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Would the original fans who chuckled through the first SpongeBob adventures have predicted the franchise persisting for a quarter-century, even after experiencing the most surreal of narrative twists? This staying power is partly due to its broad charm, tickling the funny bones of grown-ups – perhaps even those former students – alongside the youngest viewers. While it can't claim anything as unexpected as the legendary David Hasselhoff cameo in the 2004 movie, this latest movie has no qualms about having Clancy Brown talk like a pirate while handing out royalty cheques to stars like Barbra Streisand. This proves everything remains possible in the whimsical world of Bikini Bottom.

An Established Zany Vibe

Kicking off with a festive short featuring Paramount's alternative weathered babysitters, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the latest SpongeBob film soon finds a comfortably silly groove. Its script serves as a family-friendly treatise on the advantages and disadvantages of maturity. This iteration of SpongeBob (again brought to life by Tom Kenny) now measures a specific height, a detail that thrills him as it at last qualifies him to ride his dream rollercoaster. (An early, psychedelic laugh: our overexcitable hero's imagined loop-the-loops.) However, as in the finest modern American cartoons, the real rollercoaster is the twisting narrative.

The Adventure for Pirate Proof

SpongeBob's quest to obtain the fabled swashbuckler certificate that will prove him a “big guy” brings him into conflict with the ghostly Flying Dutchman, brought to life by the currently ever-present Mark Hamill. Although the Dutchman's ship adds a larger scale, the film's aesthetic remains a charming bricolage of digimation and hand-crafted elements, consistently showcasing satisfying, authentically cartoonish visuals.

If its freewheeling silliness will resonate after the credits is up for discussion, but it's a strong SpongeBob movie.

Memorable scenes feature SpongeBob squeezing himself into an AC unit and coming out inexplicably more rectangular than ever; a cameo from a pair of chattering joke-shop false teeth; and a penalty sure to delight the six-year-old audience: our hero being subjected to endless dishwashing.

Final Thoughts

Ultimately, Search for SquarePants stands as a solid addition to the franchise – and arguably the funniest pirate-themed movie in years, encompassing a robust Davy Jones gag and a saltily innuendo-laden saying for SpongeBob's friend Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” One thing is clear: those original students will likely be snickering anew.

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