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Could those original fans who laughed through the initial SpongeBob escapades have envisioned the series persisting for a 25 years, even after absorbing the most lysergic of plotlines? This staying power is in part due to its broad 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 unexpected as a certain legendary David Hasselhoff cameo in the 2004 film, this latest movie thinks nothing of making a veteran voice actor speak as a pirate while handing out royalty cheques to music icons like Barbra Streisand. This proves everything can still in the whimsical world of Bikini Bottom.

A Familiar Zany Groove

Starting with a holiday short starring Paramount's alternative long-running babysitters, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the latest SpongeBob film soon settles into a recognizably goofy rhythm. Its storyline acts as a family-friendly treatise on the advantages and disadvantages of growing up. This version of SpongeBob (again brought to life by Tom Kenny) now stands 36 clams high, a detail that thrills him as it at last qualifies him to ride his dream rollercoaster. (An initial, trippy gag: our enthusiastic hero's imagined loop-the-loops.) However, as in the best contemporary American cartoons, the real rollercoaster is the twisting narrative.

The Quest for Pirate Proof

SpongeBob's quest to secure the fabled swashbuckler certificate that will prove him a “big guy” leads him into a showdown with the spectral Flying Dutchman, brought to life by the currently ever-present Mark Hamill. Although the Dutchman's ship adds a grander scope, the film's aesthetic remains a delightful mix of digital animation and hand-crafted components, consistently highlighting pleasing, authentically cartoonish visuals.

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

Notable scenes feature SpongeBob wedging himself into an air conditioner and coming out inexplicably more rectangular than ever; a brief appearance from a pair of chattering joke-shop false teeth; and a punishment sure to delight the six-year-old audience: our hero being subjected to never-ending dishwashing.

Final Thoughts

In the end, Search for SquarePants stands as a reliable entry to the franchise – and arguably the funniest Pirates of the Caribbean movie in years, encompassing a robust Davy Jones joke and a saltily suggestive saying for SpongeBob's pal Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” One thing is clear: those early students will likely 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 26 December in Australia and the UK.