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Could those original fans who laughed through the first SpongeBob adventures have envisioned the series persisting for a 25 years, even after absorbing the most surreal of narrative twists? This staying power is in part due to its broad appeal, amusing the funny bones of grown-ups – perhaps even those former students – as well as the very young viewers. Although it may not feature anything quite as unexpected as the memorable David Hasselhoff cameo in the 2004 movie, this latest movie has no qualms about making a veteran voice actor speak as a pirate while dispensing payments to music icons like Barbra Streisand. This proves everything remains possible in the whimsical world of Bikini Bottom.

A Familiar Zany Vibe

Starting with a holiday short starring Paramount's alternative long-running family favorites, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the latest SpongeBob film quickly finds a recognizably silly groove. Its storyline serves as a family-friendly treatise on the pros and cons of maturity. This version of SpongeBob (again brought to life by Tom Kenny) now stands 36 clams high, a detail that excites him as it at last allows him to ride his fantasy coaster. (An initial, trippy laugh: our overexcitable hero's imagined loop-the-loops.) However, like the best modern American animation, the real thrill ride is the corkscrew narrative.

The Adventure for Pirate Proof

SpongeBob's quest to secure the fabled swashbuckler certificate that will prove him a “big guy” brings him into conflict with the spectral Flying Dutchman, voiced by the currently ubiquitous Mark Hamill. While the Dutchman's ghost ship adds a larger scale, the film's aesthetic remains a delightful bricolage of digimation and hand-crafted elements, consistently highlighting pleasing, properly cartoonish visuals.

Whether its freewheeling silliness will linger when the lights come up is debatable, but it's a solid SpongeBob movie.

Notable moments feature SpongeBob wedging himself into an air conditioner and emerging inexplicably more rectangular than before; a cameo from a pair of chattering novelty false teeth; and a punishment guaranteed 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 entry to the franchise – and perhaps the funniest Pirates of the Caribbean movie in years, encompassing a robust Davy Jones gag and a saltily innuendo-laden saying for SpongeBob's friend Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” It's clear: those original fans will probably be snickering anew.

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