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Could those early viewers who chuckled through the first SpongeBob adventures have predicted the series persisting for a 25 years, following absorbing the most lysergic of plotlines? Such staying power is partly due to its broad appeal, tickling the funny bones of adults – perhaps even those now grown students – alongside the very young viewers. While it can't claim anything quite as surprising as a certain memorable David Hasselhoff cameo in the 2004 film, this fourth feature thinks nothing of having a veteran voice actor talk like a pirate while handing out payments to music icons like Barbra Streisand. This proves everything can still in the whimsical world of Bikini Bottom.

A Familiar Zany Groove

Kicking off with a holiday short starring Paramount's alternative weathered babysitters, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the latest SpongeBob movie quickly settles into a recognizably goofy groove. Its storyline acts 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 detail that thrills him as it at last qualifies him to ride his dream rollercoaster. (An early, trippy gag: our overexcitable hero's imagined loop-the-loops.) Yet, like the best contemporary American animation, the true rollercoaster is the corkscrew narrative.

The Quest for Pirate Credentials

SpongeBob's quest to secure the fabled swashbuckler certificate that will declare him a “big guy” brings him into conflict with the ghostly Flying Dutchman, brought to life by the suddenly ubiquitous Mark Hamill. Although the Dutchman's ghost ship introduces a grander scope, the movie's visual style remains a charming bricolage of digital animation and hand-crafted components, consistently showcasing satisfying, properly cartoonish effects.

If its spitballing humor will linger after the credits is debatable, but it's a solid SpongeBob movie.

Memorable moments feature SpongeBob squeezing himself into an AC unit and coming out inexplicably more rectangular than ever; a cameo from a pair of chattering joke-shop false teeth; and a penalty guaranteed to resonate with the younger audience: our hero being forced into never-ending dishwashing.

Final Thoughts

In the end, Search for SquarePants is a reliable addition to the series – and perhaps the most humorous pirate-themed movie recently, encompassing a hearty Davy Jones joke and a cheekily innuendo-laden saying for SpongeBob's pal 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 19 December in the US, 20 December in Ireland, and 26 December in Australia and the UK.