An Oldie But A Goodie: My Thoughts On...NATIONAL LAMPOON'S CHRISTMAS VACATION (W.B.)

Peter Marlowe · 12-01-2008, 12:46 AM

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SUBTLE PLOT SPOILERS; PLEASE PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY SEEN THIS FILM.

Even though Christmas is not of my personal faith, this has always been a favorite of mine each year around this time. Along with this "modern classic" comes A Christmas Story which I always watched over and over and over when TNT runs its marathon for 24 hours of that title (I also had Ralphie and his Red Ryder BB gun on home-taped VHS for many years). But Christmas Vacation is also one of the best entries in the Vacation franchise, and while most fans wouldn't agree, I thought Vegas Vacation closed out the series nicely. The weakest of the bunch has to be European Vacation, what with Anthony Michael Hall playing the Griswold kid "Russ" and some other mismatches; it just didn't work.

But aside from, of course, the classic original, which is still the best, this one definitely clocks in second...although some say Christmas is better than the first film. At any rate, the problem with Lampoon's Vacation franchise, as everyone knows, is that Chevy Chase's family just doesn't "grow" right -- that is, it goes from the kids who played the son and daughter in the original all the way up through Anthony Michael Hall in European to Juliette Lewis in this one, and then culminating with kids that look NOTHING like any of these actors in Vegas Vacation. Watching the films in succession really makes these issues apparent and distracting.

But no matter. Warner announced the release of this popular entry into the franchise some time ago on high definition (it was first available on HD DVD) and the buzz about it was rather strong -- the previous DVD editions of the film began life as a poor pan and scan transfer and then as a re-release in a "Special Edition" snapper case from Warner. Someone needs to begin explaining the meaning of "Special Edition" to Warner's marketing department. But that's a matter for another time. I personally owned the Special Edition DVD prior to picking up this Blu-ray version yesterday, and while not reference quality in audio or video, it was certainly serviceable for standard definition.

Before viewing this BD, I read online reviews that painted a very bleak picture; it seems almost every author found this transfer to be piss-poor in terms of quality. One reviewer even went so far to say the Special Edition DVD isn't worth trading up for this Blu-ray because the video quality differences were difficult to pinpoint -- after sitting down with the disc tonight, I would have to agree. This blind buy for me ended up being a "burn" just like Independence Day was -- that is, I didn't find the PQ to be any better than the DVD except for some random, rare spots. Same for the audio. But I'll get to all that.

Does anyone on High Def Forum not know the plot of Jeremiah Chechik's Christmas Vacation? How many times have we all seen this? Chevy Chase revises the role of Clark W. Griswold, the bumbling idiot trying this time to give his family of sexy wife Beverly D'Angelo and skanky daughter Juliette Lewis a family Christmas celebration in their Chicago home. Chase is up to his antics again here -- the moronic inability to even climb a ladder, getting stuck in the attic while the family goes and shops, falling off the roof as he attempts to lay out 16 billion lights on the house...it goes on and on. Showing up is Cousin Eddie (Randy Quaid) in his trailer home that's all rusted out, along with his white trash wife and really disgusting kids and even the family dog, Snots. Before Clark can even refuse taking them in, D'Angelo's father (EG Marshall, Superman II, Creepshow) invites them to stay -- at Clark's expense, of course.

Cousin Eddie, in ill-fitting leisure suits and dress shoes, ends up being the least of Clark's troubles as demented and clueless Uncle Louis and Aunt Betthany show up -- not to mention Clark's neighbors, one of which is Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who is attempting to survive the holidays by avoiding Clark's trees and rain gutters that keep flying into their windows. Along the way we get some standout moments, one of which is the most tantalizing -- a sequence where Chase goes to the mall and encounters a very sexy sales girl behind a ladies' underwear and lingerie counter. Chase begins his flirtatious ramblings and makes himself look like an even bigger jackass, but at least he gets the gorgeous brunette chick to flip up her miniskirt to show him where her "line-less" thong panties fall on her hip -- it's a boner-inducing scene for any hot-blooded male that has watched this since adolescence, made even better by the fact that this chick is wearing sexy, lacy black thigh-highs, to boot...

At any rate, the plot goes on to involve a disaster of a Christmas eve dinner at Clark's house, replete with an attacking squirrel, Cousin Eddie's mucus-infested Rottweiler and Clark's own boss being kidnapped by Cousin Eddie because he was stiffed on his holiday bonus, which he was counting on to put in a swimming pool. While Vegas Vacation was pretty good too (I have that on DVD), this was the last of the really good Chevy Chase comedies in my opinion (and the next-best in the Vacation franchise itself, if not THE best); it doesn't help that the guy is a real asshole in person and that his career never really got back on track.

