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Would the original fans who chuckled through the initial SpongeBob escapades have predicted the franchise enduring for a 25 years, following absorbing the most surreal of narrative twists? Such longevity is in part due to its wide-ranging appeal, amusing the funny bones of grown-ups – perhaps even those former students – alongside the youngest viewers. While it can't claim anything quite as surprising as a certain memorable David Hasselhoff cameo in the 2004 movie, this latest movie thinks nothing of making a veteran voice actor speak as a pirate while handing out payments to music icons like Barbra Streisand. This proves anything can still in the zany world of Bikini Bottom.

An Established Zany Groove

Kicking off with a festive short featuring Paramount's other weathered babysitters, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the latest SpongeBob film quickly settles into a recognizably silly rhythm. Its storyline serves as a family-friendly exploration on the pros and cons of growing up. This iteration of SpongeBob (again voiced by Tom Kenny) now measures 36 clams high, a detail that excites him as it finally qualifies him to experience his dream rollercoaster. (An early, trippy laugh: our overexcitable hero's fantasized loop-the-loops.) However, like the finest contemporary American animation, the true rollercoaster is the corkscrew narrative.

The Adventure for Pirate Proof

SpongeBob's mission to secure the fabled swashbuckler certificate that will prove 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 larger scale, the film's visual style remains a delightful bricolage of digimation and hand-crafted elements, consistently highlighting pleasing, authentically animated visuals.

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

Memorable scenes feature SpongeBob wedging himself into an air conditioner and emerging inexplicably squarer than before; a cameo from a pair of chattering joke-shop false teeth; and a penalty guaranteed to delight the six-year-old crowd: our hero being forced into never-ending dishwashing.

Final Thoughts

In the end, Search for SquarePants stands as a reliable addition to the series – and arguably the funniest Pirates of the Caribbean movie in years, encompassing a hearty Davy Jones gag and a cheekily suggestive catchphrase for SpongeBob's pal Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” It's clear: those original students will likely be snickering anew.

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