🔗 Share this article

Would the early viewers who laughed through the first SpongeBob adventures have predicted the franchise enduring for a quarter-century, even after absorbing the most surreal of plotlines? This staying power is partly attributed to its wide-ranging appeal, tickling the funny bones of grown-ups – possibly even those now grown students – as well as the very young viewers. While it may not feature anything as surprising as a certain memorable David Hasselhoff cameo in the 2004 film, this fourth feature has no qualms about having a veteran voice actor talk like a pirate while dispensing royalty cheques to stars like Barbra Streisand. It seems everything can still in the whimsical world of Bikini Bottom.

An Established Zany Groove

Kicking off with a holiday short starring Paramount's other long-running babysitters, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the latest SpongeBob movie soon finds a comfortably goofy groove. Its script acts as a PG-rated treatise on the pros and cons of growing up. This iteration of SpongeBob (again brought to life by Tom Kenny) now stands a specific height, a fact that thrills him as it at last qualifies him to ride his dream rollercoaster. (An early, psychedelic laugh: our overexcitable hero's fantasized loop-the-loops.) However, as in the finest contemporary American animation, the real rollercoaster is the twisting narrative.

The Quest for Pirate Proof

SpongeBob's mission to secure the legendary swashbuckler certificate that will declare him a “big guy” brings him into a showdown with the ghostly Flying Dutchman, voiced by the suddenly ever-present Mark Hamill. While the Dutchman's ghost ship introduces a larger scale, the film's visual style remains a charming bricolage of digimation and hand-turned components, forever highlighting satisfying, authentically cartoonish visuals.

Whether its freewheeling humor will resonate when the lights come up is debatable, but it's a strong SpongeBob movie.

Notable scenes include SpongeBob squeezing himself into an AC unit and emerging somehow more rectangular than before; a cameo from a pair of chattering novelty false teeth; and a punishment guaranteed to delight the younger crowd: our hero being subjected to never-ending dishwashing.

Final Thoughts

In the end, Search for SquarePants stands as a solid addition to the series – and perhaps the funniest Pirates of the Caribbean movie in years, including a hearty Davy Jones gag and a saltily innuendo-laden catchphrase for SpongeBob's friend Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” It's clear: those original fans will likely be chuckling anew.

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