For those not in the know, Warner released a box set (on standard definition) which included all the films in the franchise -- if you're a fan, that's probably the best bet, as I'm not certain how many more Vacations will be released on high def. I myself made the mistake of not purchasing that box, as the only one I don't really like is European.

As I said earlier in the review, the last DVD edition of Christmas Vacation was dubbed a "Special Edition" but it didn't really encompass much; the first DVD cut was a full screen transfer but the widescreen transfer on the Special Edition disc didn't really seem to improve matters much, as the majority of the issues the first disc had was still there -- a horrible softness, grain, dirt and ill-fitting color shifts. The Special Features of that DVD have carried over to this Blu-ray and it seems this was a lackluster effort by Warner to simply port a title over for a quick buck on hopeful double-dips for fans who already had the DVD edition(s) -- I was duped too. Those same Special Features include a commentary track by Randy Quaid, Beverly D'Angelo and a slew of others (but not Chevy Chase; whatever) and the theatrical trailer. That's it.

VIDEO ANALYSIS:
1080p 16X9 1.85:1

Well, the other reviews were spot-on; from the moment the film begins with the animated Santa sequence, the transfer shows its age and Warner's refusal to make this title look good -- the background colors are riddled with a muck and annoying "twitchy noise" that looks like grain when you look closely. As the film moves on, the transfer really gets no better. The look of the film is still flat as a chocolate chip pancake, and colors don't pop on this "1080p" encode; it really does look like a DVD was simply ported over to a blank BD. Some very rare moments pop up and look good -- there's an outdoor sequence when Chase gets locked in the attic and the family is piling into the car to go shopping where the detail and contrast get rather striking and the transfer approaches looking something like high definition...but as quickly as scenes like that come, they also go, collapsing into another scene of DVD-like quality. It's irregular and unstable.

This is just a very disappointing Blu-ray title, and I cannot recommend a purchase based on this alone. If you already own the Special Edition DVD, stick with that as this doesn't really offer much of an improvement; upscaling your SE DVD will yield similar results as this BD transfer. It just doesn't look like high definition.

Because this was a 1.85:1 transfer, the image appeared on my screen with no letterboxing, filling the display from top to bottom with image; your results will vary, based on how your system is set up.

AUDIO ANALYSIS:
ENGLISH DOLBY DIGITAL 2.0

Here's another problem I had with this disc -- well, first of all, the labeling on the case is incorrect; Warner has this listed as a "Dolby Digital PLUS" audio mix in the bottom right hand corner of the back of the packaging -- but it isn't. It's the exact same two-channel mix that's carried over from the Special Edition DVD, encoded as Dolby Digital, carrying Dolby Surround information in the two-channel stream, so when your processor identifies it and decodes it via Pro Logic II Movie mode, which it should, it sends the mix into the appropriate channels with some subtle surround effects. But from all I can see and tell, this is NOT a "Dolby Digital PLUS" track; my Panasonic Blu-ray player identified the mix, based on the onscreen information, as a "Dolby Digital STEREO" track (two-channel) and my Onkyo receiver engaged PRO LOGIC II MOVIE mode to decode it.

This, as I said, is the same mix that adorns the Special Edition DVD version of Christmas Vacation and while it's not bad at all considering the material and age of the film, this track sounded rather hollow and...well..."flat" accompanying a "high definition" video transfer (although those results were disappointing, as we've already covered). Believe it or not, this two-channel Dolby Digital mix actually spits some directional information into the surround channels -- something most "Dolby Surround" tracks just don't do. Most of the time, these so-called "Dolby Surround"-encoded mixes on DVDs (or VHS tapes) end up collapsing into muddy non-directional junk in the rear soundstage, even though Pro Logic II was supposed to be a solution for that with true stereo surround channels. Almost all of the two-channel-encoded titles I own on DVD (most are older films like Taxi Driver, Falling Down, Blue Thunder) share this disappointing sonic quality, and while Christmas Vacation does in overall fidelity, there are nice moments of directional activity.

Case in point: The sequence where Chase flies down the hill in his super-sled BLASTS from the right surround channel when he first takes off in that fireball -- the effect is startling for two-channel Dolby Surround information. There's also a moment in Julia Louis-Dreyfus' house when one of Chase's rain gutters fly off the Griswold house and into hers, smashing a futuristic-looking stereo system of some kind; the surround channels again light up here, providing a surprising effect from this dated mix.

