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Would the original fans who laughed through the first SpongeBob adventures have predicted the franchise enduring for a quarter-century, even after experiencing the most surreal of plotlines? Such staying power is partly attributed to its wide-ranging charm, tickling the funny bones of grown-ups – possibly even those now grown students – as well as the youngest viewers. Although it can't claim anything as surprising as the memorable 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 stars like Barbra Streisand. This proves everything can still in the zany world of Bikini Bottom.

An Established Goofy Groove

Starting with a holiday short featuring Paramount's other weathered babysitters, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the latest SpongeBob film quickly finds a comfortably goofy rhythm. Its script acts as a PG-rated exploration on the advantages and disadvantages of maturity. This iteration of SpongeBob (again brought to life by Tom Kenny) now measures a specific height, a detail that thrills him as it at last qualifies him to experience his fantasy coaster. (An early, psychedelic gag: our overexcitable hero's imagined loop-the-loops.) Yet, as in the finest contemporary American cartoons, the true rollercoaster is the twisting narrative.

The Adventure for Swashbuckling Proof

SpongeBob's quest to secure the fabled swashbuckler certificate that will declare him a “big guy” leads him into a showdown with the ghostly Flying Dutchman, voiced by the suddenly ubiquitous Mark Hamill. While the Dutchman's ghost ship introduces a larger scale, the movie's visual style remains a charming bricolage of digimation and hand-turned components, forever showcasing satisfying, properly cartoonish visuals.

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

Notable scenes include SpongeBob wedging himself into an AC unit and emerging somehow squarer than ever; a cameo from a pair of chattering joke-shop false teeth; and a penalty sure to resonate with the younger crowd: our hero being subjected to endless dishwashing.

The Verdict

In the end, Search for SquarePants is a solid entry to the franchise – and arguably 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 clear: those early students will likely be chuckling all over again.

Release Dates: 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.