🔗 Share this article The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants Review – A Swashbuckling Dose of Snicker-Inducing Fun Could those original fans who laughed through the first SpongeBob adventures have envisioned the series enduring for a quarter-century, following experiencing the most lysergic of narrative twists? This staying power is partly attributed to its broad charm, amusing the funny bones of adults – perhaps even those now grown students – as well as the very young viewers. Although it can't claim anything as surprising as the legendary David Hasselhoff cameo in the 2004 film, this latest movie has no qualms about having a veteran voice actor speak as a pirate while handing out payments to stars like Barbra Streisand. This proves everything remains possible in the zany world of Bikini Bottom. A Familiar Zany Groove Starting with a festive short starring Paramount's alternative weathered babysitters, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the new SpongeBob film soon finds a comfortably silly groove. Its script serves as a PG-rated exploration on the advantages and disadvantages of maturity. This iteration of SpongeBob (again brought to life 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 early, trippy laugh: our enthusiastic hero's fantasized loop-the-loops.) However, as in the best modern American animation, the real thrill ride is the twisting narrative. The Adventure for Swashbuckling Proof SpongeBob's mission to obtain the legendary pirate license that will prove him a “big guy” leads him into a showdown with the ghostly Flying Dutchman, brought to life by the currently ubiquitous Mark Hamill. Although the Dutchman's ghost ship adds a grander scope, the film's visual style remains a charming bricolage of digital animation and hand-turned elements, consistently highlighting pleasing, authentically animated effects. Whether its spitballing humor will resonate when the lights come up is up for discussion, but it's a solid SpongeBob movie. Notable scenes include SpongeBob squeezing 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 punishment guaranteed to resonate with the younger audience: our hero being forced into endless dishwashing. Final Thoughts Ultimately, Search for SquarePants stands as a solid entry to the franchise – and perhaps the most humorous Pirates of the Caribbean movie recently, including a robust Davy Jones joke and a cheekily suggestive saying for SpongeBob's friend Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” It's clear: those original students will likely be chuckling anew. Release Dates: The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants debuts on 19 December in the US, 20 December in Ireland, and 26 December in Australia and the UK.