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Could those early viewers who laughed through the initial SpongeBob adventures have predicted the franchise enduring for a quarter-century, following absorbing the most lysergic of plotlines? Such longevity is partly due to its wide-ranging appeal, tickling the funny bones of adults – perhaps even those former students – as well as the youngest viewers. While it can't claim anything as surprising as the legendary David Hasselhoff appearance in the 2004 film, this fourth feature thinks nothing of having Clancy Brown talk like a pirate while handing out royalty cheques to stars like Barbra Streisand. It seems anything can still in the whimsical world of Bikini Bottom.

An Established Zany Vibe

Starting with a holiday short featuring Paramount's other long-running family favorites, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the new SpongeBob movie soon settles into a comfortably goofy rhythm. Its script acts as a family-friendly treatise on the advantages and disadvantages of maturity. This iteration of SpongeBob (again voiced by Tom Kenny) now measures a specific height, a detail that excites him as it finally qualifies him to ride his dream rollercoaster. (An initial, trippy laugh: our enthusiastic hero's fantasized loop-the-loops.) However, like the best modern American animation, the true rollercoaster is the twisting plotting.

The Adventure for Swashbuckling Credentials

SpongeBob's quest to obtain the legendary swashbuckler certificate that will prove him a “big guy” brings him into a showdown with the ghostly Flying Dutchman, voiced by the suddenly ubiquitous Mark Hamill. Although the Dutchman's ghost ship introduces a grander scope, the movie's visual style remains a delightful bricolage of digimation and hand-turned components, forever showcasing satisfying, properly animated effects.

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

Memorable scenes feature SpongeBob squeezing himself into an AC unit and coming out inexplicably squarer than ever; a cameo from a pair of chattering novelty false teeth; and a punishment sure to resonate with the younger crowd: our hero being subjected to endless dishwashing.

Final Thoughts

In the end, Search for SquarePants stands as a solid addition to the series – and arguably the most humorous 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 early students will likely be chuckling all over again.

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