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Could those early viewers who laughed through the first SpongeBob escapades have envisioned the series persisting for a 25 years, following absorbing the most lysergic of plotlines? This staying power is in part due to its broad charm, amusing the funny bones of adults – perhaps even those former students – as well as the very young viewers. While it can't claim anything quite as unexpected as a certain memorable David Hasselhoff cameo in the 2004 film, this latest movie thinks nothing of making Clancy Brown speak as a pirate while dispensing royalty cheques to stars like Barbra Streisand. It seems everything remains possible in the zany world of Bikini Bottom.

A Familiar Zany Groove

Starting with a holiday short featuring Paramount's other long-running family favorites, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the new SpongeBob movie soon finds a recognizably goofy groove. Its storyline serves as a family-friendly treatise on the advantages and disadvantages of maturity. This version of SpongeBob (again brought to life by Tom Kenny) now measures a specific height, a detail that excites him as it finally qualifies him to ride his dream rollercoaster. (An early, psychedelic laugh: our enthusiastic hero's fantasized loop-the-loops.) Yet, as in the best modern American cartoons, the real rollercoaster is the corkscrew narrative.

The Quest for Swashbuckling Credentials

SpongeBob's mission to secure the fabled pirate license that will prove him a “big guy” leads him into conflict with the spectral Flying Dutchman, brought to life by the currently ubiquitous Mark Hamill. Although the Dutchman's ghost ship adds a grander scope, the film's aesthetic remains a charming mix of digital animation and hand-turned elements, consistently highlighting pleasing, authentically animated visuals.

If its freewheeling silliness will resonate after the credits is up for discussion, but it's a strong SpongeBob movie.

Memorable moments feature SpongeBob squeezing himself into an air conditioner and emerging inexplicably more rectangular than before; a brief appearance from a pair of chattering joke-shop false teeth; and a punishment guaranteed to delight the younger audience: our hero being forced into never-ending dishwashing.

Final Thoughts

In the end, Search for SquarePants is a solid addition to the franchise – and arguably the funniest Pirates of the Caribbean movie in years, encompassing a robust Davy Jones joke and a saltily innuendo-laden saying for SpongeBob's pal Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” One thing is clear: those original fans will likely be chuckling anew.

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