All is not perfect, though. The same issues that plagued the DVD's audio track remain here; there's a lack of dialogue energy and overall, the mix sounds "thin" and old -- even ported onto a high def disc. It would have been nice for Warner to give this little gem some "collector's" treatment with perhaps a reminting of the video and a TrueHD or PCM remix, but instead we get DVD-like video and the same rather flat two-channel Dolby Digital mix.

If you're a diehard National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation fan, or simply must have everything on Blu-ray, go ahead. Otherwise, I cannot recommend replacing your Special Edition DVD for this.

It was a mistake I'll have to live with, too.

sigill · 12-01-2008, 01:09 PM

Thanks for the review. I was thinking of picking this up in a 3 for 2 offer but i think i will give it a miss. I allready have the dvd so if there isnt much improvement in PQ it doesn't seem worth it.

HD Goofnut · 12-01-2008, 01:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sigill

Thanks for the review. I was thinking of picking this up in a 3 for 2 offer but i think i will give it a miss. I allready have the dvd so if there isnt much improvement in PQ it doesn't seem worth it.

I have the HD DVD and it's definitely a mixed bag. I didn't own the movie on SD DVD so I just bought it earlier this year.

Peter Marlowe · 12-01-2008, 01:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sigill

Thanks for the review. I was thinking of picking this up in a 3 for 2 offer but i think i will give it a miss. I allready have the dvd so if there isnt much improvement in PQ it doesn't seem worth it.

Hey Sigill,

Thanks for reading. Yes, I definitely recommend sticking with the second DVD release, the Special Edition, if you already have it; this wasn't worth the double dip to HD IMO.

Peter Marlowe · 12-01-2008, 05:48 PM

What I wish Comedy Central would do is release The Hebrew Hammer on Blu.......

tagprod · 12-02-2008, 10:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peter Marlowe

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SUBTLE PLOT SPOILERS; PLEASE PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY SEEN THIS FILM.

The weakest of the bunch has to be European Vacation, what with Anthony Michael Hall playing the Griswold kid "Russ" and some other mismatches; it just didn't work.

At any rate, the problem with Lampoon's Vacation franchise, as everyone knows, is that Chevy Chase's family just doesn't "grow" right -- that is, it goes from the kids who played the son and daughter in the original all the way up through Anthony Michael Hall in European to Juliette Lewis in

Anthony Michael Hall was Russ in the original Vacation. Some other kid played Russ in European vacation.

Peter Marlowe · 12-02-2008, 01:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tagprod

Anthony Michael Hall was Russ in the original Vacation. Some other kid played Russ in European vacation.

I believe you're correct -- I think I had it the other way around.

jjufon · 12-03-2008, 01:47 PM

one of the funnest movies ever!
Love the cat in the box!

Peter Marlowe · 12-03-2008, 02:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jjufon

one of the funnest movies ever!
Love the cat in the box!

LOL...yeah JJ that scene was hysterical....you hear the cat like meow-ing in the box, goin' nuts, and then Rusty's like "Why would someone wrap up a cat in a box?" and D'Angelo's like "She's old, Rusty...her and Uncle Louis don't have a lot of money, so she goes around and wraps things up from around the house and gives them as presents..." and then Rusty's like "Great...can't wait to see what I got!"

LOL.

pjc · 12-03-2008, 02:48 PM

LOL...great review. When ever my wife and I are stressed or on a rant, it usually ends with "Holy Shit! Where's the tylenol?"

Peter Marlowe · 12-03-2008, 02:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pjc

LOL...great review. When ever my wife and I are stressed or on a rant, it usually ends with "Holy Shit! Where's the tylenol?"

LOL LOL -- thanks for reading and commenting, PJC! Yeah, that scene is another hilarious moment -- Chase goes nuts in that rant and then goes "HALL-LE-JUJAH HOLY SHIT...where's the Tylenol?

Funny scene. How about "Nobody's walking out on this Christmas -- NO NO! We've got a four alarm family emergency here......and when Santa squeezes his fat white ass down that chimney tonight, he's gonna find the happiest bunch of assholes this side of the nuthouse...."

jjufon · 12-03-2008, 10:33 PM

"it's the gift that keeps on giving"

Peter Marlowe · 12-03-2008, 11:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jjufon

"it's the gift that keeps on giving"

LOL..."That it is, Edward...that it is indeed...."

Peter Marlowe · 12-04-2008, 02:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peter Marlowe

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SUBTLE PLOT SPOILERS; PLEASE PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY SEEN THIS FILM.

