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Would the original fans who chuckled through the initial SpongeBob escapades have envisioned the franchise enduring for a 25 years, even after experiencing the most lysergic of narrative twists? Such staying power is partly attributed to its wide-ranging charm, amusing the funny bones of grown-ups – possibly even those former students – as well as the very young viewers. While it may not feature anything as unexpected as the legendary David Hasselhoff cameo in the 2004 movie, this fourth feature has no qualms about having a veteran voice actor speak as a pirate while dispensing payments to stars like Barbra Streisand. It seems anything can still in the whimsical world of Bikini Bottom.

A Familiar Goofy Vibe

Kicking off with a holiday short starring Paramount's alternative long-running babysitters, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the latest SpongeBob movie quickly finds a recognizably goofy groove. Its script serves as a family-friendly treatise on the advantages and disadvantages of growing up. This version of SpongeBob (again voiced by Tom Kenny) now measures a specific height, a detail that excites him as it at last allows him to experience his dream rollercoaster. (An early, trippy gag: our enthusiastic hero's fantasized loop-the-loops.) However, like the finest modern American cartoons, the true rollercoaster is the twisting plotting.

The Adventure for Pirate Credentials

SpongeBob's mission to secure the fabled swashbuckler certificate that will declare him a “big guy” brings him into conflict with the spectral Flying Dutchman, voiced by the suddenly ubiquitous Mark Hamill. Although the Dutchman's ghost ship adds a larger scale, the movie's aesthetic remains a delightful bricolage of digital animation and hand-crafted components, consistently highlighting pleasing, properly animated effects.

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

Notable moments feature SpongeBob squeezing himself into an air conditioner and coming out somehow more rectangular than before; a cameo from a pair of chattering joke-shop false teeth; and a punishment guaranteed to resonate with the six-year-old audience: our hero being forced into never-ending dishwashing.

Final Thoughts

In the end, Search for SquarePants stands as a solid addition to the series – and arguably the most humorous pirate-themed movie in years, including a robust Davy Jones joke and a saltily suggestive saying for SpongeBob's pal Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” One thing is clear: those early fans will likely be chuckling anew.

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