SpongeBob's Latest: Search for SquarePants Review – A Swashbuckling Dose of Snicker-Inducing Fun

Would the original fans who chuckled through the initial SpongeBob adventures have predicted the franchise enduring for a 25 years, even after absorbing the most lysergic of plotlines? This longevity is in part due to its wide-ranging charm, amusing the funny bones of adults – perhaps even those now grown students – as well as the youngest viewers. While it can't claim anything as surprising as a certain legendary David Hasselhoff appearance in the 2004 film, this fourth feature thinks nothing of having a veteran voice actor talk like a pirate while dispensing royalty cheques to stars like Barbra Streisand. It seems everything remains possible in the whimsical world of Bikini Bottom.

A Familiar Goofy Vibe

Kicking off with a festive short featuring Paramount's other weathered babysitters, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the latest SpongeBob movie soon settles into a comfortably goofy rhythm. Its script acts as a family-friendly treatise on the advantages and disadvantages of maturity. This version of SpongeBob (again voiced by Tom Kenny) now measures 36 clams high, a detail that excites him as it finally allows him to experience his fantasy coaster. (An initial, psychedelic laugh: our overexcitable hero's imagined loop-the-loops.) Yet, as in the best contemporary American cartoons, the real thrill ride is the twisting plotting.

The Quest for Pirate Proof

SpongeBob's quest 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 currently ubiquitous Mark Hamill. While the Dutchman's ship introduces a larger scale, the movie's visual style remains a charming bricolage of digimation and hand-turned elements, forever showcasing pleasing, authentically animated effects.

Whether its spitballing silliness will linger after the credits is up for discussion, but it's a strong SpongeBob movie.

Notable scenes feature SpongeBob wedging himself into an air conditioner and emerging somehow squarer than ever; a brief appearance from a pair of chattering joke-shop false teeth; and a penalty guaranteed to resonate with the six-year-old crowd: our hero being subjected to endless dishwashing.

The Verdict

Ultimately, Search for SquarePants stands as a reliable addition to the franchise – and perhaps the most humorous Pirates of the Caribbean movie recently, encompassing a hearty Davy Jones joke and a saltily innuendo-laden saying for SpongeBob's pal Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” One thing is clear: those early fans will likely be snickering all over again.

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