SpongeBob's Latest: Search for SquarePants Review – A Swashbuckling Helping of Giggle-Provoking Silliness

Could those original fans who chuckled through the initial SpongeBob escapades have predicted the franchise enduring for a 25 years, following experiencing the most lysergic of plotlines? Such longevity is partly due to its wide-ranging charm, amusing the sense of humor of adults – perhaps even those former students – alongside the youngest viewers. Although it can't claim anything as unexpected as the memorable David Hasselhoff appearance in the 2004 movie, this fourth feature has no qualms about having a veteran voice actor speak as a pirate while handing out royalty cheques to music icons like Barbra Streisand. This proves anything can still in the whimsical world of Bikini Bottom.

A Familiar Zany Groove

Kicking off with a festive short featuring Paramount's other long-running babysitters, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the new SpongeBob movie quickly finds a recognizably goofy groove. Its storyline acts as a PG-rated treatise on the advantages and disadvantages of growing up. This iteration of SpongeBob (again brought to life by Tom Kenny) now measures a specific height, a detail that excites him as it at last allows him to experience his dream rollercoaster. (An early, trippy laugh: our overexcitable hero's imagined loop-the-loops.) Yet, like the best contemporary American animation, the real thrill ride is the corkscrew plotting.

The Adventure for Swashbuckling Credentials

SpongeBob's quest to obtain the legendary pirate license that will prove him a “big guy” brings him into conflict with the ghostly Flying Dutchman, brought to life by the suddenly ubiquitous Mark Hamill. While the Dutchman's ghost ship introduces a grander scope, the movie's aesthetic remains a delightful bricolage of digimation and hand-turned elements, consistently highlighting satisfying, authentically animated effects.

Whether its freewheeling humor will resonate when the lights come up is up for discussion, but it's a solid SpongeBob movie.

Notable moments feature SpongeBob squeezing himself into an AC unit and emerging somehow squarer than ever; a brief appearance from a pair of chattering joke-shop false teeth; and a punishment sure to delight the younger audience: our hero being subjected to endless dishwashing.

The Verdict

Ultimately, Search for SquarePants stands as a solid addition to the series – and perhaps the funniest pirate-themed movie in years, encompassing a robust Davy Jones gag and a saltily innuendo-laden catchphrase for SpongeBob's friend Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” One thing is clear: those original fans will probably be snickering all over again.

Release Dates: 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.