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Would the original fans who laughed through the initial SpongeBob adventures have predicted the series persisting for a quarter-century, following experiencing the most surreal of narrative twists? Such staying power is in part due to its broad charm, amusing the funny bones of grown-ups – possibly even those now grown students – alongside the very young viewers. Although it may not feature anything as surprising as the legendary David Hasselhoff appearance in the 2004 movie, this fourth feature thinks nothing of making a veteran voice actor speak as a pirate while dispensing payments to music icons like Barbra Streisand. It seems anything remains possible in the whimsical world of Bikini Bottom.

A Familiar Goofy Groove

Starting with a festive short featuring Paramount's other weathered family favorites, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the latest SpongeBob movie soon settles into a comfortably goofy rhythm. Its storyline serves as a PG-rated treatise on the pros and cons of maturity. This iteration of SpongeBob (again brought to life by Tom Kenny) now measures a specific height, a fact that excites him as it at last qualifies him to experience his dream rollercoaster. (An initial, psychedelic laugh: our overexcitable hero's imagined loop-the-loops.) However, like the best contemporary American cartoons, the true thrill ride is the twisting plotting.

The Adventure for Pirate Proof

SpongeBob's mission to secure the legendary swashbuckler certificate that will declare him a “big guy” brings him into conflict with the spectral Flying Dutchman, voiced by the currently ubiquitous Mark Hamill. Although the Dutchman's ghost ship introduces a larger scale, the film's aesthetic remains a charming bricolage of digimation and hand-crafted components, consistently highlighting satisfying, properly animated effects.

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

Notable moments include SpongeBob wedging himself into an AC unit and emerging inexplicably squarer than ever; a brief appearance from a pair of chattering joke-shop false teeth; and a penalty sure to delight the younger audience: our hero being subjected to never-ending dishwashing.

The Verdict

In the end, Search for SquarePants stands as a solid addition to the franchise – and arguably the funniest Pirates of the Caribbean movie recently, including a robust Davy Jones joke and a saltily innuendo-laden saying for SpongeBob's pal Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” It's clear: those early students will probably be chuckling anew.

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