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Would the early viewers who chuckled through the initial SpongeBob adventures have predicted the series persisting for a 25 years, following absorbing the most lysergic of plotlines? Such longevity is in part due to its wide-ranging appeal, tickling the sense of humor of grown-ups – perhaps even those now grown students – as well as the youngest viewers. While it can't claim anything quite as surprising as a certain memorable David Hasselhoff cameo in the 2004 film, this latest movie has no qualms about having Clancy Brown talk like a pirate while handing out royalty cheques to stars like Barbra Streisand. It seems anything remains possible in the whimsical world of Bikini Bottom.

A Familiar Goofy Vibe

Kicking off with a festive short featuring Paramount's alternative long-running babysitters, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the new SpongeBob film quickly finds a comfortably goofy groove. Its script acts as a family-friendly treatise on the advantages and disadvantages of maturity. This iteration of SpongeBob (again voiced by Tom Kenny) now stands 36 clams high, a fact that thrills him as it at last allows him to experience his dream rollercoaster. (An early, trippy gag: our enthusiastic hero's fantasized loop-the-loops.) Yet, as in the finest modern American cartoons, the true rollercoaster is the corkscrew narrative.

The Quest for Pirate Credentials

SpongeBob's mission to obtain the fabled swashbuckler certificate that will declare him a “big guy” leads him into conflict with the ghostly Flying Dutchman, voiced by the suddenly ubiquitous Mark Hamill. While the Dutchman's ghost ship introduces a grander scope, the film's aesthetic remains a charming mix of digimation and hand-turned components, consistently highlighting satisfying, authentically cartoonish visuals.

Whether its freewheeling humor will linger after the credits is debatable, but it's a strong SpongeBob movie.

Notable moments include SpongeBob wedging himself into an AC unit and emerging somehow squarer than ever; a brief appearance from a pair of chattering joke-shop false teeth; and a penalty sure to delight the younger audience: our hero being subjected to endless dishwashing.

The Verdict

In the end, Search for SquarePants stands as a reliable entry to the franchise – and arguably the most humorous Pirates of the Caribbean movie in years, including a robust Davy Jones gag and a saltily innuendo-laden saying for SpongeBob's pal Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” One thing is certain: those original students will probably be chuckling all over again.

Release Dates: The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants debuts on 19 December in the US, December 20th in Ireland, and 26 December in Australia and the UK.