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Would the original fans who laughed through the first SpongeBob escapades have predicted the series enduring for a 25 years, even after experiencing the most surreal of narrative twists? This longevity is in part attributed to its wide-ranging appeal, amusing the funny bones of adults – perhaps even those now grown students – alongside the youngest viewers. While it can't claim anything as unexpected as a certain memorable David Hasselhoff cameo in the 2004 film, this latest movie thinks nothing of having Clancy Brown talk like a pirate while handing out royalty cheques to music icons like Barbra Streisand. It seems everything remains possible in the zany world of Bikini Bottom.

An Established Goofy Groove

Kicking off with a festive short featuring Paramount's alternative long-running babysitters, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the latest SpongeBob film soon finds a comfortably silly rhythm. Its storyline serves as a PG-rated treatise on the advantages and disadvantages of maturity. This iteration of SpongeBob (again voiced by Tom Kenny) now measures 36 clams high, a detail that excites him as it finally qualifies him to ride his fantasy coaster. (An early, psychedelic laugh: our overexcitable hero's fantasized loop-the-loops.) Yet, like the finest modern American animation, the true rollercoaster is the twisting narrative.

The Quest for Swashbuckling Proof

SpongeBob's mission to secure the legendary pirate license that will prove him a “big guy” brings him into a showdown with the spectral Flying Dutchman, brought to life by the currently ever-present Mark Hamill. While the Dutchman's ghost ship adds a larger scale, the movie's visual style remains a delightful mix of digimation and hand-turned elements, forever showcasing satisfying, properly cartoonish visuals.

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

Notable scenes feature SpongeBob wedging himself into an air conditioner and emerging inexplicably more rectangular than before; a brief appearance from a pair of chattering joke-shop false teeth; and a penalty sure to resonate with the younger crowd: our hero being subjected to endless dishwashing.

Final Thoughts

Ultimately, Search for SquarePants stands as a reliable addition to the franchise – and perhaps the funniest Pirates of the Caribbean movie in years, including a hearty Davy Jones gag and a cheekily suggestive catchphrase for SpongeBob's pal Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” One thing is clear: those original students will probably be chuckling all over again.

Coming to Theaters: 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.