National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation UHD Review

The holiday favorite National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation arrives on 4K UHD Blu-ray with a nice 4K transfer and not much else.

The Production: 3/5

The Vacation movies are an odd and uneven bunch, a series of five movies that follow the Griswold family as they venture out (or in this case stay in) for a family vacation. 1989’s entry, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, is about as uneven as the entire series when it comes to comedy. Patriarch Clark Griswold Jr. (Chevy Chase) is looking forward to the annual Christmas bonus his boss Frank Shirley (Brian Doyle-Murray) has traditionally handed out. So much so, that he has paid a deposit for the construction of an in-ground pool in the hopes of the bonus covering the check. He has also invited the in-laws to stay with them over the holidays, which his wife Ellen (Beverly D’Angelo) reminds him may not be the best idea. Their two kids, Rusty (Johnny Galecki) and Audrey (Juliette Lewis) are not all that happy when the grandparents, Clark Sr. (John Randolph) & Nora (Diane Ladd) and Art (E.G. Marshall) & Francis (Doris Roberts), arrive, forcing them to share a bed. To make matters worse, Ellen’s’ cousin Eddie (Randy Quaid) shows up unexpectedly in a rundown RV with his wife (Miriam Flynn) and two kids Rocky (Cody Burger) and Ruby Sue (Ellen Latzen).

Comedy ensues, sort of, as Christmas Vacation often plays more like a series of vignettes of Clark finding the perfect Christmas tree, shopping for perfume and lingerie at the department store with Rusty, decorating the exterior of the house with enough lights to literally blind the neighbors (Nicholas Guest and Julia Louis-Dreyfus). The comedy flips back and forth from slapstick to raunchy humor that at times feels more uncomfortable than funny, and often tries too hard to be sentimental. The movie was written by John Hughes (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Planes Trains and Automobiles) and marked the directing debut of former music video and commercial director Jeremiah Chechik (Benny & Joon, The Avengers). It is difficult to figure out what went wrong here – was it Hughes’ script, Chechik’s inexperience with comedy, interference from star Chase, or any combination of the three? Some of the comedic set pieces do work, such as the house lighting sequence, but as the film comes to its conclusion, it just sort of ends with no real satisfying conclusion. Comedy is in the eye of the beholder, and the movie does have its fans (it is the highest grossing film in the series), but this reviewer is a casual fan at best.

Video: 4.5/5

3D Rating: NA

National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation is another Warner title that has never looked great on home video. In 2015, Warner released a 25^th Anniversary Blu-ray (included in this set) that was sourced from a new 4K scan of the film, and I assume that is the source transfer used on this UHD release. The 2160p HEVC-encoded transfer retains the film’s theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1and adds HDR10 high dynamic range. The results are a slight improvement over the 2015 Blu-ray, but a solid improvement over previous releases. Detail gets a nice uptick, with more defined fabric textures and increased depth to the backgrounds. Colors also get a nice boost, appearing a bit more vivid than they do on the 2015 Blu-ray. Contrast is more defined, bringing out additional detail in the darker sequences. Skin tones do fluctuate occasionally, leaning more orange, but the casual viewer will likely not notice it.

Audio: 4.5/5

Although Warner does not offer a new Dolby Atmos track for the film on this release, we do get a “remastered” 5.1 mix in DTS-HD MA, along with the film’s “original theatrical” stereo mix (also in DTS-HD MA). The “new” 5.1 mix does a better job at prioritizing dialogue to mostly the center channel, offers a slightly wider front soundstage, and throws in a few more discrete surround effects, but it is nothing get overly excited about.

Special Features: 2.5/5

Kudos to Warner for including the very old commentary track on the UHD disc, but with just a little bit more compression here and there, they should have been able to include the theatrical trailer on the BD-66 disc.

UHD Disc
Audio Commentary with Director Jeremiah Chechik, Actors Randy Quaid, Beverly D’Angelo, Johnny Galecki, Mirriam Flynn, and Producer Matty Simmons

Blu-ray Disc
Audio Commentary with Director Jeremiah Chechik, Actors Randy Quaid, Beverly D’Angelo, Johnny Galecki, Mirriam Flynn, and Producer Matty Simmons

Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 2:24)

Digital Copy: An insert contains a code to redeem a digital copy in UHD (where available) on Movies Anywhere.

Overall: 4/5

This holiday favorite has a fairly large fanbase, and releasing it on 4k with a “remastered” 5.1 mix is a nice touch for those fans.

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Todd Erwin

Todd Erwin has been a reviewer at Home Theater Forum since 2008. His love of movies began as a young child, first showing Super 8 movies in his backyard during the summer to friends and neighbors at age 10. He also received his first movie camera that year, a hand-crank Wollensak 8mm with three fixed lenses. In 1980, he graduated to "talkies" with his award-winning short The Ape-Man, followed by the cult favorite The Adventures of Terrific Man two years later. Other films include Myth or Fact: The Talbert Terror and Warren's Revenge (which is currently being restored). In addition to movie reviews, Todd has written many articles for Home Theater Forum centering mostly on streaming as well as an occasional hardware review, is the host of his own video podcast Streaming News & Views on YouTube and is a frequent guest on the Home Theater United podcast.