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Would the original fans who chuckled through the initial SpongeBob escapades have predicted the franchise persisting for a 25 years, even after experiencing the most surreal of plotlines? Such staying power is in part due to its wide-ranging charm, amusing the funny bones of adults – possibly even those former students – as well as the very young viewers. While it may not feature anything as unexpected as the legendary David Hasselhoff cameo in the 2004 film, this fourth feature has no qualms about making a veteran voice actor speak as a pirate while handing out royalty cheques to music icons like Barbra Streisand. It seems everything can still in the zany world of Bikini Bottom.

An Established Goofy Vibe

Kicking off with a festive short featuring Paramount's alternative long-running babysitters, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the new SpongeBob movie quickly settles into a recognizably goofy groove. Its storyline acts as a PG-rated exploration on the pros and cons of growing up. This iteration of SpongeBob (again voiced by Tom Kenny) now measures a specific height, a detail that excites him as it finally allows him to ride his dream rollercoaster. (An early, psychedelic gag: our enthusiastic hero's imagined loop-the-loops.) Yet, as in the finest modern American cartoons, the real rollercoaster is the twisting plotting.

The Adventure for Swashbuckling Proof

SpongeBob's mission to obtain the fabled pirate license that will declare him a “big guy” brings him into a showdown with the spectral Flying Dutchman, voiced by the suddenly ubiquitous Mark Hamill. Although the Dutchman's ship adds a larger scale, the movie's aesthetic remains a delightful bricolage of digimation and hand-crafted components, consistently highlighting satisfying, authentically animated effects.

If its spitballing humor will linger after the credits is up for discussion, but it's a solid SpongeBob movie.

Memorable scenes feature SpongeBob wedging himself into an AC unit and coming out somehow squarer than ever; a cameo from a pair of chattering novelty false teeth; and a punishment guaranteed to delight the younger audience: our hero being subjected to endless dishwashing.

The Verdict

Ultimately, Search for SquarePants stands as a solid addition to the franchise – and perhaps the most humorous Pirates of the Caribbean movie in years, encompassing a robust Davy Jones gag and a cheekily innuendo-laden catchphrase for SpongeBob's friend Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” It's certain: those early students will probably be snickering anew.

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