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Would the original fans who laughed through the first SpongeBob adventures have predicted the franchise enduring for a 25 years, following absorbing the most surreal of narrative twists? This longevity is in part due to its wide-ranging charm, tickling the funny bones of adults – possibly even those now grown students – alongside the youngest viewers. While it may not feature anything as unexpected as the legendary David Hasselhoff appearance in the 2004 movie, this latest movie has no qualms about making a veteran voice actor speak as a pirate while dispensing payments 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 holiday short featuring Paramount's alternative long-running family favorites, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the new SpongeBob movie quickly settles into a recognizably goofy rhythm. Its script acts as a PG-rated exploration on the advantages and disadvantages of maturity. This version of SpongeBob (again voiced by Tom Kenny) now stands a specific height, a detail that excites him as it at last allows him to ride his fantasy coaster. (An initial, trippy laugh: our enthusiastic hero's imagined loop-the-loops.) Yet, like the best modern American animation, the true rollercoaster is the twisting plotting.

The Quest for Pirate Credentials

SpongeBob's quest to secure the legendary pirate license that will declare him a “big guy” leads him into conflict with the ghostly Flying Dutchman, brought to life by the suddenly ever-present Mark Hamill. While the Dutchman's ghost ship introduces a larger scale, the movie's visual style remains a delightful mix of digital animation and hand-turned components, forever showcasing satisfying, properly animated visuals.

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

Notable scenes feature SpongeBob wedging himself into an AC unit and coming out inexplicably more rectangular than ever; a cameo from a pair of chattering joke-shop false teeth; and a penalty sure to delight the younger audience: our hero being forced into endless dishwashing.

The Verdict

In the end, Search for SquarePants stands as a solid entry to the franchise – and arguably the funniest Pirates of the Caribbean movie in years, including a robust Davy Jones gag and a saltily innuendo-laden catchphrase for SpongeBob's pal Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” It's clear: those original students will probably be chuckling all over again.

Coming to Theaters: 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.