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Would the early viewers who chuckled through the first SpongeBob escapades have predicted the franchise enduring for a quarter-century, following absorbing the most surreal of plotlines? Such longevity is in part due to its wide-ranging charm, amusing the funny bones of grown-ups – possibly even those former students – as well as the youngest viewers. While it can't claim anything as surprising as a certain legendary David Hasselhoff cameo in the 2004 film, this latest movie thinks nothing of having a veteran voice actor talk like a pirate while dispensing payments to music icons like Barbra Streisand. It seems everything remains possible in the zany world of Bikini Bottom.

An Established Zany Groove

Kicking off with a festive short starring Paramount's alternative weathered babysitters, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the latest SpongeBob movie soon settles into a recognizably goofy groove. Its storyline serves as a PG-rated treatise on the advantages and disadvantages of maturity. This iteration of SpongeBob (again brought to life by Tom Kenny) now stands a specific height, a fact that thrills him as it finally qualifies him to experience his fantasy coaster. (An early, trippy gag: our enthusiastic hero's fantasized loop-the-loops.) However, like the best contemporary American cartoons, the true thrill ride is the corkscrew plotting.

The Quest for Pirate Proof

SpongeBob's quest to secure the legendary swashbuckler certificate that will declare him a “big guy” brings him into conflict with the spectral Flying Dutchman, brought to life by the suddenly ubiquitous Mark Hamill. While the Dutchman's ship adds a larger scale, the movie's visual style remains a delightful bricolage of digimation and hand-turned components, consistently highlighting pleasing, authentically cartoonish visuals.

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

Memorable moments include SpongeBob wedging himself into an air conditioner 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 younger crowd: our hero being subjected to never-ending dishwashing.

Final Thoughts

In the end, Search for SquarePants is a reliable addition to the series – and perhaps the most humorous pirate-themed movie recently, encompassing a hearty Davy Jones gag and a saltily innuendo-laden catchphrase for SpongeBob's friend Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” It's clear: those original students will probably be snickering all over again.

Release Dates: The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants arrives on December 19th in the US, 20 December in Ireland, and 26 December in Australia and the UK.