Even though Christmas is not of my personal faith, this has always been a favorite of mine each year around this time. Along with this "modern classic" comes A Christmas Story which I always watched over and over and over when TNT runs its marathon for 24 hours of that title (I also had Ralphie and his Red Ryder BB gun on home-taped VHS for many years). But Christmas Vacation is also one of the best entries in the Vacation franchise, and while most fans wouldn't agree, I thought Vegas Vacation closed out the series nicely. The weakest of the bunch has to be European Vacation, what with Anthony Michael Hall playing the Griswold kid "Russ" and some other mismatches; it just didn't work.

But aside from, of course, the classic original, which is still the best, this one definitely clocks in second...although some say Christmas is better than the first film. At any rate, the problem with Lampoon's Vacation franchise, as everyone knows, is that Chevy Chase's family just doesn't "grow" right -- that is, it goes from the kids who played the son and daughter in the original all the way up through Anthony Michael Hall in European to Juliette Lewis in this one, and then culminating with kids that look NOTHING like any of these actors in Vegas Vacation. Watching the films in succession really makes these issues apparent and distracting.

But no matter. Warner announced the release of this popular entry into the franchise some time ago on high definition (it was first available on HD DVD) and the buzz about it was rather strong -- the previous DVD editions of the film began life as a poor pan and scan transfer and then as a re-release in a "Special Edition" snapper case from Warner. Someone needs to begin explaining the meaning of "Special Edition" to Warner's marketing department. But that's a matter for another time. I personally owned the Special Edition DVD prior to picking up this Blu-ray version yesterday, and while not reference quality in audio or video, it was certainly serviceable for standard definition.

Before viewing this BD, I read online reviews that painted a very bleak picture; it seems almost every author found this transfer to be piss-poor in terms of quality. One reviewer even went so far to say the Special Edition DVD isn't worth trading up for this Blu-ray because the video quality differences were difficult to pinpoint -- after sitting down with the disc tonight, I would have to agree. This blind buy for me ended up being a "burn" just like Independence Day was -- that is, I didn't find the PQ to be any better than the DVD except for some random, rare spots. Same for the audio. But I'll get to all that.

Does anyone on High Def Forum not know the plot of Jeremiah Chechik's Christmas Vacation? How many times have we all seen this? Chevy Chase revises the role of Clark W. Griswold, the bumbling idiot trying this time to give his family of sexy wife Beverly D'Angelo and skanky daughter Juliette Lewis a family Christmas celebration in their Chicago home. Chase is up to his antics again here -- the moronic inability to even climb a ladder, getting stuck in the attic while the family goes and shops, falling off the roof as he attempts to lay out 16 billion lights on the house...it goes on and on. Showing up is Cousin Eddie (Randy Quaid) in his trailer home that's all rusted out, along with his white trash wife and really disgusting kids and even the family dog, Snots. Before Clark can even refuse taking them in, D'Angelo's father (EG Marshall, Superman II, Creepshow) invites them to stay -- at Clark's expense, of course.

Cousin Eddie, in ill-fitting leisure suits and dress shoes, ends up being the least of Clark's troubles as demented and clueless Uncle Louis and Aunt Betthany show up -- not to mention Clark's neighbors, one of which is Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who is attempting to survive the holidays by avoiding Clark's trees and rain gutters that keep flying into their windows. Along the way we get some standout moments, one of which is the most tantalizing -- a sequence where Chase goes to the mall and encounters a very sexy sales girl behind a ladies' underwear and lingerie counter. Chase begins his flirtatious ramblings and makes himself look like an even bigger jackass, but at least he gets the gorgeous brunette chick to flip up her miniskirt to show him where her "line-less" thong panties fall on her hip -- it's a boner-inducing scene for any hot-blooded male that has watched this since adolescence, made even better by the fact that this chick is wearing sexy, lacy black thigh-highs, to boot...

At any rate, the plot goes on to involve a disaster of a Christmas eve dinner at Clark's house, replete with an attacking squirrel, Cousin Eddie's mucus-infested Rottweiler and Clark's own boss being kidnapped by Cousin Eddie because he was stiffed on his holiday bonus, which he was counting on to put in a swimming pool. While Vegas Vacation was pretty good too (I have that on DVD), this was the last of the really good Chevy Chase comedies in my opinion (and the next-best in the Vacation franchise itself, if not THE best); it doesn't help that the guy is a real asshole in person and that his career never really got back on track.

