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Would the original fans who chuckled through the first SpongeBob escapades have envisioned the series enduring for a quarter-century, even after experiencing the most lysergic of plotlines? This longevity is in part due to its broad appeal, amusing the sense of humor of grown-ups – perhaps even those former students – alongside the youngest viewers. While it can't claim anything quite as unexpected as the legendary David Hasselhoff cameo in the 2004 movie, this fourth feature thinks nothing of making a veteran voice actor speak as a pirate while dispensing royalty cheques to music icons like Barbra Streisand. It seems anything remains possible in the whimsical world of Bikini Bottom.

An Established Zany Vibe

Starting with a festive short featuring Paramount's other long-running family favorites, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the latest SpongeBob movie soon finds a recognizably silly rhythm. Its script serves as a PG-rated exploration on the pros and cons of maturity. This iteration of SpongeBob (again brought to life by Tom Kenny) now stands a specific height, a fact that excites him as it at last qualifies him to experience his fantasy coaster. (An initial, trippy gag: our enthusiastic hero's imagined loop-the-loops.) However, like the finest contemporary American animation, the real rollercoaster is the twisting narrative.

The Adventure for Swashbuckling Credentials

SpongeBob's mission to obtain the legendary pirate license that will declare him a “big guy” brings him into conflict with the ghostly Flying Dutchman, voiced by the currently ubiquitous Mark Hamill. Although the Dutchman's ship introduces a grander scope, the film's aesthetic remains a delightful mix of digimation and hand-crafted components, consistently highlighting satisfying, properly cartoonish effects.

If its spitballing humor will resonate when the lights come up is debatable, but it's a solid SpongeBob movie.

Memorable scenes feature SpongeBob squeezing himself into an air conditioner and emerging somehow squarer than before; a cameo from a pair of chattering joke-shop false teeth; and a punishment sure to resonate with the younger crowd: our hero being forced into never-ending dishwashing.

The Verdict

In the end, Search for SquarePants is a solid addition to the series – and perhaps the funniest Pirates of the Caribbean movie recently, including a hearty Davy Jones gag and a saltily suggestive saying for SpongeBob's pal Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” It's clear: those original fans will likely be chuckling all over again.

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