The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants

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The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants

PG

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1h 28m

Kids & Family

Comedy

Adventure

Animation

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83%

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48 Reviews

72%

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500+ Verified Ratings

SpongeBob and his Bikini Bottom friends set sail in their biggest, all-new, can't miss cinematic event ever... The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants. Desperate to be a big guy, SpongeBob sets out to prove his bravery to Mr. Krabs by following The Flying Dutchman -- a mysterious swashbuckling ghost pirate -- on a seafaring comedy-adventure that takes him to the deepest depths of the deep sea, where no Sponge has gone before.

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Critics Consensus

A self-contained adventure with spiffy animation and a sweet message embedded in its goofy goober-ness, The Search for SquarePants is one of SpongeBob's most delightful big-screen outings yet.

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Audience Says

Embrace the silliness and enjoy the Search for SquarePants, another SpongeBob Movie family outing that won’t disappoint fans of rear-end jokes.

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Helen O'Hara

Empire Magazine

23h

2/5

It’s relentless and exhausting for adults, but kids and die-hard SpongeBob fans may find something to love here as the consistently cheery fry cook once again out-dimwits a dastardly foe.

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Owen Gleiberman

Variety

2d

Don Drymon, the director of “Search for SquarePants,” was one of the show’s founding creative talents, and he certainly knows how to keep the butt jokes popping, but I’m sorry, they are not surprising butt jokes.

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Wendy Ide

Observer (UK)

2d

The animation style might have evolved since the first cinematic outing for the rectangular undersea goofball in 2004, but the fourth film adventure for SpongeBob and his best friend, Patrick the starfish, is reassuringly familiar in other ways.

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Rachel Leishman

The Mary Sue

1d

4/5

The film is a fun adventure for Spongebob but what made it something special, to me, was the way that Spongebob’s friendships were explored.

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Rubén Romero Santos

Cinemanía (Spain)

1d

3.5/5

The most accomplished in terms of animation. [Full review in Spanish]

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Alison Gillmor

Winnipeg Free Press

1d

3/5

Director Derek Drymon and scripters Pam Brady and Matt Leiberman respect the basic Bikini Bottom fundamentals, but the plotting feels needlessly complicated and the gags can be repetitive.

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Alondra

4h

for whatever they were trying to achieve, it has an OK storyline Just the humor in it was nonexistent

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B

6h

Cringey comedy, not funny.

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Dave B

7h

Not well written. Seemed to drag on and be repetitive. Weak humor. Seemed to try to duplicate jokes from first movie, but those jokes didn't land well.

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Sravan Kumar S

8h

my kids loves it. she enjoys the movie

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bob

15h

big movie 4 a big guy

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jennifer

16h

It was a whole movie on the Flying Dutchman and the underworld. I was hoping to see more bikini bottom and my favorite plankton, who was only in the movie for 1 second when SpongeBob stepped on him. If you like the Flying Dutchman episodes then you will like this movie

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Derek Drymon

Director

Tom Kenny

SpongeBob SquarePants

Clancy Brown

Mr. Krabs

Mark Hamill

Flying Dutchman

Bill Fagerbakke

Patrick Star

Rodger Bumpass

Squidward

The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants: Movie Clip - What is Happening?

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The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants: Exclusive Movie Clip - Hero's Journey

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The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants: Featurette - Ice Spice

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The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants: Trailer 1

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The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants: Teaser Trailer

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Synopsis

SpongeBob and his Bikini Bottom friends set sail in their biggest, all-new, can't miss cinematic event ever... The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants. Desperate to be a big guy, SpongeBob sets out to prove his bravery to Mr. Krabs by following The Flying Dutchman -- a mysterious swashbuckling ghost pirate -- on a seafaring comedy-adventure that takes him to the deepest depths of the deep sea, where no Sponge has gone before.

Director: Derek Drymon
Producer: Lisa Stewart, Pam Brady, Aaron Dem
Screenwriter: Pam Brady, Matt Lieberman, Derek Drymon
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Production Co: Nickelodeon Animation Studios
Rating: PG (Rude Humor|Action|Some Scary Images)
Genre: Kids & Family, Comedy, Adventure, Animation
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Dec 19, 2025, Wide
Box Office (Gross USA): $15.6M
Runtime: 1h 28m
Sound Mix: Dolby Digital, Dolby Atmos

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