SpongeBob's Latest: Search for SquarePants Film Critique – A Swashbuckling Dose of Snicker-Inducing Fun

Could those original fans who chuckled through the first SpongeBob adventures have predicted the franchise enduring for a 25 years, even after absorbing the most surreal of plotlines? Such longevity is in part due to its wide-ranging charm, amusing the sense of humor of adults – perhaps even those now grown students – as well as the very young viewers. While it can't claim anything quite as unexpected as a certain memorable David Hasselhoff appearance in the 2004 movie, this latest movie thinks nothing of making Clancy Brown speak as a pirate while dispensing payments to stars like Barbra Streisand. It seems everything remains possible in the whimsical world of Bikini Bottom.

An Established Zany Vibe

Starting with a holiday short featuring Paramount's alternative long-running babysitters, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the latest SpongeBob movie soon settles into a comfortably silly groove. Its script acts as a PG-rated exploration on the advantages and disadvantages of growing up. 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 experience his fantasy coaster. (An early, trippy laugh: our overexcitable hero's fantasized loop-the-loops.) Yet, like the best contemporary American cartoons, the real thrill ride is the twisting plotting.

The Adventure for Pirate Credentials

SpongeBob's mission to obtain the legendary pirate license that will declare him a “big guy” leads him into conflict with the ghostly Flying Dutchman, brought to life by the currently ubiquitous Mark Hamill. Although the Dutchman's ship introduces a grander scope, the movie's visual style remains a charming bricolage of digimation and hand-crafted components, forever showcasing pleasing, properly cartoonish visuals.

Whether its spitballing silliness will resonate when the lights come up is up for discussion, but it's a solid SpongeBob movie.

Notable moments feature SpongeBob wedging himself into an AC unit and coming out somehow squarer than ever; a brief appearance from a pair of chattering joke-shop false teeth; and a penalty guaranteed to delight the six-year-old crowd: our hero being forced into never-ending 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 recently, including a robust Davy Jones gag and a cheekily suggestive catchphrase for SpongeBob's friend Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” One thing is certain: those early fans will likely be snickering anew.

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