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

Would the early viewers who chuckled through the initial SpongeBob escapades have predicted the series persisting for a 25 years, even after absorbing the most surreal of plotlines? This longevity is partly due to its wide-ranging appeal, amusing the funny bones of adults – possibly even those now grown students – as well as the youngest viewers. Although it can't claim anything as unexpected as the memorable David Hasselhoff cameo in the 2004 movie, this latest movie thinks nothing of making Clancy Brown talk like a pirate while handing out royalty cheques to music icons like Barbra Streisand. It seems everything remains possible in the whimsical world of Bikini Bottom.

An Established Goofy Groove

Kicking off with a festive short starring Paramount's other weathered babysitters, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the latest SpongeBob movie quickly finds a recognizably silly groove. Its storyline acts 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 fact that thrills him as it at last allows him to experience his dream rollercoaster. (An initial, trippy gag: our enthusiastic hero's imagined loop-the-loops.) Yet, like the finest contemporary American cartoons, the real thrill ride is the corkscrew narrative.

The Quest for Pirate Proof

SpongeBob's mission to obtain the legendary pirate license that will declare him a “big guy” leads him into a showdown with the ghostly Flying Dutchman, voiced by the suddenly ever-present Mark Hamill. Although the Dutchman's ship introduces a larger scale, the film's visual style remains a charming bricolage of digimation and hand-crafted components, forever highlighting pleasing, authentically cartoonish effects.

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

Memorable moments feature SpongeBob wedging himself into an air conditioner and coming out inexplicably more rectangular than before; a cameo from a pair of chattering joke-shop false teeth; and a punishment sure to delight the younger audience: our hero being forced into never-ending dishwashing.

The Verdict

Ultimately, Search for SquarePants is a solid addition to the franchise – and perhaps the funniest pirate-themed movie recently, including a hearty Davy Jones gag and a cheekily suggestive saying for SpongeBob's friend Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” One thing is clear: those original fans will likely be snickering all over again.

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