For those not in the know, Warner released a box set (on standard definition) which included all the films in the franchise -- if you're a fan, that's probably the best bet, as I'm not certain how many more Vacations will be released on high def. I myself made the mistake of not purchasing that box, as the only one I don't really like is European.

As I said earlier in the review, the last DVD edition of Christmas Vacation was dubbed a "Special Edition" but it didn't really encompass much; the first DVD cut was a full screen transfer but the widescreen transfer on the Special Edition disc didn't really seem to improve matters much, as the majority of the issues the first disc had was still there -- a horrible softness, grain, dirt and ill-fitting color shifts. The Special Features of that DVD have carried over to this Blu-ray and it seems this was a lackluster effort by Warner to simply port a title over for a quick buck on hopeful double-dips for fans who already had the DVD edition(s) -- I was duped too. Those same Special Features include a commentary track by Randy Quaid, Beverly D'Angelo and a slew of others (but not Chevy Chase; whatever) and the theatrical trailer. That's it.

VIDEO ANALYSIS:
Resolution:1080p
Format:16X9
Transfer Ratio:1.85:1

Well, the other reviews were spot-on; from the moment the film begins with the animated Santa sequence, the transfer shows its age and Warner's refusal to make this title look good -- the background colors are riddled with a muck and annoying "twitchy noise" that looks like grain when you look closely. As the film moves on, the transfer really gets no better. The look of the film is still flat as a chocolate chip pancake, and colors don't pop on this "1080p" encode; it really does look like a DVD was simply ported over to a blank BD. Some very rare moments pop up and look good -- there's an outdoor sequence when Chase gets locked in the attic and the family is piling into the car to go shopping where the detail and contrast get rather striking and the transfer approaches looking something like high definition...but as quickly as scenes like that come, they also go, collapsing into another scene of DVD-like quality. It's irregular and unstable.

This is just a very disappointing Blu-ray title, and I cannot recommend a purchase based on this alone. If you already own the Special Edition DVD, stick with that as this doesn't really offer much of an improvement; upscaling your SE DVD will yield similar results as this BD transfer. It just doesn't look like high definition.

Because this was a 1.85:1 transfer, the image appeared on my screen with no letterboxing, filling the display from top to bottom with image; your results will vary, based on how your system is set up.

AUDIO ANALYSIS:
ENGLISH DOLBY DIGITAL 2.0

Here's another problem I had with this disc -- well, first of all, the labeling on the case is incorrect; Warner has this listed as a "Dolby Digital PLUS" audio mix in the bottom right hand corner of the back of the packaging -- but it isn't. It's the exact same two-channel mix that's carried over from the Special Edition DVD, encoded as Dolby Digital, carrying Dolby Surround information in the two-channel stream, so when your processor identifies it and decodes it via Pro Logic II Movie mode, which it should, it sends the mix into the appropriate channels with some subtle surround effects. But from all I can see and tell, this is NOT a "Dolby Digital PLUS" track; my Panasonic Blu-ray player identified the mix, based on the onscreen information, as a "Dolby Digital STEREO" track (two-channel) and my Onkyo receiver engaged PRO LOGIC II MOVIE mode to decode it.

This, as I said, is the same mix that adorns the Special Edition DVD version of Christmas Vacation and while it's not bad at all considering the material and age of the film, this track sounded rather hollow and...well..."flat" accompanying a "high definition" video transfer (although those results were disappointing, as we've already covered). Believe it or not, this two-channel Dolby Digital mix actually spits some directional information into the surround channels -- something most "Dolby Surround" tracks just don't do. Most of the time, these so-called "Dolby Surround"-encoded mixes on DVDs (or VHS tapes) end up collapsing into muddy non-directional junk in the rear soundstage, even though Pro Logic II was supposed to be a solution for that with true stereo surround channels. Almost all of the two-channel-encoded titles I own on DVD (most are older films like Taxi Driver, Falling Down, Blue Thunder) share this disappointing sonic quality, and while Christmas Vacation does in overall fidelity, there are nice moments of directional activity.

Case in point: The sequence where Chase flies down the hill in his super-sled BLASTS from the right surround channel when he first takes off in that fireball -- the effect is startling for two-channel Dolby Surround information. There's also a moment in Julia Louis-Dreyfus' house when one of Chase's rain gutters fly off the Griswold house and into hers, smashing a futuristic-looking stereo system of some kind; the surround channels again light up here, providing a surprising effect from this dated mix.

