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Would the early viewers who laughed through the initial SpongeBob escapades have envisioned the franchise persisting for a quarter-century, following experiencing the most surreal of plotlines? Such staying power is in part due to its wide-ranging appeal, tickling the funny bones of adults – perhaps even those now grown students – as well as the youngest viewers. While it can't claim anything quite as surprising as the legendary David Hasselhoff cameo in the 2004 film, this fourth feature has no qualms about making a veteran voice actor talk like a pirate while handing out payments to stars like Barbra Streisand. It seems everything remains possible in the zany world of Bikini Bottom.

A Familiar Goofy Vibe

Starting with a holiday short featuring Paramount's other long-running babysitters, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the new SpongeBob movie quickly settles into a comfortably silly groove. Its script serves as a family-friendly treatise on the advantages and disadvantages of maturity. This iteration of SpongeBob (again voiced by Tom Kenny) now measures a specific height, a detail that thrills him as it finally allows him to ride his fantasy coaster. (An early, psychedelic laugh: our overexcitable hero's imagined loop-the-loops.) However, as in the finest modern American cartoons, the true rollercoaster is the corkscrew narrative.

The Quest for Swashbuckling Credentials

SpongeBob's mission to obtain the legendary pirate license that will declare him a “big guy” brings him into conflict with the ghostly Flying Dutchman, voiced by the suddenly ever-present Mark Hamill. Although the Dutchman's ghost ship introduces a larger scale, the movie's aesthetic remains a charming mix of digimation and hand-crafted components, consistently showcasing pleasing, authentically animated effects.

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

Memorable scenes feature SpongeBob squeezing himself into an AC unit and coming out somehow squarer than ever; a cameo from a pair of chattering joke-shop false teeth; and a punishment guaranteed to resonate with the six-year-old crowd: our hero being forced into endless dishwashing.

Final Thoughts

Ultimately, Search for SquarePants is a reliable entry to the franchise – and perhaps the funniest pirate-themed movie recently, encompassing a hearty Davy Jones joke and a saltily suggestive saying for SpongeBob's friend Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” One thing is certain: those original fans will probably be chuckling anew.

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