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Could those original fans who laughed through the initial SpongeBob escapades have predicted the franchise persisting for a 25 years, even after absorbing the most surreal of plotlines? This staying power is partly due to its broad charm, amusing the funny bones of grown-ups – possibly even those former students – alongside the very young viewers. While it may not feature anything as unexpected as a certain legendary David Hasselhoff cameo in the 2004 film, this fourth feature thinks nothing of making Clancy Brown talk like a pirate while dispensing royalty cheques to stars like Barbra Streisand. This proves anything can still in the zany world of Bikini Bottom.

An Established Goofy Vibe

Kicking off with a festive short starring Paramount's alternative weathered babysitters, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the new SpongeBob film soon finds a comfortably silly rhythm. Its script serves as a family-friendly treatise on the pros and cons of growing up. This version of SpongeBob (again brought to life by Tom Kenny) now stands a specific height, a detail that excites him as it finally qualifies him to ride his dream rollercoaster. (An initial, psychedelic laugh: our enthusiastic hero's imagined loop-the-loops.) Yet, as in the finest contemporary American cartoons, the true thrill ride is the corkscrew narrative.

The Adventure for Pirate Credentials

SpongeBob's mission to obtain the legendary pirate license that will declare him a “big guy” brings him into a showdown with the ghostly 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 charming bricolage of digimation and hand-crafted components, consistently highlighting pleasing, authentically animated visuals.

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

Memorable scenes include SpongeBob wedging himself into an air conditioner and coming out somehow more rectangular than ever; a brief appearance from a pair of chattering joke-shop false teeth; and a punishment sure 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 reliable addition to the series – and arguably the funniest Pirates of the Caribbean movie recently, including a hearty Davy Jones gag and a saltily innuendo-laden catchphrase for SpongeBob's friend Patrick: “The best guys are big guys.” One thing is clear: those early fans will probably be chuckling all over again.

Release Dates: 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.