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Could those early viewers who chuckled through the initial SpongeBob escapades have envisioned the franchise persisting for a quarter-century, following experiencing the most lysergic of plotlines? This staying power is in part due to its broad appeal, tickling the funny bones of grown-ups – perhaps even those now grown students – as well as the youngest viewers. While it can't claim anything quite as surprising as a certain legendary David Hasselhoff cameo in the 2004 movie, this latest movie has no qualms about making 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 Vibe

Kicking off with a holiday short featuring Paramount's other long-running babysitters, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the latest SpongeBob movie quickly settles into a comfortably goofy groove. Its script acts as a PG-rated exploration on the pros and cons of growing up. 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 qualifies him to experience his dream rollercoaster. (An initial, psychedelic gag: our enthusiastic hero's imagined loop-the-loops.) However, like the best contemporary American cartoons, the real thrill ride is the corkscrew narrative.

The Adventure for Pirate Proof

SpongeBob's quest to secure the legendary swashbuckler certificate that will prove him a “big guy” brings him into a showdown with the ghostly Flying Dutchman, brought to life by the suddenly ubiquitous Mark Hamill. While the Dutchman's ghost ship adds a larger scale, the movie's aesthetic remains a charming bricolage of digimation and hand-turned components, consistently highlighting satisfying, properly cartoonish effects.

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

Memorable scenes feature SpongeBob wedging himself into an air conditioner and coming out somehow squarer than before; a brief appearance from a pair of chattering joke-shop false teeth; and a penalty guaranteed to resonate with the six-year-old audience: our hero being subjected to never-ending dishwashing.

The Verdict

Ultimately, Search for SquarePants is a reliable addition to the series – and arguably the funniest Pirates of the Caribbean movie in years, including a robust Davy Jones joke and a saltily innuendo-laden saying for SpongeBob's friend Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” It's clear: those early students will probably be chuckling anew.

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