BUY FROM AMAZON: CLICK HERE!
STUDIO: Nickelodeon
MSRP: $16.99
RATED: Unrated
RUNNING TIME: 66 minutes
SPECIAL FEATURES:
• Hide and Then What Happens?
• Shellback Shenanigans
The Pitch
Tales of an incredibly happy undersea sponge.
The Humans
Tom Kenny, Bill Fagerbakke, Rodger Bumpass and Clancy Brown
The Nutshell
Spongebob and the gang share stories about their favorite roadtrips.
The Lowdown
Spongebob has definitely made it big with children and even some teenagers and adults who find his happy disposition and zany adventures entertaining (or perhaps it’s just me…). It’s a pretty unusual show, more akin to 90’s Nickelodeon rather than what plagues the TV for children and young adults these days. Spongebob is accompanied by his usual gang consisting of a money-loving, thrifty crab aptly named Mr.Krabs; along with a dense, slow-witted starfish Patrick Star and lastly is the intelligent, Texas-born squirrel named Sandy, who wears what looks like a space suit. It’s not nearly as fun as the TV show, but direct-to-DVD movie and movies based on cartoons rarely live up to the hype.
Patrick, once again, drooling.
Introductions aside, as I’m sure most of you reading this review are already familiar with Spongebob Squarepants. Spongebob Runaway Roadtrip is centered around the gang’s adventures and vacations. In the first episode, Spongebob has tricked everyone into coming over in order to watch his slide show featuring his family vacation with Patrick. It’s indeed pretty funny. Patrick, Spongebob and his parents are all on their way to The Great Barrier Reef, until their car breaks down after a series of funny mishaps including their car flying into outer space. Stranded while their car is being repaired, Patrick and Spongebob decide they must make the best of their vacation. Patrick’s usual antics wind up getting both of them lost in a forrest with terrifying tourist traps. This is one of the best episodes on the DVD.
Spongebob's Mooncation was a little rocky.
In the second episode, albeit not as funny, Patrick is sick and tired of his life of sleeping and eating–who wouldn’t be? So, being the workaholic he is, Patrick decides that a vacation is in order, and Spongebob agrees. Shortly after learning that taking a vacation costs money, Spongebob decides to set up Patrick’s own personal home vacation: a “staycation”. Spongebob is working in his own, one man hotel. There are a few pretty funny scenes; one consisting of Patrick throwing on a speedo, then diving head first into the “pool” (which is just his bathtub). There’s another funny scene where Spongebob cooks one of his famous Krabby Patties for Patrick, and Mr.Krabs shows up wanting payment and a tip for his right to cook them. All in all, not as funny as the rest, but good nonetheless.
Most likely the second funniest episode of the DVD is one involving Plankton: “Walk the Plankton”. The episode is centered around a free cruise that Mr.Krabbs wins. It’s a pretty funny episode, especially with Plankton’s robot wife, Karen, who has a switch for vacation mode. In the next episode, Spongebob and Patrick are heading over to Sandy’s in order to watch her vacation slides. Spongebob wants to buy Sandy a cake for her trip to the Moon. And, of course, he manages to get himself involved with the trip. This might be the weakest episode of the DVD–it’s not nearly as funny as it probably should be. In the last episode, Mr.Krabs takes a vacation to a money factory, only for it to be robbed.
Spongebob, Patrick and his family sing a song.
Honestly, as funny as a select few of the episodes are, it doesn’t have the same feeling as the TV show. Like I said before, movies based on cartoons (they’re usually direct-to-DVD) are never quite as entertaining as the source. Nevertheless, there’s quite a few things to like about these episodes, especially for the target audience, who will undeniably find a lot of enjoyment in it. My only other complaint is that each episode works much the same way: somehow each central character lures the others over to watch a slide show, then, we get a flashback and so on and so forth. It was funny the first time, not so much after that. But like I said, for kids, they will love it, and that’s really all that matters.
The Package
The extras are actually not really “extras” in the traditional sense, but rather, they’re additional episodes. “Hide and Then What Happens” is the first of the two, which involves Patrick first trying to learn the rules of hide-and-go-seek. Patrick forgets all about the game, then Spongebob is sent on a journey to find him. It’s actually more enjoyable than some of the basic episodes of the DVD.
In “Shellback Shenanigans”, Plankton disguises himself as Gary (Spongebob’s pet snail). Spongebob wants to bring Gary to work the next day, since it’s “Bring-Your-Pet-to-Work-Day”. Gary obviously has no plans on going. Like the previous extra, it’s surprisingly more entertaining than the other episodes.
Rating: 
Out of a Possible 5 Stars