MOVIE REVIEW - Vacation

Here comes another movie series reboot, the Chevy Chase generational classic, Vacation.

To say that this probably shouldn't have been done would be an understatement.  Being honest, there are far worse movies than this out there.  This, overall is not very good but you and I have each seen worse.  Much worse. 

One of the main reasons this was needless is that the original from 1983 with Chase and crew, still stands up pretty well for what it is. The original Vacation has been enjoyed by a few generations now, and everyone seems to agree that it's still very funny no matter what age you are. This is simply an attempt to attract a new audience for this series, and ironically seems far more comfortable with the original one.  This, in the grand scheme of things did very poorly in it's opening weekend with a measly 14 million for an attempted money grab.

This version stars Ed Helms as Rusty. He is now the grown son from the original story and is just as big of buffoon as his dad was. And he is trekking his family across the country on a road trip to Wallyworld again.  Been here, and done that.  Being fair there are some decent laughs from time to time but not nearly enough to warrant this remake.

Easily the funniest moments stem from the movie lampooning itself.  They do make fun of the fact that there was an original and that is pretty funny. Also, there is some scene recreating from the original that have new twists and some of those are really funny.  Quick, but funny.  They also do create some funny new characters, especially the kids, and they help give this some new life.

But the big sellout just can't be avoided.  Any real originality on an old idea sells out to a large amount of nastiness and bathroom humor galore.  But even that is simply old and tired rehashed ideas from other movies that have been done to death.  And that directly flies in the face of the original which was loaded with so much originality, the very formula has been copied for 30 plus years.  This version is simply an old idea, that has no new ideas to offer.  I would have suggested that if they would have remastered the original from 1983, and stuck it back in theaters, they may have brought in about the same amount of money opening weekend.

Vacation. Funny in spots, but not enough to stand firmly on it's own.