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Would the early viewers who chuckled through the initial SpongeBob adventures have predicted the franchise enduring for a 25 years, following absorbing the most surreal of plotlines? This staying power is partly attributed to its wide-ranging appeal, amusing the funny bones of grown-ups – perhaps even those now grown students – as well as the very young viewers. While it can't claim anything quite as surprising as a certain legendary David Hasselhoff cameo in the 2004 film, this fourth feature thinks nothing of having a veteran voice actor speak as a pirate while handing out royalty cheques to stars like Barbra Streisand. It seems anything remains possible in the zany world of Bikini Bottom.

An Established Zany Groove

Starting with a holiday short featuring Paramount's alternative long-running babysitters, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the latest SpongeBob film quickly settles into a comfortably goofy rhythm. Its storyline acts as a family-friendly treatise on the pros and cons of growing up. This iteration of SpongeBob (again brought to life by Tom Kenny) now measures a specific height, a fact that thrills him as it finally allows him to experience his dream rollercoaster. (An initial, trippy laugh: our enthusiastic hero's imagined loop-the-loops.) However, like the finest modern American animation, the true thrill ride is the twisting plotting.

The Adventure for Swashbuckling Proof

SpongeBob's quest to secure the fabled pirate license that will prove him a “big guy” leads him into a showdown with the spectral Flying Dutchman, voiced by the suddenly ever-present Mark Hamill. Although the Dutchman's ship adds a larger scale, the movie's visual style remains a delightful bricolage of digital animation and hand-crafted elements, consistently highlighting satisfying, authentically animated visuals.

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

Notable scenes feature 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 six-year-old audience: our hero being forced into endless dishwashing.

Final Thoughts

Ultimately, Search for SquarePants is a reliable entry to the franchise – and perhaps the most humorous Pirates of the Caribbean movie in years, including a hearty Davy Jones joke and a cheekily suggestive saying for SpongeBob's friend Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” One thing is certain: those original students will likely be chuckling anew.

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