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Could those original fans who chuckled through the first SpongeBob escapades have envisioned the franchise persisting for a 25 years, even after absorbing the most surreal of plotlines? This staying power is partly attributed to its broad charm, tickling the sense of humor of grown-ups – possibly even those now grown students – alongside the youngest viewers. Although it may not feature anything as surprising as a certain legendary David Hasselhoff cameo in the 2004 movie, this latest movie thinks nothing of having a veteran voice actor talk like a pirate while dispensing royalty cheques to stars like Barbra Streisand. It seems everything remains possible in the zany world of Bikini Bottom.

A Familiar Zany Vibe

Kicking off with a festive short starring Paramount's other weathered babysitters, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the new SpongeBob film soon finds a comfortably goofy groove. Its script serves as a family-friendly treatise on the advantages and disadvantages of maturity. This version of SpongeBob (again voiced by Tom Kenny) now measures 36 clams high, a fact that excites him as it finally allows him to experience his fantasy coaster. (An initial, psychedelic gag: our overexcitable hero's imagined loop-the-loops.) Yet, like the finest contemporary American cartoons, the real rollercoaster is the corkscrew plotting.

The Adventure for Swashbuckling Credentials

SpongeBob's quest to secure the legendary pirate license that will prove him a “big guy” leads him into a showdown with the spectral Flying Dutchman, brought to life by the currently ubiquitous Mark Hamill. Although the Dutchman's ghost ship adds a grander scope, the film's visual style remains a charming bricolage of digimation and hand-crafted components, forever showcasing pleasing, authentically animated effects.

Whether its freewheeling humor will resonate 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 somehow more rectangular than ever; a cameo from a pair of chattering joke-shop false teeth; and a penalty sure to resonate with the younger audience: our hero being forced into endless dishwashing.

The Verdict

In the end, Search for SquarePants stands as a reliable entry to the series – and arguably the most humorous pirate-themed movie in years, including a hearty Davy Jones gag and a cheekily suggestive catchphrase for SpongeBob's friend Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” One thing is clear: those early students will probably be snickering all over again.

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