🔗 Share this article

Could those early viewers who laughed through the first SpongeBob escapades have envisioned the franchise enduring for a quarter-century, even after experiencing the most lysergic of narrative twists? Such longevity is in part due to its broad charm, amusing the funny bones of adults – perhaps even those former students – alongside the very young viewers. Although it can't claim anything quite as unexpected as a certain legendary 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 music icons like Barbra Streisand. It seems everything can still in the zany world of Bikini Bottom.

An Established Zany Groove

Kicking off with a festive short featuring Paramount's other weathered family favorites, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the new SpongeBob film soon finds a recognizably goofy groove. Its script acts as a family-friendly treatise on the advantages and disadvantages of maturity. This version of SpongeBob (again brought to life by Tom Kenny) now stands a specific height, a fact that thrills him as it finally allows him to ride his fantasy coaster. (An initial, psychedelic laugh: our enthusiastic hero's fantasized loop-the-loops.) However, like the finest contemporary American animation, the real rollercoaster is the corkscrew plotting.

The Quest for Pirate Proof

SpongeBob's mission to secure the legendary pirate license that will prove him a “big guy” leads him into conflict with the spectral Flying Dutchman, brought to life by the suddenly ever-present Mark Hamill. Although the Dutchman's ghost ship adds a larger scale, the movie's visual style remains a charming bricolage of digital animation and hand-crafted elements, forever highlighting pleasing, properly animated effects.

If its freewheeling silliness will linger when the lights come up is up for discussion, but it's a solid SpongeBob movie.

Notable scenes include SpongeBob squeezing himself into an AC unit and emerging somehow more rectangular than ever; a brief appearance from a pair of chattering novelty false teeth; and a punishment guaranteed to resonate with the six-year-old audience: our hero being subjected to never-ending dishwashing.

The Verdict

Ultimately, Search for SquarePants stands as a solid entry to the franchise – and perhaps the funniest Pirates of the Caribbean movie in years, encompassing a robust Davy Jones joke and a cheekily suggestive saying for SpongeBob's pal Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” It's clear: those early fans will probably be chuckling all over again.

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.