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Could those early viewers who chuckled through the initial SpongeBob escapades have envisioned the franchise persisting for a 25 years, even after experiencing the most lysergic of plotlines? This longevity is partly attributed to its broad charm, tickling the funny bones of grown-ups – possibly even those former students – as well as the youngest viewers. Although it can't claim anything as unexpected as a certain memorable David Hasselhoff appearance in the 2004 film, this latest movie thinks nothing of making a veteran voice actor speak as a pirate while dispensing royalty cheques to music icons like Barbra Streisand. It seems everything can still in the zany world of Bikini Bottom.

A Familiar 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 settles into a comfortably silly rhythm. Its script serves as a PG-rated treatise on the pros and cons of maturity. This iteration of SpongeBob (again voiced by Tom Kenny) now measures 36 clams high, a detail that excites him as it at last qualifies him to experience his dream rollercoaster. (An initial, psychedelic laugh: our overexcitable hero's fantasized loop-the-loops.) Yet, like the best modern American cartoons, the real rollercoaster is the twisting plotting.

The Quest for Pirate Proof

SpongeBob's mission to secure the legendary swashbuckler certificate that will declare him a “big guy” leads him into conflict with the spectral Flying Dutchman, brought to life by the suddenly ever-present Mark Hamill. Although the Dutchman's ship introduces a larger scale, the movie's aesthetic remains a delightful bricolage of digimation and hand-turned elements, consistently highlighting pleasing, properly cartoonish effects.

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

Notable moments feature SpongeBob squeezing himself into an AC unit and emerging somehow squarer than before; a cameo from a pair of chattering joke-shop false teeth; and a penalty sure to delight the younger audience: our hero being forced into never-ending dishwashing.

Final Thoughts

In the end, Search for SquarePants is a reliable addition to the series – and perhaps the most humorous Pirates of the Caribbean movie in years, including a hearty Davy Jones joke and a cheekily suggestive catchphrase for SpongeBob's friend Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” One thing is clear: those original fans will probably be chuckling all over again.

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