VACATION DVD (2015)

SYNOPSIS: The next generation of Griswolds is on the road again for another hilarious ill-fated family adventure. Following in his father's footsteps, a grown-up Rusty Griswold (Ed Helms) surprises his wife, Debbie (Christina Applegate), and their two sons with a cross-country trip back to America's "favorite family fun park," Walley World. What could go wrong?

MOVIE REVIEW:

Vacation coincidentally serves as sort of a sequel, reboot and remake of the original 1983 Vacation starring Chevy Chase as Clark, the head of the Griswold family who took his family on a road trip to visit a theme park.

This updated 2015 version stars Ed Helms (The Hangover) as the son of Clark, Rusty, a budget airline pilot whose idea of bonding with his family is to follow in his father’s footsteps that means taking a road trip all the way from Chicago to Walley World theme park in LA. Kind of unbelievable considers he is a pilot. Basically it retains the same old storyline but updated with the latest gross-out gags courtesy of directors/writers John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein (Horrible Bosses, The Incredible Burt Wonderstone).

Helms practically ports over his character Dr. Stuart Price from the Hangover series to Vacation. Both characters are harmless at the core and always possess the best intentions in whatever they do. Ironically their best intentions always ended up to be moronic and dangerous liked a shortcut to a hot spring turned out to be a sewage dump and his rental of a SUV, the Tartan Prancer is basically a piece of junk.

The jokes are always on Rusty Griswold but the rest of his family members also contribute to some side gags. His wife Debbie (Christina Applegate) debuted a projectile vomiting gag while his obnoxious younger son Kevin constantly piles on the coarse language. However it’s Chris Thor Hemsworth that steals the show as the ridiculously well endowed Stone Crandall, the conceited celebrity bull-rearing brother-in-law of Rusty. On the other end, Charlie Day from Horrible Bosses cameos as a suicidal rafting guide and The Walking Dead’s Norman Reedus appear as a truck driver.   

Nothing in Vacation screams of originality because all the raunchy gags have appeared one way or another in recent adult comedies. In fact, We’re the Millers starring Jennifer Aniston and Jason Sudeikis scored better in terms of laughs and heart. Nonetheless, for it’s one-minute-a-gag attempt, Vacation is still worth 99 minutes of your time, decent for a staycation but not for a long haul. 

SPECIAL FEATURES:

There are 12 minutes worth of Deleted Scenes with one alternate scene that involved the fate of the Prancer. 

AUDIO/VISUAL:

Dialogue is clear and pop tunes are easy on the ears rest are mostly dynamic ambient effects. Visual presentation is solid with the exception of some soft CGI tweaking for scenes set inside the car and background. 

MOVIE RATING:

DVD RATING :

Review by Linus Tee