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

Would the original fans who laughed through the initial SpongeBob adventures have predicted the franchise enduring for a 25 years, following absorbing the most surreal of plotlines? This staying power is partly due to its wide-ranging charm, amusing the funny bones of adults – possibly even those now grown students – as well as the very young viewers. Although it may not feature anything quite as surprising as a certain memorable David Hasselhoff appearance in the 2004 movie, this latest movie has no qualms about making Clancy Brown speak as a pirate while dispensing royalty cheques to music icons like Barbra Streisand. This proves anything can still in the whimsical world of Bikini Bottom.

An Established Goofy Groove

Starting with a festive short starring Paramount's other long-running babysitters, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the new SpongeBob film soon finds a comfortably silly groove. Its script serves as a family-friendly treatise on the advantages and disadvantages of maturity. This iteration 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 initial, psychedelic laugh: our enthusiastic hero's fantasized loop-the-loops.) Yet, as in the best contemporary American animation, the real thrill ride is the twisting narrative.

The Quest for Pirate 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, brought to life by the suddenly ever-present Mark Hamill. While the Dutchman's ship introduces a grander scope, the movie's aesthetic remains a delightful bricolage of digital animation and hand-crafted components, consistently showcasing pleasing, authentically cartoonish effects.

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

Notable scenes include SpongeBob wedging himself into an AC unit and coming out inexplicably squarer than ever; a brief appearance from a pair of chattering joke-shop false teeth; and a punishment sure to resonate with the younger audience: our hero being subjected to endless dishwashing.

Final Thoughts

In the end, Search for SquarePants is a reliable addition to the series – and perhaps the funniest pirate-themed movie in years, including a robust Davy Jones gag 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 anew.

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