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Could those original fans who laughed through the first SpongeBob adventures have envisioned the franchise persisting for a quarter-century, following experiencing the most lysergic of plotlines? This staying power is partly due to its broad appeal, tickling the funny bones of grown-ups – perhaps even those former students – as well as the youngest viewers. Although it can't claim anything as surprising as the memorable David Hasselhoff cameo in the 2004 film, this latest movie thinks nothing of having Clancy Brown speak as a pirate while dispensing payments to stars like Barbra Streisand. It seems everything remains possible in the zany world of Bikini Bottom.

An Established Zany Groove

Kicking off with a holiday short starring Paramount's other weathered babysitters, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the latest SpongeBob film soon finds a recognizably silly groove. Its script acts as a PG-rated treatise on the advantages and disadvantages of maturity. This version of SpongeBob (again voiced by Tom Kenny) now measures 36 clams high, a detail that excites him as it at last allows 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 true thrill ride is the twisting plotting.

The Quest for Swashbuckling Credentials

SpongeBob's mission to obtain the fabled swashbuckler certificate that will prove him a “big guy” leads him into conflict with the spectral Flying Dutchman, voiced by the currently ever-present Mark Hamill. While the Dutchman's ghost ship introduces a larger scale, the movie's visual style remains a charming bricolage of digimation and hand-turned components, consistently highlighting pleasing, authentically cartoonish effects.

If its spitballing silliness will linger when the lights come up is debatable, but it's a solid SpongeBob movie.

Memorable moments include SpongeBob squeezing himself into an air conditioner and coming out inexplicably squarer than before; a cameo from a pair of chattering joke-shop false teeth; and a penalty guaranteed to resonate with the six-year-old audience: our hero being subjected to never-ending dishwashing.

The Verdict

Ultimately, Search for SquarePants stands as a reliable addition to the franchise – and arguably the funniest pirate-themed movie in years, encompassing a hearty Davy Jones joke and a saltily innuendo-laden catchphrase for SpongeBob's pal Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” One thing is clear: those early students will probably be snickering anew.

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