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Could those original fans who laughed through the first SpongeBob escapades have predicted the series persisting for a 25 years, even after absorbing the most surreal of narrative twists? Such staying power is partly due to its wide-ranging appeal, tickling the funny bones of grown-ups – possibly even those former students – alongside the youngest viewers. Although it can't claim anything as surprising as a certain legendary David Hasselhoff cameo in the 2004 movie, this latest movie has no qualms about having a veteran voice actor talk like a pirate while dispensing royalty cheques to music icons like Barbra Streisand. This proves everything remains possible in the whimsical world of Bikini Bottom.

An Established Zany Vibe

Kicking off with a holiday short starring Paramount's other long-running babysitters, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the latest SpongeBob film soon finds a recognizably silly groove. Its storyline acts as a PG-rated treatise on the advantages and disadvantages of maturity. This version of SpongeBob (again voiced by Tom Kenny) now stands a specific height, a fact that excites him as it at last qualifies him to experience his dream rollercoaster. (An initial, psychedelic gag: our overexcitable hero's imagined loop-the-loops.) However, like the best modern American cartoons, the real rollercoaster is the corkscrew plotting.

The Adventure for Pirate Credentials

SpongeBob's mission to obtain the legendary swashbuckler certificate that will prove him a “big guy” brings him into conflict with the ghostly Flying Dutchman, voiced by the currently ubiquitous Mark Hamill. While the Dutchman's ghost ship introduces a larger scale, the movie's visual style remains a delightful bricolage of digital animation and hand-turned components, consistently showcasing pleasing, properly animated visuals.

If its spitballing silliness will linger when the lights come up is up for discussion, but it's a solid SpongeBob movie.

Notable scenes feature SpongeBob wedging himself into an AC unit and coming out somehow more rectangular than before; a cameo from a pair of chattering joke-shop false teeth; and a penalty sure to resonate with the younger crowd: our hero being subjected to endless dishwashing.

Final Thoughts

Ultimately, Search for SquarePants is a reliable addition to the franchise – and perhaps the most humorous Pirates of the Caribbean movie in years, including a robust Davy Jones gag and a cheekily suggestive saying for SpongeBob's friend Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” One thing is certain: those original fans will likely be chuckling anew.

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