The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants Film Critique – A Swashbuckling Dose of Giggle-Provoking Fun

Would the early viewers who laughed through the first SpongeBob adventures have envisioned the series persisting for a 25 years, even after absorbing the most surreal of plotlines? Such longevity is in part due to its wide-ranging charm, tickling the funny bones of adults – perhaps even those now grown students – as well as the youngest viewers. While it may not feature anything quite as surprising as the legendary David Hasselhoff cameo in the 2004 film, this latest movie thinks nothing of having Clancy Brown talk like a pirate while handing out payments to stars like Barbra Streisand. This proves anything can still in the whimsical world of Bikini Bottom.

An Established Zany Groove

Starting with a holiday short featuring Paramount's other weathered family favorites, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the latest SpongeBob film quickly finds a comfortably 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 measures 36 clams high, a detail that excites him as it finally qualifies him to ride his dream rollercoaster. (An early, trippy gag: our overexcitable hero's imagined loop-the-loops.) However, like the finest modern American cartoons, the real thrill ride is the twisting narrative.

The Quest for Swashbuckling Credentials

SpongeBob's mission to obtain the legendary swashbuckler certificate that will declare him a “big guy” leads him into a showdown with the spectral Flying Dutchman, voiced by the currently ubiquitous Mark Hamill. Although the Dutchman's ghost ship adds a grander scope, the film's aesthetic remains a delightful bricolage of digimation and hand-crafted elements, consistently highlighting satisfying, authentically animated effects.

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

Memorable scenes include SpongeBob squeezing himself into an AC unit and coming out inexplicably squarer than ever; a brief appearance from a pair of chattering novelty false teeth; and a punishment guaranteed to resonate with the younger audience: our hero being forced into endless dishwashing.

The Verdict

In the end, Search for SquarePants is a solid entry to the franchise – and arguably the funniest pirate-themed movie in years, including a robust Davy Jones gag and a saltily suggestive saying for SpongeBob's pal Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” One thing is clear: those early students will probably be snickering all over again.

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