MOVIES -Does anyone remember the 1983 Harold Ramis movie called National Lampoon’s Vacation? Remember that old movie with the great jokes, and how the Girsworld family had to travel across the country just to get into one of America’s favorite theme park Walley-World? Remember the adventures and “catastrophes” that the family endured? If yes cool (and you are also at the right age), if not, no need to be dismayed, because they reshot the entire movie!

Alright so that is not what happened. Vacation is (more later about this) a remake that is mentioned as reboot at a lot of places. It is a remake of the 1980 epic comedy movies, with one important part that basically kills the point of the term reboot (what that actually is?!). Well the point is that.. let us get started!

Remake

What do the producers do when they try to create a remake? Reboot? Their objective in such cases is to take movies that have been long forgotten over the past few years or even decades, and recreate them for the current audience with upgraded visuals, and brand new talent. In a reboot movie the main characters, and plot lines are still present in the new version, and maybe some of the old jokes are also in place. The main course is the same, it is just that the appetizer is different.

The question is though if whether Vacation fits into the above definition. NO! This is not a remake as much as they pulled the marketing spin for it, and they thought everyone would be foolish enough to watch it. It turns its back on the basic concepts (even tarnishes it to some degree), and is a lower quality movie in all regards. Although the new techniques are in the movie, and we even see some of the original cast (30 years older), the jokes are just not there ( although this is not the main problem). So then what the hell is Vacation? A sequel! … or to be more accurate, it is sort of one but not really…

A Mausoleum of sequels

What do the producers do when they try to create a remake? Reboot? Their objective in such cases is to take movies that have been long forgotten over the past few years or even decades, and recreate them for the current audience with upgraded visuals, and brand new talent. In a reboot movie the main characters, and plot lines are still present in the new version, and maybe some of the old jokes are also in place. The main course is the same, it is just that the appetizer is different.

Really I was so pissed off I did not know what to say at first. I sat through the movie hoping that something would happen to stem my anger. Yet nothing happened. No development is for the old characters, and they do not join the current plot either (just entirely randomly!). Same goes for the new characters, they are pointless, boring, and the viewer cannot even identify with any of the main characters.

Déja-vu

According to the story, Rusty gets bored of the daily problems and decides to go on a vacation. Where else could they go but to the popular theme park Wally World. The road there is long and bumpy. Not just a little, and the same goes for the movie. The basic rule of a good remake is the storyline being faithful. However here they join the basic concept, and then about ten minutes before the end it distances itself to do its own thing.

We have a family that goes on a vacation, we have some wacky situations, life threatening escapades, injuries, bad guys, and girl, oh and the theme park, plus a lot of laid back jokes. Of course by the end we get a neat little happy end and the same moral as the one given to us back in 1983… (?)

Aspyrint!

Lets look at the other factors besides the plot and the jokes for Vacation. The main character is played by Ed Helms who looks like still has not been able to get better after Hangover 3 and does not know which movie he is in at times. We also have Christina Applegate who knows which movie she is in, it is just that she is not giving it any better than her Alvin and the Chipmunks role. We also have an old and tired Chevy Chase, and a good looking Thor. The acting is horrible, but the jokes are sort of okay. Most of the characters are acted in a very average way.

Delete!

Our heroes adventures are funny, so the movie can be enjoyed by most fans of the comedy genre. (Those who did not see the original!) The atmosphere is laid back, and only some of the jokes are able to uplift this mediocre work. The music is great, the visuals are beautiful, but these will not be enough for some us to enjoy this mix of reboot / remake movi… I mean thing.

-Kese-