The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants is the fourth movie in the franchise to grace cinema screens, albeit the first one I’ve ever seen.
Preceeded by a forgetting 7-minute short, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Chrome Alone 2 – Lost in New Jersey, more memroable was the fact that the opening Paramount logo to the film was adapted to replace the usual Paramount stars with Spongebob’s multi-coloured flower clouds, an underwater aesthetic, and some underwater sound effects.
For want of a plot, Spongebob Squarepants (Tom Kenny – The Magician’s Elephant) has been in training in order to become a ‘Big Guy’, so he can take a trip on the Shipwreck rollercaster ride, even though he’s a bit scared to do so. Because reasons, along the way, he accidentally summons the Flying Dutchman (Mark Hamill – The Long Walk), a ghost who’s stuck in the Underworld until he can con an innocent soul into swapping places with him.
It’s of no surprise that things will work out for our hero, but although I found this film pretty much boring me immensely, I just counted the movie references instead, such as Spongebob beginning his day with Yello’s Oh Yeah – from Ferris Buellee’s Day Off; then as soon as he becomes a ‘Big Guy’, he paraphrases the famous boat line from Jaws with “We’re gonna need a bigger doorway!”; and finally, instead of They Live’s “I came here to kick ass and chew gum… and I’m all out of gum”, he quips, “I came here to Kick Butt and Blow Bubbles”.
I could tell a lot of the target audience enjoyed The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants, but for me, as an adult, I only saw it because it cost me nothing extra with Odeon’s Limitless, and I had nothing to lose by doing so. At least it was better than sitting through Avatar: Fire And Ash again.
The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants is in cinemas now, and is available to pre-order on Blu-ray and DVD.
NOTE: There’s no mid- nor post-credits scenes.
Check out the trailer below:
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 88 minutes (+7 minute short0
Release date: December 19th 2025
Studio: Paramount Pictures
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Cinema: Odeon Trafford Centre
Rating: 2/10
Director: Derek Drymon
Producers: Pam Brady, Aaron Dem, Lisa Stewart
Screenplay: Pam Brady, Matt Lieberman
Original series: Stephen Hillenburg
Music: John Debney
Cast:
SpongeBob SquarePants / Gary / Morning DJ: Tom Kenny
Mr. Krabs / Narrator: Clancy Brown
Squidward: Rodger Bumpass
Patrick Star: Bill Fagerbakke
Sandy: Carolyn Lawrence
Plankton: Mr. Lawrence
JK Fishlips: George Lopez
Ticket Taker: Isis ‘Ice Spice’ Gaston
Ride Operator: Arturo Castro
Studio Spokesperson / Krusty Krab Patron: Sherry Cola
Barb: Regina Hall
Flying Dutchman: Mark Hamill
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.