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Would the original fans who laughed through the initial SpongeBob escapades have envisioned the series enduring for a 25 years, even after absorbing the most surreal of narrative twists? This staying power is in part due to its broad appeal, tickling the sense of humor of adults – possibly even those former students – alongside the youngest viewers. While it can't claim anything as surprising as the memorable David Hasselhoff appearance in the 2004 movie, this latest movie thinks nothing of making a veteran voice actor speak as a pirate while handing out royalty cheques to music icons like Barbra Streisand. It seems everything can still in the zany world of Bikini Bottom.

A Familiar Goofy Groove

Kicking off with a festive short starring Paramount's other weathered babysitters, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the latest SpongeBob film soon settles into 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 fact that excites him as it finally qualifies him to experience his dream rollercoaster. (An initial, psychedelic gag: our enthusiastic hero's imagined loop-the-loops.) Yet, as in the best modern American cartoons, the true rollercoaster is the corkscrew plotting.

The Quest for Pirate Credentials

SpongeBob's quest to obtain the legendary pirate license that will declare him a “big guy” brings him into a showdown with the ghostly Flying Dutchman, brought to life by the currently ever-present Mark Hamill. Although the Dutchman's ship introduces a larger scale, the film's aesthetic remains a delightful bricolage of digimation and hand-turned elements, forever highlighting pleasing, properly cartoonish visuals.

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

Notable scenes feature SpongeBob wedging himself into an AC unit and coming out somehow squarer than before; a cameo from a pair of chattering novelty false teeth; and a penalty sure to resonate with the six-year-old audience: our hero being subjected to endless dishwashing.

Final Thoughts

In the end, Search for SquarePants is a solid addition to the series – and arguably the most humorous Pirates of the Caribbean movie in years, encompassing a robust Davy Jones joke and a cheekily innuendo-laden catchphrase for SpongeBob's friend Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” It's clear: those early students will probably be chuckling all over again.

Coming to Theaters: 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.