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Would the early viewers who chuckled through the initial SpongeBob adventures have envisioned the franchise enduring for a 25 years, following experiencing the most lysergic of plotlines? This longevity is in part due to its broad appeal, tickling the sense of humor of adults – possibly even those now grown students – alongside the very young viewers. While it may not feature anything quite as unexpected as a certain memorable David Hasselhoff cameo in the 2004 movie, this latest movie has no qualms about making a veteran voice actor talk like a pirate while dispensing royalty cheques to stars like Barbra Streisand. It seems anything can still in the whimsical world of Bikini Bottom.

An Established Goofy Groove

Kicking off with a holiday short featuring Paramount's other long-running family favorites, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the new SpongeBob film soon settles into a comfortably goofy groove. Its script serves as a family-friendly exploration on the advantages and disadvantages of maturity. This version of SpongeBob (again brought to life by Tom Kenny) now measures 36 clams high, a fact that excites him as it at last qualifies him to experience his fantasy coaster. (An initial, trippy laugh: our enthusiastic hero's fantasized loop-the-loops.) Yet, as in the best modern American animation, the real thrill ride is the corkscrew narrative.

The Adventure for Pirate Credentials

SpongeBob's mission to secure the fabled pirate license that will declare him a “big guy” leads him into a showdown 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 charming bricolage of digital animation and hand-turned elements, forever showcasing satisfying, authentically cartoonish effects.

If its freewheeling humor will resonate after the credits is debatable, but it's a strong SpongeBob movie.

Memorable moments feature SpongeBob squeezing himself into an AC unit and coming out inexplicably more rectangular than ever; a brief appearance from a pair of chattering joke-shop false teeth; and a punishment guaranteed to delight the six-year-old crowd: our hero being subjected to never-ending dishwashing.

Final Thoughts

Ultimately, Search for SquarePants is a reliable entry to the series – and perhaps the most humorous Pirates of the Caribbean movie recently, encompassing a hearty Davy Jones joke and a saltily innuendo-laden catchphrase for SpongeBob's friend Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” It's certain: those original fans will probably be snickering anew.

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