National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation is a holiday classic and for me a must-watch every year. This newest edition does have good video and audio transfers, just a shame there wasn’t more than a commentary track and trailer.
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
(1989)
Genre(s): Comedy
Warner Bros. | PG13 – 97 min. – $33.99 | November 1, 2022
Date Published: 12/12/2022 | Author: The Movieman
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Note: Portions of this were copied from my 2019 Blu-ray review.
THE MOVIE — 4½/5 |
| National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation is one of my all-time favorite holiday films, a true classic in fact. What makes this movie so timeless is no matter how many times I’ve watched it (and if it’s on TV, I can’t help but put it on if only for a couple of minutes), it is still as funny as it was the last time.
The previous Vacation movies were good with the message of the importance of family as Clark tries his all to be that family man, but there’s something for everybody with Christmas Vacation because you can relate to any of the situations Clark and the Griswold’s get into: an old aunt that’s going crazy, the cranky uncle who doesn’t give a crap, a crass cousin with no sense of manners and just the general family dynamic that will drive anyone bonkers during Christmas. In this third film in the Vacation franchise, Clark Griswold (CHEVY CHASE) is looking forward to getting the entire family together under one roof. The rest of the Griswold’s aren’t as enthused… Soon crazy Cousin Eddie (RANDY QUIAD), his wife and kids, Aunt Bethany, Uncle Lewis and the four parents (E.G. MARSHALL, DORIS ROBERTS, JOHN RANDOLPH, DIANE LADD) gather together as mayhem like a dog and cat on the rampage or a wayward squirrel wreaking havoc. While most would name movies like Miracle on 34th Street, It’s a Wonderful Life and A Christmas Story (why aren’t there any stations playing this movie over and over?) as Christmas classics, I consider Christmas Vacation right up there with the best of them. It has a great heart through the laughter and I cannot imagine NOT watching this movie around Christmas. |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 2/5 |
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This release comes with a glossy slip cover and inside a redemption code for the Digital HD copy. The only features is an Audio Commentary with Actors Randy Quaid, Beverly D’Angelo, Johnny Galecki, Miriam Flynn along with Producer Matty Simmons and Director Jeremiah S. Chechik. Also included is the Theatrical Trailer. Shame this holiday classic never got some retrospective documentary… |
VIDEO – 4¼/5 |
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National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation onto 4K Ultra HD and is presented in its original 1.85 widescreen aspect ratio (even the blu-ray is the open-matted 1.78 AR) and a 2160p high-definition transfer. Detail on this was fairly good while colors appear to be well balanced with some vibrancy in keeping with the light-hearted material. |
AUDIO – 4½/5 |
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The disc now includes a remastered DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track along with a 2.0 option which likely is the same as the Blu-ray version. While I did briefly sampled with 2.0 track, I primarily watched using the default 5.1 track which did sound quite good offering up some decent depth especially with the soundtrack/score with dialogue also coming across strongly. |
OVERALL – 4/5 |
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Overall, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation is a holiday classic and for me a must-watch every year. This newest edition does have good video and audio transfers, just a shame there wasn’t more than a commentary track and trailer. |
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