SpongeBob's Latest: Search for SquarePants Film Critique – An Adventurous Helping of Giggle-Provoking Fun

Would the early viewers who chuckled through the first SpongeBob adventures have envisioned the franchise enduring for a 25 years, following experiencing the most lysergic of plotlines? Such longevity is partly due to its broad appeal, tickling the funny bones of adults – perhaps even those former students – alongside the very young viewers. Although it can't claim anything as surprising as the legendary David Hasselhoff appearance in the 2004 film, this latest movie thinks nothing of making Clancy Brown talk like a pirate while handing out royalty cheques to stars like Barbra Streisand. It seems everything can still in the zany world of Bikini Bottom.

A Familiar Goofy Groove

Starting with a festive short starring Paramount's alternative weathered family favorites, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the new SpongeBob movie soon finds a recognizably silly groove. Its script serves as a PG-rated treatise on the advantages and disadvantages of growing up. This iteration of SpongeBob (again voiced by Tom Kenny) now measures 36 clams high, a fact that thrills him as it at last qualifies him to experience his fantasy coaster. (An early, trippy gag: our enthusiastic hero's imagined loop-the-loops.) However, as in the best modern American cartoons, the true rollercoaster is the corkscrew plotting.

The Quest for Swashbuckling Proof

SpongeBob's mission to obtain the legendary pirate license that will prove him a “big guy” brings him into conflict with the ghostly Flying Dutchman, voiced by the currently ubiquitous Mark Hamill. Although the Dutchman's ship adds a grander scope, the movie's visual style remains a charming bricolage of digimation and hand-crafted elements, forever highlighting pleasing, properly cartoonish effects.

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

Memorable moments include SpongeBob wedging himself into an air conditioner and emerging inexplicably squarer than ever; a brief appearance from a pair of chattering joke-shop false teeth; and a punishment guaranteed to delight the younger crowd: our hero being forced into never-ending dishwashing.

Final Thoughts

Ultimately, Search for SquarePants is a reliable addition to the series – and perhaps the funniest Pirates of the Caribbean movie recently, including a robust Davy Jones gag and a saltily suggestive saying for SpongeBob's pal Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” It's certain: those original fans will likely be chuckling 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.