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

Would the original fans who laughed through the initial SpongeBob escapades have envisioned the franchise persisting for a quarter-century, following absorbing the most lysergic of plotlines? Such staying power is in part due to its wide-ranging appeal, amusing the sense of humor of grown-ups – perhaps even those now grown students – alongside the very young viewers. While it can't claim anything quite as surprising as a certain legendary David Hasselhoff appearance in the 2004 movie, this latest movie thinks nothing of making a veteran voice actor speak as a pirate while handing out royalty cheques to music icons like Barbra Streisand. It seems anything can still in the zany world of Bikini Bottom.

An Established Goofy Vibe

Starting with a holiday short featuring Paramount's alternative weathered family favorites, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the new SpongeBob film soon settles into a comfortably goofy rhythm. Its script acts as a PG-rated treatise on the pros and cons of growing up. This iteration of SpongeBob (again voiced by Tom Kenny) now stands a specific height, a fact that excites him as it finally allows him to ride his dream rollercoaster. (An initial, psychedelic laugh: our overexcitable hero's imagined loop-the-loops.) However, as in the finest modern American cartoons, the true rollercoaster is the twisting narrative.

The Quest for Swashbuckling Proof

SpongeBob's mission to secure the legendary pirate license that will declare him a “big guy” leads him into conflict with the spectral Flying Dutchman, brought to life by the currently ubiquitous Mark Hamill. Although the Dutchman's ship adds a larger scale, the film's aesthetic remains a delightful bricolage of digimation and hand-crafted components, forever highlighting satisfying, properly cartoonish effects.

If its spitballing humor will linger when the lights come up is debatable, but it's a strong SpongeBob movie.

Memorable scenes include SpongeBob squeezing himself into an air conditioner and emerging somehow more rectangular than ever; a cameo from a pair of chattering joke-shop false teeth; and a punishment guaranteed to resonate with the younger audience: our hero being subjected to endless dishwashing.

The Verdict

Ultimately, Search for SquarePants is a solid entry to the series – and perhaps the most humorous pirate-themed movie in years, encompassing a hearty Davy Jones gag and a saltily suggestive catchphrase for SpongeBob's friend Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” One thing is clear: those original students 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 December 26th in Australia and the UK.