All is not perfect, though. The same issues that plagued the DVD's audio track remain here; there's a lack of dialogue energy and overall, the mix sounds "thin" and old -- even ported onto a high def disc. It would have been nice for Warner to give this little gem some "collector's" treatment with perhaps a reminting of the video and a TrueHD or PCM remix, but instead we get DVD-like video and the same rather flat two-channel Dolby Digital mix.

If you're a diehard National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation fan, or simply must have everything on Blu-ray, go ahead. Otherwise, I cannot recommend replacing your Special Edition DVD for this.

It was a mistake I'll have to live with, too.

Update made to the video analysis portion...

F91 · 12-04-2008, 02:30 PM

"...since Bing Crosby tap danced with Danny Fucking Kaye!"

One of my all time faves. Drop quotes from that movie year'round.
"It's the gift that keeps on giving."

12-01-2008, 12:46 AM	#1
Peter Marlowe Blu-ray Reviewer Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 2,257	An Oldie But A Goodie: My Thoughts On...NATIONAL LAMPOON'S CHRISTMAS VACATION (W.B.) *WARNING: THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SUBTLE PLOT SPOILERS; PLEASE PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY SEEN THIS FILM.* Even though Christmas is not of my personal faith, this has always been a favorite of mine each year around this time. Along with this "modern classic" comes A Christmas Story which I always watched over and over and over when TNT runs its marathon for 24 hours of that title (I also had Ralphie and his Red Ryder BB gun on home-taped VHS for many years). But Christmas Vacation is also one of the best entries in the Vacation franchise, and while most fans wouldn't agree, I thought Vegas Vacation closed out the series nicely. The weakest of the bunch has to be European Vacation, what with Anthony Michael Hall playing the Griswold kid "Russ" and some other mismatches; it just didn't work. But aside from, of course, the classic original, which is still the best, this one definitely clocks in second...although some say Christmas is better than the first film. At any rate, the problem with Lampoon's Vacation franchise, as everyone knows, is that Chevy Chase's family just doesn't "grow" right -- that is, it goes from the kids who played the son and daughter in the original all the way up through Anthony Michael Hall in European to Juliette Lewis in this one, and then culminating with kids that look NOTHING like any of these actors in Vegas Vacation. Watching the films in succession really makes these issues apparent and distracting. But no matter. Warner announced the release of this popular entry into the franchise some time ago on high definition (it was first available on HD DVD) and the buzz about it was rather strong -- the previous DVD editions of the film began life as a poor pan and scan transfer and then as a re-release in a "Special Edition" snapper case from Warner. Someone needs to begin explaining the meaning of "Special Edition" to Warner's marketing department. But that's a matter for another time. I personally owned the Special Edition DVD prior to picking up this Blu-ray version yesterday, and while not reference quality in audio or video, it was certainly serviceable for standard definition. Before viewing this BD, I read online reviews that painted a very bleak picture; it seems almost every author found this transfer to be piss-poor in terms of quality. One reviewer even went so far to say the Special Edition DVD isn't worth trading up for this Blu-ray because the video quality differences were difficult to pinpoint -- after sitting down with the disc tonight, I would have to agree. This blind buy for me ended up being a "burn" just like Independence Day was -- that is, I didn't find the PQ to be any better than the DVD except for some random, rare spots. Same for the audio. But I'll get to all that. Does anyone on High Def Forum not know the plot of Jeremiah Chechik's Christmas Vacation? How many times have we all seen this? Chevy Chase revises the role of Clark W. Griswold, the bumbling idiot trying this time to give his family of sexy wife Beverly D'Angelo and skanky daughter Juliette Lewis a family Christmas celebration in their Chicago home. Chase is up to his antics again here -- the moronic inability to even climb a ladder, getting stuck in the attic while the family goes and shops, falling off the roof as he attempts to lay out 16 billion lights on the house...it goes on and on. Showing up is Cousin Eddie (Randy Quaid) in his trailer home that's all rusted out, along with his white trash wife and really disgusting kids and even the family dog, Snots. Before Clark can even refuse taking them in, D'Angelo's father (EG Marshall, Superman II, Creepshow) invites them to stay -- at Clark's expense, of course. Cousin Eddie, in ill-fitting leisure suits and dress shoes, ends up being the least of Clark's troubles as demented and clueless Uncle Louis and Aunt Betthany show up -- not to mention Clark's neighbors, one of which is Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who is attempting to survive the holidays by avoiding Clark's trees and rain gutters that keep flying into their windows. Along the way we get some standout moments, one of which is the most tantalizing -- a sequence where Chase goes to the mall and encounters a very sexy sales girl behind a ladies' underwear and lingerie counter. Chase begins his flirtatious ramblings and makes himself look like an even bigger jackass, but at least he gets the gorgeous brunette chick to flip up her miniskirt to show him where her "line-less" thong panties fall on her hip -- it's a boner-inducing scene for any hot-blooded male that has watched this since adolescence, made even better by the fact that this chick is wearing sexy, lacy black thigh-highs, to boot... At any rate, the plot goes on to involve a disaster of a Christmas eve dinner at Clark's house, replete with an attacking squirrel, Cousin Eddie's mucus-infested Rottweiler and Clark's own boss being kidnapped by Cousin Eddie because he was stiffed on his holiday bonus, which he was counting on to put in a swimming pool. While Vegas Vacation was pretty good too (I have that on DVD), this was the last of the really good Chevy Chase comedies in my opinion (and the next-best in the Vacation franchise itself, if not THE best); it doesn't