charming mix of digimation and hand-crafted components, forever highlighting satisfying, authentically cartoonish effects.

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

Notable moments include SpongeBob squeezing himself into an AC unit and coming out somehow squarer than before; a cameo from a pair of chattering joke-shop false teeth; and a penalty guaranteed to delight the six-year-old crowd: our hero being subjected to never-ending dishwashing.

The Verdict

Ultimately, Search for SquarePants stands as a reliable entry to the series – and arguably the funniest Pirates of the Caribbean movie in years, encompassing a hearty Davy Jones joke and a cheekily suggestive catchphrase for SpongeBob's pal Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” One thing is certain: those early students will probably be chuckling all over again.

Release Dates: 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.