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Would the original fans who laughed through the first SpongeBob escapades have envisioned the series enduring for a 25 years, even after absorbing the most lysergic of narrative twists? Such staying power is partly due to its broad charm, tickling the funny bones of adults – perhaps even those now grown students – as well as the very young viewers. While it may not feature anything as surprising as the legendary David Hasselhoff cameo in the 2004 film, this latest movie thinks nothing of making Clancy Brown talk like a pirate while handing out royalty cheques to stars like Barbra Streisand. This proves everything can still in the zany world of Bikini Bottom.

An Established Zany Groove

Kicking off with a festive short starring Paramount's alternative long-running babysitters, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the latest SpongeBob movie quickly finds a comfortably goofy groove. Its storyline acts as a PG-rated treatise on the pros and cons of maturity. This iteration of SpongeBob (again brought to life by Tom Kenny) now measures 36 clams high, a detail that excites him as it at last allows him to ride his fantasy coaster. (An early, psychedelic gag: our enthusiastic hero's imagined loop-the-loops.) Yet, like the finest contemporary American cartoons, the true rollercoaster is the twisting narrative.

The Adventure for Pirate Credentials

SpongeBob's mission to obtain the fabled pirate license that will declare him a “big guy” brings him into a showdown with the ghostly Flying Dutchman, brought to life by the currently ever-present Mark Hamill. While the Dutchman's ship adds a larger scale, the movie's aesthetic remains a delightful mix of digimation and hand-turned elements, forever highlighting pleasing, authentically animated visuals.

Whether its freewheeling humor will linger when the lights come up is debatable, but it's a strong SpongeBob movie.

Memorable moments feature SpongeBob wedging himself into an air conditioner and emerging inexplicably squarer than before; a brief appearance from a pair of chattering joke-shop false teeth; and a penalty sure to delight the six-year-old crowd: our hero being forced into never-ending dishwashing.

Final Thoughts

Ultimately, Search for SquarePants is a solid addition to the series – and arguably the funniest Pirates of the Caribbean movie recently, encompassing a hearty Davy Jones gag and a saltily innuendo-laden catchphrase for SpongeBob's friend Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” It's clear: those original students will likely be snickering anew.

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