help that the guy is a real asshole in person and that his career never really got back on track. For those not in the know, Warner released a box set (on standard definition) which included all the films in the franchise -- if you're a fan, that's probably the best bet, as I'm not certain how many more Vacations will be released on high def. I myself made the mistake of not purchasing that box, as the only one I don't really like is European. As I said earlier in the review, the last DVD edition of Christmas Vacation was dubbed a "Special Edition" but it didn't really encompass much; the first DVD cut was a full screen transfer but the widescreen transfer on the Special Edition disc didn't really seem to improve matters much, as the majority of the issues the first disc had was still there -- a horrible softness, grain, dirt and ill-fitting color shifts. The Special Features of that DVD have carried over to this Blu-ray and it seems this was a lackluster effort by Warner to simply port a title over for a quick buck on hopeful double-dips for fans who already had the DVD edition(s) -- I was duped too. Those same Special Features include a commentary track by Randy Quaid, Beverly D'Angelo and a slew of others (but not Chevy Chase; whatever) and the theatrical trailer. That's it. *VIDEO ANALYSIS:* 1080p 16X9 1.85:1 Well, the other reviews were spot-on; from the moment the film begins with the animated Santa sequence, the transfer shows its age and Warner's refusal to make this title look good -- the background colors are riddled with a muck and annoying "twitchy noise" that looks like grain when you look closely. As the film moves on, the transfer really gets no better. The look of the film is still flat as a chocolate chip pancake, and colors don't pop on this "1080p" encode; it really does look like a DVD was simply ported over to a blank BD. Some very rare moments pop up and look good -- there's an outdoor sequence when Chase gets locked in the attic and the family is piling into the car to go shopping where the detail and contrast get rather striking and the transfer approaches looking something like high definition...but as quickly as scenes like that come, they also go, collapsing into another scene of DVD-like quality. It's irregular and unstable. This is just a very disappointing Blu-ray title, and I cannot recommend a purchase based on this alone. If you already own the Special Edition DVD, stick with that as this doesn't really offer much of an improvement; upscaling your SE DVD will yield similar results as this BD transfer. It just doesn't look like high definition. Because this was a 1.85:1 transfer, the image appeared on my screen with no letterboxing, filling the display from top to bottom with image; your results will vary, based on how your system is set up. *AUDIO ANALYSIS:* ENGLISH DOLBY DIGITAL 2.0 Here's another problem I had with this disc -- well, first of all, the labeling on the case is incorrect; Warner has this listed as a "Dolby Digital PLUS" audio mix in the bottom right hand corner of the back of the packaging -- but it isn't. It's the exact same two-channel mix that's carried over from the Special Edition DVD, encoded as Dolby Digital, carrying Dolby Surround information in the two-channel stream, so when your processor identifies it and decodes it via Pro Logic II Movie mode, which it should, it sends the mix into the appropriate channels with some subtle surround effects. But from all I can see and tell, this is NOT a "Dolby Digital PLUS" track; my Panasonic Blu-ray player identified the mix, based on the onscreen information, as a "Dolby Digital STEREO" track (two-channel) and my Onkyo receiver engaged PRO LOGIC II MOVIE mode to decode it. This, as I said, is the same mix that adorns the Special Edition DVD version of Christmas Vacation and while it's not bad at all considering the material and age of the film, this track sounded rather hollow and...well..."flat" accompanying a "high definition" video transfer (although those results were disappointing, as we've already covered). Believe it or not, this two-channel Dolby Digital mix actually spits some directional information into the surround channels -- something most "Dolby Surround" tracks just don't do. Most of the time, these so-called "Dolby Surround"-encoded mixes on DVDs (or VHS tapes) end up collapsing into muddy non-directional junk in the rear soundstage, even though Pro Logic II was supposed to be a solution for that with true stereo surround channels. Almost all of the two-channel-encoded titles I own on DVD (most are older films like Taxi Driver, Falling Down, Blue Thunder) share this disappointing sonic quality, and while Christmas Vacation does in overall fidelity, there are nice moments of directional activity. Case in point: The sequence where Chase flies down the hill in his super-sled BLASTS from the right surround channel when he first takes off in that fireball -- the effect is startling for two-channel Dolby Surround information. There's also a moment in Julia Louis-Dreyfus' house when one of Chase's rain gutters fly off the Griswold house and into hers, smashing a futuristic-looking stereo system of some kind; the surround channels again light up here, providing a surprising effect from this dated mix. All is not perfect, though. The same issues that plagued the DVD's audio track remain here; there's a lack of dialogue energy and overall, the mix sounds "thin" and old -- even ported onto a high def disc. It would have been nice for Warner to give this little gem some "collector's" treatment with perhaps a reminting of the video and a TrueHD or PCM remix, but instead we get DVD-like video and the same rather flat two-channel Dolby Digital mix. If you're a diehard National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation fan, or simply must have everything on Blu-ray, go ahead. Otherwise, I cannot recommend replacing your Special Edition DVD for this. It was a mistake I'll have to live with, too. __________________ ONKYO TX-SR605B HDMI 1.3a; Onboard Dolby Digital Plus/TrueHD, DTS-HD Master Audio Panasonic DMP-BD10A SONY 1080p KDS-50A2020 SXRD Mains: polkaudio R20 Center: polkaudio CSi30 Surrounds: polkaudio R15 Sub: polkaudio PSW10 marantz CC4001 TASCAM CD-RW900SL PROFESSIONAL Technics SL-QD33 (due for replacement) APC SurgeArrest System INTERCONNECTS & SPEAKER CABLING BY MONSTER Last Review: Last edited by Peter Marlowe; 12-01-2008 at 04:18 PM.

