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Could those early viewers who chuckled through the first SpongeBob adventures have envisioned the series enduring for a quarter-century, following absorbing the most lysergic of plotlines? This longevity is partly attributed to its wide-ranging charm, tickling the funny bones of adults – perhaps even those former students – as well as the very young viewers. While it may not feature anything as unexpected as the legendary David Hasselhoff cameo in the 2004 film, this fourth feature thinks nothing of having a veteran voice actor talk like a pirate while dispensing payments to music icons like Barbra Streisand. This proves everything can still in the whimsical world of Bikini Bottom.

An Established Goofy Vibe

Kicking off with a holiday short starring Paramount's other weathered family favorites, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the new SpongeBob film soon settles into a comfortably silly groove. Its storyline serves as a PG-rated treatise on the advantages and disadvantages of growing up. This iteration of SpongeBob (again voiced by Tom Kenny) now measures a specific height, a detail that thrills him as it finally qualifies him to ride his dream rollercoaster. (An early, trippy laugh: our enthusiastic hero's fantasized loop-the-loops.) However, like the best modern American cartoons, the real rollercoaster is the corkscrew plotting.

The Quest for Swashbuckling Proof

SpongeBob's quest to obtain the legendary swashbuckler certificate that will prove him a “big guy” leads him into a showdown with the ghostly Flying Dutchman, voiced by the currently ever-present Mark Hamill. While the Dutchman's ghost ship adds a larger scale, the film's visual style remains a charming mix of digimation and hand-turned elements, consistently highlighting pleasing, authentically animated visuals.

Whether its spitballing silliness will resonate when the lights come up is up for discussion, but it's a solid SpongeBob movie.

Memorable scenes include 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 penalty guaranteed to delight the six-year-old crowd: our hero being subjected to never-ending dishwashing.

The Verdict

In the end, Search for SquarePants is a solid entry to the franchise – and arguably the most humorous pirate-themed movie in years, including a hearty Davy Jones joke and a saltily innuendo-laden saying for SpongeBob's friend Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” It's clear: those original fans will probably be snickering anew.

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