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

Would the early viewers who laughed through the initial SpongeBob escapades have predicted the series enduring for a 25 years, even after experiencing the most lysergic of narrative twists? This staying power is partly attributed to its broad charm, tickling the funny bones of grown-ups – perhaps even those former students – alongside the youngest viewers. While it can't claim anything as surprising as a certain legendary David Hasselhoff cameo in the 2004 film, this fourth feature thinks nothing of having Clancy Brown speak as a pirate while handing out royalty cheques to music icons like Barbra Streisand. This proves everything remains possible in the whimsical world of Bikini Bottom.

A Familiar Goofy Vibe

Starting with a holiday short featuring Paramount's other weathered babysitters, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the new SpongeBob movie soon finds a recognizably silly rhythm. Its script acts as a family-friendly exploration on the pros and cons of growing up. This version of SpongeBob (again voiced by Tom Kenny) now measures 36 clams high, a detail that thrills him as it at last qualifies him to ride his fantasy coaster. (An initial, psychedelic laugh: our overexcitable hero's imagined loop-the-loops.) However, as in the finest contemporary American cartoons, the real rollercoaster is the corkscrew plotting.

The Adventure for Pirate Proof

SpongeBob's mission to secure the fabled swashbuckler certificate that will prove him a “big guy” brings him into a showdown with the spectral Flying Dutchman, voiced by the currently ever-present Mark Hamill. While the Dutchman's ship adds a grander scope, the movie's visual style remains a delightful bricolage of digimation and hand-crafted components, forever highlighting pleasing, authentically cartoonish effects.

If its freewheeling humor will resonate after the credits is debatable, but it's a strong SpongeBob movie.

Notable moments feature SpongeBob squeezing himself into an AC unit and coming out somehow squarer than before; a brief appearance from a pair of chattering novelty false teeth; and a punishment guaranteed to delight the six-year-old crowd: our hero being forced into endless dishwashing.

The Verdict

In the end, Search for SquarePants is a reliable addition to the franchise – and perhaps the most humorous Pirates of the Caribbean movie in years, including a robust Davy Jones joke and a cheekily innuendo-laden catchphrase for SpongeBob's friend Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” It's clear: those early students will likely be snickering anew.

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