12-01-2008, 01:09 PM	#2
sigill High Def fan Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: United kingdom-Manchester Age: 30 Posts: 2,519	Thanks for the review. I was thinking of picking this up in a 3 for 2 offer but i think i will give it a miss. I allready have the dvd so if there isnt much improvement in PQ it doesn't seem worth it. __________________ Panasonic 37" LCD 720p/1080i Sony BDP-S350 Sony BDP-S300 Toshiba XDE-500 DVD player Onkyo TX-SR606 7.1 AVR KEF1005.2 speakers Latest HD movies bought - Coraline - American Gangster - Moonraker 97 Blu-rays

12-01-2008, 05:48 PM	#5
Peter Marlowe Blu-ray Reviewer Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 2,257	What I wish Comedy Central would do is release The Hebrew Hammer on Blu....... __________________ ONKYO TX-SR605B HDMI 1.3a; Onboard Dolby Digital Plus/TrueHD, DTS-HD Master Audio Panasonic DMP-BD10A SONY 1080p KDS-50A2020 SXRD Mains: polkaudio R20 Center: polkaudio CSi30 Surrounds: polkaudio R15 Sub: polkaudio PSW10 marantz CC4001 TASCAM CD-RW900SL PROFESSIONAL Technics SL-QD33 (due for replacement) APC SurgeArrest System INTERCONNECTS & SPEAKER CABLING BY MONSTER Last Review:

12-03-2008, 01:47 PM	#8
jjufon CMMS Junkie Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Frisco Tx Posts: 968	one of the funnest movies ever! Love the cat in the box! __________________ JJufon

12-03-2008, 10:33 PM	#12
jjufon CMMS Junkie Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Frisco Tx Posts: 968	"it's the gift that keeps on giving" __________________ JJufon

12-03-2008, 02:48 PM	#10
pjc High Definition is the definition of life. Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 2,108	LOL...great review. When ever my wife and I are stressed or on a rant, it usually ends with "Holy Shit! Where's the tylenol?"

12-04-2008, 02:30 PM	#15
F91 Plasmatic Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Port Orchard, WA Posts: 2,784	"...since Bing Crosby tap danced with Danny Fucking Kaye!" One of my all time faves. Drop quotes from that movie year'round. "It's the gift that keeps on giving." __________________ "you give me a water board, Dick Cheney and one hour, and I'll have him confess to the Sharon Tate murders." Jesse Ventura Proud to be living in a hatt free zone.

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