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Could those original fans who laughed through the first SpongeBob escapades have predicted the series persisting for a quarter-century, even after experiencing the most surreal of narrative twists? This longevity is in part due to its wide-ranging appeal, tickling the sense of humor of grown-ups – possibly even those now grown students – as well as the youngest viewers. While it can't claim anything as unexpected as a certain legendary David Hasselhoff cameo in the 2004 film, this latest movie thinks nothing of making Clancy Brown talk like a pirate while dispensing royalty cheques to music icons like Barbra Streisand. It seems everything remains possible in the whimsical world of Bikini Bottom.

A Familiar Goofy Groove

Kicking off with a holiday short featuring Paramount's other long-running babysitters, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the new SpongeBob film soon settles into a recognizably silly groove. Its storyline acts as a PG-rated treatise on the pros and cons of maturity. This version of SpongeBob (again brought to life by Tom Kenny) now measures a specific height, a fact that excites him as it at last qualifies him to ride his dream rollercoaster. (An initial, psychedelic gag: our overexcitable hero's imagined loop-the-loops.) Yet, as in the finest contemporary American cartoons, the real rollercoaster is the corkscrew plotting.

The Quest for Pirate Credentials

SpongeBob's quest to secure the fabled pirate license that will declare him a “big guy” leads him into conflict with the spectral Flying Dutchman, voiced by the suddenly ever-present Mark Hamill. Although the Dutchman's ghost ship introduces a larger scale, the movie's aesthetic remains a charming bricolage of digimation and hand-crafted elements, forever highlighting pleasing, properly animated visuals.

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

Memorable moments include SpongeBob wedging himself into an AC unit and coming out somehow squarer than before; a cameo from a pair of chattering joke-shop false teeth; and a punishment guaranteed to delight the younger crowd: our hero being forced into never-ending dishwashing.

The Verdict

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 gag and a cheekily suggestive catchphrase for SpongeBob's pal Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” It's certain: those original fans will likely be chuckling all over again.

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