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Would the original fans who chuckled through the first SpongeBob escapades have envisioned the series persisting for a 25 years, even after experiencing the most lysergic of narrative twists? This staying power is partly attributed to its broad appeal, amusing the sense of humor of adults – possibly even those former students – as well as the youngest viewers. Although it may not feature anything quite as surprising as a certain legendary David Hasselhoff appearance in the 2004 film, this latest movie thinks nothing of making Clancy Brown talk like a pirate while dispensing payments to music icons like Barbra Streisand. It seems everything remains possible in the whimsical world of Bikini Bottom.

An Established Goofy Groove

Kicking off with a holiday short featuring Paramount's other long-running babysitters, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the new SpongeBob movie quickly settles into a comfortably silly groove. Its script serves as a family-friendly 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 allows him to experience his dream rollercoaster. (An early, trippy laugh: our enthusiastic hero's imagined loop-the-loops.) However, like the best contemporary American cartoons, the real thrill ride is the corkscrew plotting.

The Quest for Swashbuckling Proof

SpongeBob's quest to obtain the fabled swashbuckler certificate that will declare him a “big guy” brings him into a showdown with the ghostly Flying Dutchman, voiced by the currently ever-present Mark Hamill. Although the Dutchman's ghost ship adds a larger scale, the movie's visual style remains a charming bricolage of digital animation and hand-crafted elements, forever showcasing satisfying, properly animated visuals.

Whether its freewheeling silliness will linger when the lights come up is debatable, but it's a solid SpongeBob movie.

Notable scenes feature SpongeBob wedging himself into an air conditioner and coming out inexplicably squarer than before; a brief appearance from a pair of chattering novelty false teeth; and a penalty sure to delight the younger crowd: our hero being subjected to endless dishwashing.

Final Thoughts

In the end, Search for SquarePants stands as a reliable addition to the series – and arguably the most humorous Pirates of the Caribbean movie recently, encompassing a hearty Davy Jones joke and a cheekily suggestive saying for SpongeBob's pal Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” One thing is clear: those original students will likely be snickering anew.

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.