🔗 Share this article

Could those original fans who chuckled through the initial SpongeBob adventures have predicted the series persisting for a 25 years, following absorbing the most surreal of plotlines? Such staying power is in part due to its broad appeal, amusing the funny bones of adults – possibly even those former students – as well as the youngest viewers. While it can't claim anything quite as surprising as a certain legendary David Hasselhoff cameo in the 2004 film, this fourth feature has no qualms about having a veteran voice actor speak as a pirate while dispensing royalty cheques to stars like Barbra Streisand. It seems everything remains possible in the whimsical world of Bikini Bottom.

A Familiar Zany Vibe

Kicking off with a festive short featuring Paramount's other weathered babysitters, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the latest SpongeBob movie quickly finds a comfortably silly groove. Its storyline acts as a PG-rated treatise on the pros and cons of growing up. This version of SpongeBob (again voiced by Tom Kenny) now measures 36 clams high, a fact that thrills him as it finally qualifies him to experience his fantasy coaster. (An early, trippy laugh: our overexcitable hero's imagined loop-the-loops.) Yet, as in the finest contemporary American animation, the real thrill ride is the corkscrew narrative.

The Quest for Swashbuckling Proof

SpongeBob's quest to obtain the legendary swashbuckler certificate that will prove him a “big guy” leads him into a showdown with the spectral Flying Dutchman, brought to life by the suddenly ever-present Mark Hamill. While the Dutchman's ghost ship introduces a grander scope, the movie's visual style remains a charming mix of digital animation and hand-turned elements, forever highlighting pleasing, properly cartoonish effects.

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

Memorable scenes include SpongeBob wedging himself into an air conditioner and emerging inexplicably more rectangular than ever; a brief appearance from a pair of chattering joke-shop false teeth; and a penalty sure to resonate with the younger crowd: our hero being subjected to endless dishwashing.

The Verdict

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

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