Concerns Regarding "European Vacation" DVD (1 Viewer)

[Andrew Radke]

I, like many of you are looking to the special edition releases of "Vacation" and "Christmas Vacation", and ultimately the giftset which will contain all 4 films on October 7th.

Now I just read a plethora of reviews on amazon.com in regards to the DVD version of "National Lampoon's European Vacation". I'm hoping some of you here who own the DVD can make a few things clear for me.

A lot of the reviews stated in the widescreen DVD edition, Warner actually USED the full-frame P&S movie and added the black bars. Many complain that much of the picture has been lost because of this. Apparently this DVD has been poorly produced with a terrible picture, and apparently the sound wasn't all that great either.

Before I decide to buy this box set, I'd just like to know if these reviewes speak the truth, because frankly, positive reviews for the DVD were few and far between. If it really is that bad, I'll just purchase the other three films separately.

Any information you can provide would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

 

[Adam_WM]

In a way, the reviewers may be right. You see, many of the Vacation movies were shot open matte. That means, yes, in the theaters and for the widescreen version, they put black bars on the full frame version. This was intended and the shots were composed that way. You're not losing anything important.

 

[Xenia Stathakopoulou]

Dont listen to those reviews,european vacation has never looked better than on this dvd,havent watched my copy in a while but it looked anamorphic 16 by 9 enhanced to me .

 

[Xenia Stathakopoulou]

If you still have doubts about european vacation, read Rons excellent review on the dvd.

 

[Adam_ME]

I thought the DVD looked fine. That sounds like something Anchor Bay would do, not WB.

 

[Joel C]

People on Amazon are generally clueless about widescreen. I saw more than a few reviews attacking the animated Pinocchio and The Wizard of Oz because they were "full screen."

 

[Andrew Radke]

Thanks for the head's up everyone. Another thing I meant to address in my initial post was that some reviewers stated that scenes from this movie have been cut. Scenes which were contained in the theatrical release. Any comments on this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again for all your input.

 

[David Lambert]

Negative. They are remembering cutting-room-floor scenes added back into the film for TV broadcast, to "pad" it for television running times. Scenes that were never shown in any theatrical presentation of the film.

The DVD is exactly the way it should be. Period, end of sentence.

There is ZERO reason to pass on this DVD. But, if you're still not convinced, why don't you just rent it and make up your own mind?

 

[Andrew Radke]

I'm definitely convinced. No question. I just wanted to hear from the pros before making an educated decision. I checked out Ron's review a short while ago, and I will most definitely get the box set upon release. Thanks very much for all your help. Much appreciated.

 

[Dax P]

Where is this review of Ron's for European Vacation? Ran a search, and it wouldn't come up...

Thanks.

Guess I'll wait for the box on 10/7 (it's really not THAT far away), but I was awfully anxious for the August first one...

 

[Adam_Garris]

Where is this review of Ron's for European Vacation? Ran a search, and it wouldn't come up...

I searched "National Lampoon's European Vacation" and found it that way. Here it is.

 

[Xenia Stathakopoulou]

By the way guys,instead of using the search for Rons reviews, i find it easier to go to home theatres main page.If you wait for every thing to load, there is a Rons reviews section with just about every dvd he reviewed . Much easier than doing a search.

 

[Greg_S_H]

Some Amazon users did the same thing to the Coming to America DVD. "I like widescreen, but I just compared it to the full-screen version playing on cable, and there was more picture at the top and bottom! They cut it off for the DVD!"

In a way, it's good to see that these people are starting to prefer widescreen. But, as hard as it is to convince people that OAR is better, I shudder at the idea of having to explain open matte. :frowning: