‘The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants’ Review: A Ghostly Adventure Recalls Nickelodeon’s Golden Age Well Enough to Entertain Adults

Based on the beloved Nickelodeon cartoons created by Stephen Hillenburg, “The SpongeBob Movie: Search for Squarepants” looks and feels like imitation seafood. Still, director Derek Drymon does better than you’d expect with Paramount’s spooky new feature film — expanding the swash-buckling legend of the Flying Dutchman (Mark Hamill) into a funny, vibrant hellscape sure to lure in kids and millennials alike.

The new movie follows SpongeBob (Tom Kenny) and Patrick (Bill Fagerbakke) as they attempt to prove their toughness, bravery, and “intestinal fortitude” as wannabe pirates battling a ghostly obstacle course in the Dutchman’s terrifying underworld. Drymon produces a colorful, witty wasteland that’s distinguished by the director’s impressive history and unique comedic flare as a storyboard artist. Think giant monsters abruptly ending a fight with a make-out session — or a three-headed seagull seemingly ripped from the hypothetical pages of a bizarro “X-Men”/“Little Mermaid” crossover universe.