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

Could those early viewers who chuckled through the initial SpongeBob adventures have envisioned the series enduring for a quarter-century, even after experiencing the most lysergic of plotlines? This longevity is in part due to its wide-ranging appeal, tickling the funny bones of adults – possibly even those former students – as well as the youngest viewers. Although it can't claim anything quite as surprising as a certain legendary David Hasselhoff cameo in the 2004 film, this latest movie has no qualms about having a veteran voice actor talk like a pirate while dispensing payments to music icons like Barbra Streisand. It seems anything can still in the whimsical world of Bikini Bottom.

A Familiar Zany Groove

Starting with a festive short starring Paramount's other long-running babysitters, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the new SpongeBob movie soon settles into a recognizably silly groove. Its storyline serves as a PG-rated exploration on the pros and cons of maturity. This iteration of SpongeBob (again brought to life by Tom Kenny) now measures a specific height, a detail that excites him as it finally qualifies him to ride his fantasy coaster. (An initial, psychedelic gag: our overexcitable hero's imagined loop-the-loops.) However, like the finest modern American cartoons, the true rollercoaster is the twisting plotting.

The Adventure for Swashbuckling Credentials

SpongeBob's mission to obtain the fabled swashbuckler certificate that will prove him a “big guy” leads him into conflict with the spectral Flying Dutchman, brought to life by the suddenly ever-present Mark Hamill. Although the Dutchman's ship introduces a larger scale, the movie's visual style remains a charming mix of digimation and hand-crafted components, consistently showcasing satisfying, properly animated effects.

Whether its freewheeling silliness will resonate after the credits is debatable, but it's a strong SpongeBob movie.

Memorable scenes feature SpongeBob squeezing himself into an air conditioner and coming out somehow squarer than before; a cameo from a pair of chattering joke-shop false teeth; and a penalty sure to resonate with the younger audience: our hero being subjected to endless dishwashing.

The Verdict

In the end, Search for SquarePants is a reliable entry to the franchise – and perhaps the funniest Pirates of the Caribbean movie in years, encompassing a robust Davy Jones gag and a cheekily suggestive catchphrase for SpongeBob's pal Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” It's clear: those early fans will likely be chuckling anew.

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