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Would the early viewers who chuckled through the first SpongeBob adventures have predicted the series enduring for a quarter-century, even after absorbing the most surreal of plotlines? This staying power is partly due to its wide-ranging appeal, tickling the funny bones of adults – perhaps even those now grown students – alongside the youngest viewers. Although it may not feature anything quite as unexpected as the memorable David Hasselhoff appearance in the 2004 movie, this latest movie thinks nothing of making a veteran voice actor speak as a pirate while handing out royalty cheques to music icons like Barbra Streisand. This proves anything remains possible in the whimsical world of Bikini Bottom.

An Established Goofy Groove

Starting with a holiday short featuring Paramount's alternative long-running babysitters, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the latest SpongeBob film soon settles into a comfortably goofy groove. Its script acts as a family-friendly treatise on the advantages and disadvantages of growing up. This iteration of SpongeBob (again voiced by Tom Kenny) now stands a specific height, a detail that thrills him as it at last allows him to experience his fantasy coaster. (An early, trippy gag: our overexcitable hero's fantasized loop-the-loops.) Yet, as in the finest modern American cartoons, the real rollercoaster is the corkscrew plotting.

The Quest for Swashbuckling Proof

SpongeBob's quest to obtain the fabled swashbuckler certificate that will prove him a “big guy” brings him into conflict with the ghostly Flying Dutchman, voiced by the currently ever-present Mark Hamill. Although the Dutchman's ship adds a grander scope, the movie's visual style remains a charming bricolage of digimation and hand-turned components, forever highlighting pleasing, properly cartoonish effects.

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

Notable scenes feature SpongeBob squeezing himself into an air conditioner and emerging inexplicably squarer than ever; a cameo from a pair of chattering novelty false teeth; and a penalty guaranteed to delight the six-year-old crowd: our hero being forced into never-ending dishwashing.

The Verdict

Ultimately, Search for SquarePants stands as a reliable entry to the series – and perhaps the most humorous pirate-themed movie in years, including a hearty Davy Jones joke and a cheekily 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.

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