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Would the early viewers who chuckled through the first SpongeBob adventures have predicted the series persisting for a 25 years, even after absorbing the most lysergic of narrative twists? Such longevity is in part due to its broad charm, tickling the funny bones of grown-ups – possibly even those now grown students – as well as the very young viewers. Although it can't claim anything quite as surprising as a certain legendary David Hasselhoff cameo in the 2004 film, this latest movie has no qualms about having Clancy Brown speak as a pirate while dispensing payments to music icons like Barbra Streisand. This proves everything remains possible in the whimsical world of Bikini Bottom.

An Established Goofy Vibe

Starting with a festive short featuring Paramount's alternative long-running babysitters, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the latest SpongeBob film soon finds a comfortably silly groove. Its script acts as a family-friendly treatise on the pros and cons of growing up. 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 fantasy coaster. (An early, trippy gag: our enthusiastic hero's imagined loop-the-loops.) However, like the best contemporary American animation, the true rollercoaster is the corkscrew narrative.

The Adventure for Swashbuckling Proof

SpongeBob's quest to obtain the fabled pirate license that will declare him a “big guy” leads him into conflict with the ghostly Flying Dutchman, voiced by the currently ever-present Mark Hamill. Although the Dutchman's ghost ship introduces a grander scope, the movie's visual style remains a delightful mix of digimation and hand-turned components, forever highlighting satisfying, properly cartoonish visuals.

If its freewheeling humor will resonate when the lights come up is debatable, but it's a solid SpongeBob movie.

Notable moments feature SpongeBob squeezing himself into an AC unit and coming out inexplicably more rectangular than ever; a cameo from a pair of chattering joke-shop false teeth; and a penalty guaranteed to delight the six-year-old crowd: our hero being subjected to endless dishwashing.

Final Thoughts

In the end, Search for SquarePants is a solid entry to the franchise – and perhaps the funniest pirate-themed movie in years, encompassing a robust Davy Jones joke and a saltily innuendo-laden saying for SpongeBob's friend Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” It's clear: those early students will probably be snickering all over again.

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