Genre Guesstimation – National Lampoon’s European Vacation (1985) – Encore Review

The idea behind this feature (Genre Guesstimation) is for me to watch a bunch of new movies (or ones that I haven’t seen many times) from the chosen monthly GG genre in order to expand my knowledge of movies within that particular genre.

This month’s genre has been chosen by me and we will be reviewing our favorite Family Vacation Movies.

Please get me your submissions by the 25th of Aug by sending them to FamilyVacation@movierob.net

Try to think out of the box!

Let’s see if I felt that this movie would be worthy of being in the company of my others favorite movies in the genre of Family Vacation Movies.

“Clark, why don’t we just forget the “Pig-in-a-Poke” itinerary, and just play it by ear, like normal people?” – Ellen Griswold

“Honey, we’re not normal people. We’re the Griswolds.” – Clark Griswold

Number of Times Seen – At least 10 times (Lots of times as a kid on cable, 1 Jun 2014 and 19 Aug 2022)

Link to original review – Here

Brief Synopsis – The Griswolds win a trip to Europe on a Game Show and get to cause havoc on a new continent.

My Take on it – Fun sequel that follows quite well in the footsteps of its predecessor. Chevy Chase once again is a great choice as the family patriarch and helps make everything that transpires feel so realistic and plausible to happen to them. They do a wonderful job creating incidents in 4 European locations and that adds to the fun of the whole thing. The way that they create such diverse problems in each of these places is so much fun to watch. They also have some great cameos, the best is Eric Idle as British man who they keep encountering and injuring during their journey.

Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – Ellen calls Clark “Sparky” in all four Vacation movies. In the DVD commentary for this movie, Chevy Chase said that the nickname was Beverly D’Angelo’s idea, and she still affectionately calls him Sparky. (From IMDB)

Genre Grandeur Worthy? – Not quite. Fun but still a bit silly.

Rating – Globe Worthy (7/10) (upgrade from original review)