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Would the original fans who laughed through the first SpongeBob adventures have predicted the franchise enduring for a 25 years, following absorbing the most surreal of plotlines? This longevity is in part due to its wide-ranging charm, tickling the funny bones of adults – perhaps even those former students – alongside the youngest viewers. Although it can't claim anything as unexpected as a certain legendary David Hasselhoff cameo in the 2004 film, this latest movie has no qualms about making a veteran voice actor talk like a pirate while dispensing royalty cheques to stars like Barbra Streisand. This proves everything can still in the whimsical world of Bikini Bottom.

An Established Zany Vibe

Starting with a holiday short featuring Paramount's other long-running babysitters, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the new SpongeBob film quickly finds a recognizably silly groove. Its storyline serves as a family-friendly exploration on the pros and cons of maturity. This iteration of SpongeBob (again voiced by Tom Kenny) now measures a specific height, a fact that thrills him as it finally allows him to experience his dream rollercoaster. (An early, trippy gag: our enthusiastic hero's imagined loop-the-loops.) Yet, like the best modern American animation, the true thrill ride is the corkscrew narrative.

The Quest for Pirate Credentials

SpongeBob's quest 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 currently ever-present Mark Hamill. Although the Dutchman's ghost ship introduces a larger scale, the movie's visual style remains a charming mix of digimation and hand-crafted components, forever highlighting satisfying, authentically cartoonish effects.

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

Memorable scenes feature SpongeBob wedging himself into an air conditioner and emerging somehow squarer than ever; a cameo from a pair of chattering joke-shop false teeth; and a penalty guaranteed to resonate with the younger crowd: our hero being forced into endless dishwashing.

Final Thoughts

Ultimately, Search for SquarePants stands as a solid entry to the franchise – and arguably the most humorous pirate-themed movie in years, encompassing a robust Davy Jones gag and a saltily innuendo-laden saying for SpongeBob's pal Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” It's certain: those original fans will likely be chuckling anew.

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