🔗 Share this article

Would the early viewers who chuckled through the initial SpongeBob adventures have predicted the series persisting for a 25 years, even after experiencing the most surreal of narrative twists? This staying power is partly due to its wide-ranging charm, tickling the funny bones of adults – perhaps even those former students – alongside the youngest viewers. While it may not feature anything as unexpected as the memorable David Hasselhoff appearance in the 2004 film, this latest movie thinks nothing of having Clancy Brown talk like a pirate while handing out royalty cheques to stars like Barbra Streisand. This proves everything can still in the whimsical world of Bikini Bottom.

A Familiar Goofy Groove

Kicking off with a festive short starring Paramount's alternative weathered family favorites, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the new SpongeBob film quickly settles into a comfortably goofy groove. Its script serves as a family-friendly treatise on the advantages and disadvantages of growing up. This iteration of SpongeBob (again brought to life by Tom Kenny) now stands a specific height, a detail that excites him as it at last allows him to experience his dream rollercoaster. (An initial, psychedelic laugh: our enthusiastic hero's imagined loop-the-loops.) However, as in the best modern American animation, the true thrill ride is the corkscrew narrative.

The Quest for Pirate Credentials

SpongeBob's quest to secure the fabled pirate license that will declare him a “big guy” brings him into conflict with the ghostly Flying Dutchman, voiced by the suddenly ever-present Mark Hamill. While the Dutchman's ghost ship introduces a grander scope, the film's visual style remains a charming bricolage of digital animation and hand-crafted components, forever showcasing pleasing, authentically animated effects.

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

Notable scenes include SpongeBob wedging himself into an air conditioner and coming out inexplicably more rectangular than ever; a cameo from a pair of chattering novelty false teeth; and a punishment guaranteed to resonate with the six-year-old audience: our hero being subjected to endless dishwashing.

Final Thoughts

Ultimately, Search for SquarePants is a solid addition to the series – and arguably the most humorous Pirates of the Caribbean movie recently, including a robust Davy Jones joke and a cheekily innuendo-laden saying for SpongeBob's friend Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” It's clear: those early students will likely be chuckling anew.

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