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

Would the original fans who chuckled through the first SpongeBob adventures have envisioned the franchise persisting for a 25 years, even after absorbing the most surreal of narrative twists? This staying power is partly due to its broad charm, tickling the sense of humor of grown-ups – perhaps even those now grown students – alongside the youngest viewers. While it may not feature anything as unexpected as a certain memorable David Hasselhoff appearance in the 2004 movie, this latest movie has no qualms about making a veteran voice actor talk like a pirate while dispensing royalty cheques to stars like Barbra Streisand. It seems everything can still in the zany world of Bikini Bottom.

An Established Goofy Groove

Kicking off with a holiday short starring Paramount's other weathered family favorites, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the latest SpongeBob film soon settles into a recognizably goofy rhythm. Its storyline serves as a family-friendly exploration on the advantages and disadvantages of maturity. This iteration of SpongeBob (again voiced by Tom Kenny) now measures 36 clams high, a fact that thrills him as it finally allows him to ride his fantasy coaster. (An initial, psychedelic laugh: our overexcitable hero's imagined loop-the-loops.) Yet, like the finest contemporary American cartoons, the real rollercoaster is the twisting narrative.

The Adventure for Swashbuckling Credentials

SpongeBob's mission to secure the legendary pirate license that will prove him a “big guy” brings him into a showdown with the ghostly Flying Dutchman, voiced by the currently ubiquitous Mark Hamill. Although the Dutchman's ghost ship introduces a grander scope, the movie's visual style remains a charming mix of digimation and hand-turned components, consistently highlighting pleasing, properly cartoonish effects.

Whether its freewheeling humor will resonate after the credits is up for discussion, but it's a strong SpongeBob movie.

Notable moments feature SpongeBob squeezing himself into an AC unit and emerging inexplicably more rectangular than before; a cameo from a pair of chattering joke-shop false teeth; and a penalty guaranteed to resonate with the younger crowd: our hero being forced into never-ending dishwashing.

The Verdict

Ultimately, Search for SquarePants is a reliable entry to the franchise – and perhaps the funniest Pirates of the Caribbean movie recently, encompassing a robust Davy Jones gag and a saltily innuendo-laden saying for SpongeBob's friend Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” One thing is clear: those early fans will probably be snickering anew.

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