European Vacation (National Lampoon's) (1985)

This review is sponsored by

BUY IT

General		Extras
Category	Comedy	Main Menu Audio Filmographies-Cast & Crew Audio Commentary-Chevy Chase (Actor) Theatrical Trailer
Rating
Year Of Production	1985
Running Time	93:55
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4	Directed By	Amy Heckerling
Studio Distributor	Warner Home Video	Starring	Cheryl Chase Beverly D'Angelo Dana Hill Jason Lively Victor Lanoux Eric Idle
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	$34.95	Music	Charles Fox

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 1.0 (192Kb/s) French Dolby Digital 1.0 (192Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English French Spanish Portuguese	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Due to its success, a sequel was inevitable (to be followed by another 2 later on). John Hughes returned to co-write America’s favourite family in their second adventure, and Amy Heckerling (after the success of Fast Times at Ridgemont High) was hired to replace Ramis in the director’s chair.

    In their second adventure, Clark Wilhelm Griswold Jr. (Chevy Chase), his wife Ellen (Beverly D’Angelo) and their children Russ (Jason Lively) and Audrey (Dana Hill) win the grand prize on game show ‘Pig In A Poke’: an all-expenses paid European Vacation. After having to persuade Audrey to leave her lover, Jack, behind in the states, they head off for their first stop - England. Running amok the way only the Griswold’s can, they continue on to Paris, Germany and Rome. The film also features cameos from such great British comedians as Mel Smith, Robbie Coltrane and the hilarious Eric Idle.

    This is no Citizen Kane; it’s just plain good old 80s fun. If you’ve never seen any of these films before, then you will not find too much to like in European Vacation, but to those fans out there, like me, it’s still as good as ever. What would the world be without the Griswolds anyway? (that was a rhetorical question by the way).

Video

    This transfer isn't too bad for an unrestored 17-year-old film. This DVD features another Region 4 NTSC transfer.

    The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, and it is 16x9 enhanced.

    Expecting worse treatment than the film was given, I was surprised at how decent it actually looked. With an overall slightly faded look, the transfer was not as sharp as recent films, which is to be expected. Shadow detail was also not perfect, but never became obviously lacking.

    The colours actually came across quite well - not really vibrant, but not as dulled as one would expect. Flesh tones seemed fairly natural, and never excessively red.

    There appeared to be no obvious MPEG artefacts in the transfer at all. The same, unfortunately, cannot be said for film artefacts. Mainly during the film's opening title sequence, quite frequent dirt and scratches marred the transfer. The entire film experienced a hint of grain throughout, but as soon as the opening titles finish, it becomes barely noticeable.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    This is a very limited audio transfer, being Dolby Digital 1.0 (mono) in English and French. Interestingly, the commentary track (Dolby Digital 2.0) contains more channels than the audio tracks.

    Dialogue was always clear, and never became distorted. There were no problems with audio sync.

    The film’s score is by Charles Fox. The real highlight to the film’s soundtrack is its 80s songs, in particular “Holiday Road" performed by Lindsey Buckingham and “Some Like It Hot" performed by Power Station. All music came across clearly, but was limited to the centre speaker only because of the monaural nature of this soundtrack.

    The only downfall to the audio transfer is that it features no action from the surround speakers or the subwoofer. Even your 2 main front speakers will be asleep, unless you listen to the commentary track.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Main Menu Audio

Filmographies-Cast & Crew

Audio Commentary

Theatrical Trailer (1.25)

    The video transfer is not too bad considering.

    The audio transfer is a let-down, if only due to its limited channels.

    The extra features are fairly limited, with a commentary track that is worth a listen for fans.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall