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Would the early viewers who chuckled through the initial SpongeBob escapades have envisioned the series enduring for a 25 years, following experiencing the most surreal of plotlines? This longevity is in part attributed to its wide-ranging charm, tickling the funny bones of adults – possibly even those former students – as well as the very young viewers. Although it may not feature anything quite as unexpected 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. This proves anything can still in the zany world of Bikini Bottom.

A Familiar Goofy Groove

Kicking off with a holiday short featuring Paramount's alternative weathered family favorites, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the latest SpongeBob film soon finds a comfortably silly groove. Its storyline serves 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 excites him as it finally qualifies him to experience his dream rollercoaster. (An initial, psychedelic laugh: our overexcitable hero's imagined loop-the-loops.) However, like the finest contemporary American animation, the real thrill ride is the corkscrew plotting.

The Adventure for Swashbuckling Proof

SpongeBob's quest to obtain the legendary pirate license that will declare him a “big guy” leads 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 film's visual style remains a charming bricolage of digital animation and hand-turned components, consistently showcasing pleasing, authentically cartoonish effects.

If its freewheeling silliness will linger after the credits is debatable, but it's a solid SpongeBob movie.

Notable scenes include SpongeBob squeezing himself into an air conditioner and coming out somehow more rectangular than ever; a cameo from a pair of chattering novelty false teeth; and a penalty guaranteed to resonate with the six-year-old audience: our hero being subjected to endless dishwashing.

Final Thoughts

In the end, Search for SquarePants stands as a solid addition to the franchise – and arguably the funniest pirate-themed movie in years, encompassing a robust Davy Jones joke and a saltily innuendo-laden saying for SpongeBob's friend Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” One thing is clear: those early students will likely be snickering all over again.

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