- Joined
- Jul 3, 1997
- Messages
- 66,745
- Real Name
- Ronald Epstein
National Lampoon's
European Vacation
"We're not normal people...we're Griswolds"
-Clark Griswold
Following the huge success of 1983's
Vacation, the folks at National Lampoon
decided to take the same formula and incorporate
it into National Lampoon's European Vacation.
Unfortunately, the ride is far less funny.
The film begins as the Griswold family is
appearing on the popular game show, "Pig in
a Poke", where they dress up in pig costumes
and answer questions for prizes. Going up
against the world's smartest family, the
Griswolds amazingly win an all-expense paid
European Vacation.
Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo return as
Clark and Ellen. Their two teenagers, Rusty
and Audrey have been replaced by Jason Lively
and Dana Hill. Audrey can't bear to leave her
boyfriend behind and Rusty can't wait to meet
all the foreign women he can.
With none of the flavor of the original Vacation's
cross-country humor, European Vacation
becomes a droll attempt at comedy that is hampered
down by unfunny sight gags and a plot that involves
the kidnapping of Ellen, leading to a car chase
through the streets of Italy. All the jokes are
simple, following the exact same scheme.
If there are any memorable moments in this
vacation, it is the visit to Stone Henge where
their car accidently topples the monument of
ages. Eric Idle also manages to save this film
as a English bike rider who gets hit by the
Griswolds driving on the wrong side of the road.
The routine develops into a sort of 'Holy Grail'
scene, but I bet that Eric Idle was ultimately
embarrassed to be in this film.
How is the transfer?
This is something I don't understand, and
it goes across the board with most all the
studios....
What is the problem with not cleaning up
film's opening title sequences? This film
starts off with the filthiest title sequence
I have ever seen. It's full of dirt and scratches.
It's the same thing Warner did with the Dirty
Harry movies, and Columbia did with their catalog
titles.
It's not until the very first scene of the
film until we realize that the print is indeed
a good one. From thereon in, the transfer looks
pretty good.
One of the biggest complaints against Warner
Home Video is that they released the original
Vacation movie in open matte. Warner has
at least done the right thing this time around
and released an anamorphic (1.85:1) widescreen
transfer.
As I stated above, the transfer looks pretty
good. The print doesn't look badly aged, and
image quality remains quite good with nice vivid
colors.
The film is presented in Mono. Overall, it
sounds a bit "tinny" and slightly muffled, but
I wasn't expecting anything much more from a
film like this.
Special Features
A full-length commentary by Chevy Chase is
featured on this disc. From the first 30
minutes I listened, commentary, I can sadly
say that Chevy's commentary is as droll as
the film. He periodically checks in offers
one-sentance comments like "I still have that
pig costume" (he says it more than once) and
"Boy that guy is funny". He talks about how
the videocamera used in the film was actually
his, but doesn't give us any insight about
filming Beverly D'Angelo flashing him. Chevy
can't get enough of praising D'Angelo throughout
the film, even two-thirds through the movie where
he talks about how he was like a Godfather to
her kids. I guess it's supposed to be interesting
commentary when Chevy says he is still friends
with the make-up man from the film. Overall,
the commentary just seems to be low-key and not
overly interesting.
The film's original trailer is included.
Final Thoughts
I suppose that this is a DVD that all Vacation
fans will purchase simply because it completes
the trilogy of films.
Still, it's a shame that this venture will sit
on collector's shelves and fans will instead hope
that Warner will go back and re-release the original
Vacation film in its proper aspect ratio.
Release Date: April 2, 2002
