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Would the early viewers who chuckled through the first SpongeBob adventures have predicted the series enduring for a quarter-century, even after experiencing the most lysergic of plotlines? This staying power is partly attributed to its broad charm, amusing the funny bones of grown-ups – perhaps even those former students – alongside the very young viewers. Although it can't claim anything quite as surprising as the memorable David Hasselhoff appearance in the 2004 film, this fourth feature has no qualms about having Clancy Brown 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 featuring Paramount's other weathered family favorites, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the latest SpongeBob film soon finds a recognizably goofy rhythm. Its storyline serves as a PG-rated exploration on the advantages and disadvantages of maturity. This iteration of SpongeBob (again voiced by Tom Kenny) now stands a specific height, a detail that thrills him as it at last allows him to experience his fantasy coaster. (An initial, psychedelic laugh: our enthusiastic hero's fantasized loop-the-loops.) However, like the best contemporary American cartoons, the true thrill ride is the corkscrew plotting.

The Quest for Swashbuckling Credentials

SpongeBob's quest to obtain the fabled pirate license that will prove him a “big guy” brings him into a showdown with the spectral Flying Dutchman, brought to life by the currently ever-present 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, forever showcasing satisfying, properly cartoonish effects.

If its freewheeling silliness will linger after the credits is up for discussion, but it's a solid SpongeBob movie.

Memorable moments feature SpongeBob squeezing himself into an AC unit and emerging somehow squarer than before; a cameo from a pair of chattering joke-shop false teeth; and a punishment guaranteed to delight the younger crowd: our hero being forced into endless dishwashing.

Final Thoughts

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 hearty Davy Jones gag and a saltily innuendo-laden saying for SpongeBob's friend Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” One thing is clear: those original fans will probably be chuckling anew.

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