dragonfire88's Full Review: National Lampoon's Vacation
Every year, people go on vacations. Most of the time, things go well and the trips are enjoyable. Sometimes, things can go wrong. National Lampoon's Vacation showed how the Griswold family dealt with a bad vacation.
Clark and Ellen Griswold planned to drive from Chicago to California with their children, Audrey and Rusty. They were going to Wally World, a well-known amusement park. Ellen had doubts about them driving, but Clark convinced her it would be better than flying. Things went wrong even before they left when the car lot got the wrong new car for Clark. The family stopped to visit Ellen’s cousin Catherine and her husband Eddie. Clark wasn’t happy when he learned that he was driving Aunt Edna to Arizona. Things continued to go wrong and everyone but Clark was ready to give up and go home.
Going on a vacation is a normal activity that many people do. Most of the time, people don’t encounter the types of problems that the Griswold family had to deal with. I actually do know someone that had to deal with a situation that was similar to something that happened in this movie during a vacation a few years ago. Certain things that happened during the trip, like how annoyed everyone got being cooped up in the car, were very realistic. Taking a long trip with the entire family in a car can be very stressful and that was portrayed well in the movie.
National Lampoon’s Vacation was a very funny movie for the most part. Most of the funny things happened during the actual trip. It seemed like everything that could go wrong did. A few other odd things also happened. A few of the jokes were more adult in nature, so parents may not want their kids to see the R rated version. Several of the things that went wrong really could go wrong, like getting lost or having to visit crazy relatives. Those things were twisted around to make them more extreme and funny. I did feel like a couple of the things done for laughs, usually connected to Aunt Edna, were more disturbing than funny.
Wally World was a fictional amusement park created for this movie. I did recently read online that the movie was originally written with Disneyland as the destination, but there was an objection to something when the family actually arrived. The park was changed to Wally World, though there were still several similarities to Disneyland. It was named after Roy Wally, the man who built the park and created the cartoon characters connected to it. The park was located in California and people traveled from all across the country to go there. The family even sang a song early in their trip about Marty Moose that sounded a lot like the Mickey Mouse song.
Clark and Ellen had been married for many years when National Lampoon’s Vacation started. They had a loving relationship and it was made clear that they still had an active sex life in a few scenes. There were a few sexual situations between them, including one scene that briefly showed Ellen’s bare breasts. Even though Clark did love his wife, he still fantasized about other women. During the vacation, he kept spotting a beautiful woman in a sports car that he drooled over. The brief nudity, sexual situations and swearing was why the movie was rated R.
Clark was probably the most developed character in National Lampoon’s Vacation. He did love his family and just wanted the vacation to be perfect for them. His expectations got entirely too high and he didn’t deal well when things inevitably went wrong. Chevy Chase was perfect as Clark. Ellen was a loving wife that did get frustrated with her husband at times. She wasn’t as developed since she did seem to take a back seat to Clark. Beverly D’Angelo handled the part well.
Audrey and Rusty seemed to be a typical brother and sister that didn’t always get along. They were frustrated by their parents at times. Most of the time it was just Clark that caused them frustration. Dana Barron and Anthony Michael Hall were fine in the parts. Aunt Edna was a very grumpy, nasty woman that no one really liked. Cousin Eddie was probably the most unique character in the movie and he did add some humor. Catherine was normal and it did make me wonder why she had ever married Eddie to begin with. John Candy had a very small part near the end of the movie.
Main Cast
Dana Barron - Audrey Griswold Christie Brinkley - Girl in the Ferrari Chevy Chase - Clark Griswold Imogene Coca - Aunt Edna Beverly D’Angelo - Ellen Griswold Miriam Flynn - Catherine Anthony Michael Hall - Rusty Griswold Jane Krakowski - Cousin Vicki Eugene Levy - Car Salesman Randy Quaid - Cousin Eddie
Harold Ramis - Director
DVD Information
I recently picked up National Lampoon’s Vacation on DVD. The disc has the widescreen version of the movie. There was an introduction before the movie by Chase, Quaid, and a producer. There was a commentary by some of the cast and the director. I haven’t checked out the Family Truckster Featurette Gallery, so I’m not sure what is included in that. The theatrical trailer was also included.
National Lampoon’s Vacation was a very funny movie that has become a classic comedy movie. Some of the humor didn’t really work, but the movie was still very entertaining and worth watching.
Join the Griswolds a typical suburban family on their summer vacation a cross-county trip to their favorite amusement park Walley World. Everything th...More at Family Video
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