MovieFreak.com - "National Lampoon's Vacation" 20th Anniversary DVD Review by Dennis Landmann

Everything is planned. Everything is packed. And everything is about to go hilariously wrong. The Griswolds are going on vacation. In the driver’s seat, of course, is Clark Griswold (Chase), an Everyman eager to share the open road and the wonders of family togetherness with his wife and kids. Myriad mishaps, crude kin (Quaid), encounters with a temptress (Christie Brinkley), financial woes, Aunt Edna on the roof, one security guard (John Candy) and 2,460 miles later, it is indeed a wonder the Griswolds are together.

Screenwriter/Director John Hughes, responsible for writing The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, Weird Science, and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, turns in a generally hilarious script for National Lampoon’s Vacation. It’s the actors who make the characters come alive and give them a personality on screen, but Hughes gives them some interesting traits. The script is essentially a road trip comedy. So many different things are bound to happen on the road, and the Griswold family just happens to catch all the bad luck as they lose some luggage, a dog, an Aunt, and much more—mostly their patience.

There are many good things about Vacation, most notably the comedy. Some comedy appears to be obviously ad-libbed, and that is fine. The rest of the comedy, script wise, is hilarious. Some classic things about the film: “Holiday Road,” the great Family Truckster, the infamous French kiss, the dog tied to the bumper, Aunt Edna strapped to the Truckster’s roof, a closed Wally World, etc. Yet there are also a few flaws here and there, but these never drag the film to any sort of low point. Harold Ramis directs the film in a fun and chaotic way, like the spirit of the film. Chevy Chase is at his best here, and the two kids (Dana Barron and Anthony Michael Hall) are great. Beverly D’Angelo is perfect here, and John Candy’s cameo is priceless. Vacation still holds up 20 years later and remains an enjoyable, quirky road trip comedy.

Warner Bros. presents National Lampoon’s Vacation in a brand-new 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer. Fans can finally rejoice! The transfer is reasonably sharp and image detail is reasonably accurate. Some scenes carry a bit of softness. On the other hand, colors are pretty bright and strong. There’s a bit of grain here and there, as well as some edge enhancement. Blacks are surprisingly solid and shadow detail is quite amiable. Despite some minor flaws, this video transfer is quite effective and overall pretty good considering the film’s age of 20 years.

Warner Bros. presents National Lampoon’s Vacation in English 1.0. This is a monaural soundtrack and sounds fine. However, the soundtrack still sounds like it would play on TV. There is some goodness here, such as clear dialog and a reasonable presentation of the film’s score, not to mention the by-now famous earworm song “Holiday Road.” The soundtrack is located in the center at all times, naturally, since this is a mono presentation after all. Overall, the audio transfer is disappointing but still retains fair, presentable quality. You can also choose to view the film in French, Spanish, and Portuguese Dolby Surround.

Starting off the special features menu is a mindless, ad-libbed Introduction to the film by Chevy Chase, Randy Quaid, and Producer Matty Simmons. It’s only 43 seconds long, and Chase is the only one speaking. I expected more from this. A lot more.

Next up is the DVDs main attraction or ride if you’re in a Wally World state of mind. Of course I’m talking about the Griswold Family Commentary. Speakers for this track include Director Harold Ramis, Chase, Quaid, Simmons, Dana Barron, and Anthony Michael Hall. It appears Ramis is edited together with the comments of the rest, though I’m not sure 100%. Either way, the commentary is fair. There is some informative and reminiscent chatter present in this track, but quite a lot of pauses are, too. Ramis is pretty talkative and much more interesting here than on his previous commentaries (i.e. Analyze That). Quaid rarely speaks up, although Barron is pretty active. Chase and Simmons provide some anecdotes here and there, and Hall doesn’t say too much. It’s not a great commentary, but it’s not bad either. It’s somewhere in the middle, although that is still somewhat of a disappointment.

Next up is the Family Truckster Interactive Feature. This one is a bit strange, but a nice addition nonetheless. You can select various sections of the Truckster with your remote to view a variety of film/interview clips. This is nothing exciting on the whole, except for a few interesting anecdotes, such as the reason why Barron and Hall did not appear in the Vacation sequels. Christy Brinkley shows up a lot here, although her character is minor. The disappointing thing is that the interviews are wasted on such a pointless feature. I mean, let’s be realistic. These people agreed to participate in interviews, so why not produce an actual documentary? It’s beyond comprehension, evidently.

Rounding out the extras is the film's Theatrical Trailer, plus Cast & Crew biographies. Whoopee. Yeah, right.

You can select to view the film with optional English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese subtitles. The DVD’s menus are not animated. The 99-minute feature is organized into thirty-three chapters.

Vaction’s 20th Anniversary Special Edition is a welcome release even if it disappoints in two specific areas. The film still holds up and provides some genuine entertainment. Video quality is surprisingly sharp, but the audio is in weak mono. The extras are great to have even if they’re only decent. Vacation is worth a purchase for fans. Anyone else might want to consider a definite rental.

THE MOVIE	7
THE VIDEO	8
THE AUDIO	5
THE EXTRAS	4
OVERALL (not an average)	6