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  Directed by
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  Specs
  • Pan&Scan
  Languages
  • English: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
  • French: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
  Subtitles
    English, French, Spanish
  Extras
  • Theatrical trailer
  • Cast/crew biographies
  • Production notes - Behind the Scenes; Newcomers; Seigfried and Roy; Jerry Weintraub; On Location; Recommendations

National Lampoon's Vegas Vacation

Warner Bros./Warner Home Video . R4 . COLOR . 94 mins . M15+ . PAL

  Feature
Contract

"VEGAS VEGAS VEGAS VEGAS VEGAS VEGAS VEEEEEEEGAS!"

If you know that line (no, it's not Shakespeare), you know this film, and dare I say it, the whole National Lampoon's Vacation series, starring big lug Chevy Chase as the loveable well-meaning goof-off, Clark W. Griswold.

This final adventure (for now) has good old Clark getting yet another big bonus cheque for his diligent work in long-life food preservatives, so he does what any devoted family man would do and takes the family off the Las Vegas for a gambling spree. Oh, and while they’re there, he’ll renew his wedding vows with Ellen, if she’ll have him, that is.

And, naturally enough with Clark, that’s not a foregone conclusion. You see, Clark, getting the gambling bug like so many losers before him, quickly proceeds to blow nearly the entire family fortune. In the meantime, sleazy Wayne Newton tries to hit on Ellen, and she doesn’t exactly put up a fight, Rusty strikes it lucky on some slot machines and becomes a highroller leading the good life and Audrey follows the path to greatness trodden by so many young girls and becomes a go-go dancer.

All in all, it shapes up to be yet more of the same for the family Griswold, with the welcome inclusion of another appearance of Cousin Eddie...

"I haven’t seen a beating like that since someone stuck a banana in my pants and turned a monkey loose."

...yet, for all the silly shenanigans, it lacks the warmth and softer edge of the previous adventures. Clark is still Clark, but now he seems more the fuddling old Magoo or a desperate burnt out husk of a gambler than the well intentioned and good natured yet hopeless dad we’ve become accustomed to. There are many glimpses of the Clark of old, but it probably just serves to remind you he's getting older and his hey-day is long gone.

But, there’s still plenty here which is uniquely National Lampoon. From my favourite touch, the offstreet casino specialising in lesser known games, such as “What number am I thinking of?” and “Which hand is it in?” to Clark and Ellen attempting to join the Mile High Club.

Hopefully there will someday be another Griswold family adventure so that my son's generation can have someone they too can look up to and admire, and set the standard for all their family occasions and cross-country adventures.

  Video
Contract

Thank God this is the final NTSC release of my current review batch, because I’m bloody sick of them. I feel somehow dirty and all American having watched so much of it lately and I hope that consumers will be wise enough not to purchase any locally released NTSC DVDs, hopefully sending a clear message that they have no place being released onto our market.

Compared to the previously reviewed Christmas Vacation (also in NTSC, of course) this one scrubs up a little better, with more vibrant colours, better shadow detail instead of a suddenly falloff and slightly better detail overall, BUT, it is still the inferior NTSC, it is still pan and scan and it is still simply not good enough. I don’t drive a left-hand drive car, I don’t call my parents ‘mom and pop’ and I don’t want NTSC DVDs. Cappish?

  Audio
Contract

Gloriously thundering Dolby Digital in 5.1 beautifully integrated channels, with a wide and lush forward soundstage intertwined with incredibly realistic panning and directional cues building on top of a subtle yet complex ambience which creates the sensation that you really are in the picture utilising the best of DVD technology to bring the cinema sensation straight from the studio to your lounge room. That’s the description I was going to use for my Black Hawk Down: CE review, but I changed my mind at the last moment. What do you think? It has nothing to do with the audio of Vegas Vacation, but hey, then again, NTSC has nothing to do with Australia, does it?, but that hasn’t stopped them releasing this DVD.

Anyway, this DVD carries a Dolby 5.1 audio track, which is okay, but nothing which would make my top ten list, if I had a top ten list, which I don’t. I thought where it lacked most were the scenes inside the casino area. These lacked any substantial ambient activity of note, with the levels far too low on the rear speakers to make much difference and pull the sound around you. This was a missed opportunity to inject some much needed life into the mix, considering a fair whack of the film is centred on Clark and his bad luck at the tables. Everything else sounds fine, if unremarkable.

  Extras
Contract

Extras are stashed away in The Gallery section, and with the exception of the single Theatrical Trailer for this film, the rest of the extras consist of very brief text notes covering: Cast Profiles, Behind the Scenes, Siegfried and Roy, Jerry Weintraub, Newcomers and On Location. All the info is so boiled down as to be virtually worthless really.

There’s also a Recommendation section for other suggested films to see if you liked this one.

  Overall  
Contract

What a sad effort for a classic series, with the Vacation films deserving far better than to be lumped with "financially acceptable" NTSC transfers recoded from region 1. These will hopefully be the last NTSC discs I ever review, and hopefully this little adventure in shafting the consumer will soon be at an end. Somehow I doubt it, though.


  • LINK: http://www.dvd.net.au/review.cgi?review_id=2658
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      And I quote...
    "The Griswolds. In Vegas. In NTSC. Fools."
    - Vince Carrozza
      Review Equipment
    • DVD Player:
          Sony DVP-525
    • TV:
          Philips 55PP8620
    • Receiver:
          Sony STR-DB1070
    • Speakers:
          Wharfedale s500
    • Centre Speaker:
          Polk Audio CS245
    • Surrounds:
          Wharfedale WH-2
    • Subwoofer:
          DB Dynamics TITAN
    • Audio Cables:
          Standard Optical
    • Video Cables:
          Standard Component RCA
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