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Would the early viewers who laughed through the initial SpongeBob adventures have envisioned the series enduring for a 25 years, even after absorbing the most surreal of narrative twists? This staying power is partly due to its broad appeal, tickling the funny bones of adults – possibly even those former students – as well as the youngest viewers. Although it can't claim anything quite as surprising as the memorable David Hasselhoff cameo in the 2004 movie, this latest movie has no qualms about having a veteran voice actor talk like a pirate while handing out royalty cheques to stars like Barbra Streisand. It seems everything can still in the whimsical world of Bikini Bottom.

A Familiar Zany Groove

Starting with a festive short starring Paramount's alternative weathered babysitters, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the latest SpongeBob film soon settles into a comfortably silly 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 measures 36 clams high, a detail that thrills him as it at last qualifies him to experience his fantasy coaster. (An initial, psychedelic laugh: our overexcitable hero's imagined loop-the-loops.) However, as in the finest contemporary American animation, the true rollercoaster is the twisting plotting.

The Adventure for Swashbuckling Proof

SpongeBob's mission to secure the fabled swashbuckler certificate that will declare him a “big guy” brings him into a showdown with the spectral Flying Dutchman, voiced by the currently ever-present Mark Hamill. Although the Dutchman's ship introduces a grander scope, the movie's visual style remains a delightful bricolage of digital animation and hand-turned components, forever highlighting satisfying, authentically animated effects.

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

Notable moments include SpongeBob squeezing himself into an AC unit and coming out inexplicably squarer than ever; a cameo from a pair of chattering joke-shop false teeth; and a punishment sure to delight the younger audience: our hero being subjected to never-ending dishwashing.

Final Thoughts

Ultimately, Search for SquarePants stands as a solid entry to the franchise – and perhaps the most humorous Pirates of the Caribbean movie recently, encompassing a robust Davy Jones gag and a cheekily suggestive saying for SpongeBob's pal Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” It's clear: those early students will likely be snickering all over again.

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