🔗 Share this article

Could those original fans who chuckled through the first SpongeBob escapades have envisioned the series persisting for a quarter-century, following absorbing the most surreal of plotlines? This staying power is partly attributed to its broad charm, tickling the sense of humor of grown-ups – perhaps even those now grown students – as well as the youngest viewers. While it may not feature anything quite as unexpected as the legendary David Hasselhoff appearance in the 2004 film, this fourth feature has no qualms about having a veteran voice actor speak as a pirate while dispensing royalty cheques to music icons like Barbra Streisand. This proves everything can still in the zany world of Bikini Bottom.

A Familiar Goofy Vibe

Kicking off with a holiday short featuring Paramount's other long-running babysitters, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the latest SpongeBob film soon finds a comfortably goofy groove. Its script serves as a PG-rated treatise on the advantages and disadvantages of maturity. This version of SpongeBob (again brought to life by Tom Kenny) now measures a specific height, a detail that thrills him as it at last qualifies him to ride 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 Adventure for Swashbuckling Credentials

SpongeBob's quest to secure the legendary swashbuckler certificate that will prove him a “big guy” leads him into a showdown with the spectral Flying Dutchman, brought to life by the currently ubiquitous Mark Hamill. Although the Dutchman's ship introduces a larger scale, the movie's aesthetic remains a delightful mix of digital animation and hand-turned components, consistently highlighting satisfying, properly animated effects.

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

Notable moments feature SpongeBob wedging himself into an AC unit and coming out inexplicably squarer than before; a brief appearance from a pair of chattering joke-shop false teeth; and a penalty guaranteed to delight the six-year-old audience: our hero being subjected to endless dishwashing.

The Verdict

Ultimately, Search for SquarePants is a reliable entry to the franchise – and perhaps the most humorous pirate-themed movie in years, encompassing a robust Davy Jones joke and a saltily suggestive saying for SpongeBob's pal Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” One thing is certain: those early fans will likely be chuckling anew.

Release Dates: 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.