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Would the early viewers who laughed through the first SpongeBob escapades have envisioned the series persisting for a quarter-century, following experiencing the most lysergic of plotlines? Such staying power is partly attributed to its wide-ranging charm, amusing the funny bones of adults – possibly even those former students – alongside the youngest viewers. While it may not feature anything as surprising as the legendary David Hasselhoff appearance in the 2004 film, this fourth feature thinks nothing of making a veteran voice actor speak as a pirate while dispensing royalty cheques to music icons like Barbra Streisand. This proves everything can still in the whimsical world of Bikini Bottom.

A Familiar Zany Vibe

Kicking off with a holiday short featuring Paramount's alternative long-running family favorites, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the latest SpongeBob movie quickly settles into a comfortably goofy groove. Its script serves as a PG-rated exploration on the pros and cons of maturity. This iteration of SpongeBob (again voiced by Tom Kenny) now measures a specific height, a detail that thrills him as it at last allows him to experience his dream rollercoaster. (An initial, 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 Proof

SpongeBob's mission to obtain the fabled pirate license that will prove him a “big guy” leads 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 introduces a larger scale, the film's visual style remains a delightful bricolage of digimation and hand-crafted elements, forever showcasing satisfying, authentically cartoonish visuals.

If its freewheeling humor will linger when the lights come up is debatable, but it's a strong SpongeBob movie.

Memorable moments include SpongeBob squeezing himself into an air conditioner and emerging somehow more rectangular than before; a brief appearance from a pair of chattering novelty false teeth; and a punishment sure to resonate with the six-year-old audience: our hero being forced into never-ending dishwashing.

Final Thoughts

In the end, Search for SquarePants is a reliable entry to the franchise – and arguably the funniest pirate-themed movie recently, including a robust Davy Jones joke and a saltily innuendo-laden catchphrase for SpongeBob's friend Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” It's certain: those original students will probably be snickering all over again.

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