After a truly odious animated opening sequence, we find the Griswold family driving out into the wilderness to pick out a Christmas tree. Almost immediately, a tailgater turns the nice family trip into a death trap from which they barely escape, which sets the tone for the entire rest of the film. Clark (Chevy Chase), the head of the family, is determined to have his entire extended family over for Christmas, despite his wife Ellen (Beverly D'Angelo) harboring serious doubts. This seemingly innocuous premise gives way to a series of escalating gags, including covering every square inch of the house in Christmas lights that take up so much electricity that the local power plant has to turn on the emergency nuclear generator, a Christmas tree too big for the house, Clark getting stuck in the attic, and so on.

It has been years since I've seen any of the Vacation movies, so I was eager to dive back in to the Griswold world. Sadly, Christmas Vacation doesn't hold up nearly as well as other SNL alum comedies. Most of the humor is overplayed and dumb, and the gags go on for far too long. For example, when Clark is stuck in the attic, he steps on a board, which pops up and smacks him right in the head. Funny, if cliche. He then steps back, onto another board, which hits him in the back of the head. Escalation, a classic comedy technique, also funny. He then proceeds to step back and forth between the two boards three or four more times, killing the joke completely. Other gags, such as Clark putting extra lubricant on his sled to have it go extra fast, only to have it shoot off like a rocket, are so over the top that they aren't funny even at first.

However, that's not to say the film has lost all of its charm. Chevy Chase is still loveable as well-meaning Clark, and Beverly D'Angelo is great as his often-exasperated but still supportive wife Ellen. The two of them form the emotional core of the film that make the whole thing work. Just about every performance is good, though, with Juliette Lewis as the family's sardonic daughter and Johnny Galecki as the son. Diane Ladd makes a quiet performance as Clark's mother, and Randy Quaid is still funny as blundering Cousin Eddie.

And some of the gags do still work, but it's generally more of the subtle variety. The best is when Clark starts shooting people down under his breath, such as when he's saying "Merry Christmas" to a whole line of corporate butt-kissers, and slowly changing the message to "Kiss my ass" and "Go hang yourself." Also funny is a subplot involving Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Nicholas Guest as the Griswold's snooty neighbors. I don't really know if the good jokes outweigh the bad ones, but I found myself at least smiling through most of the movie.

The HD DVD:

The Image:
I've found that of all the older (that is, older than the past five years) films so far released to HD DVD, films from the 1980's seem to fare the worst when it comes to making the transition to HD. Movies like Lethal Weapon and Fast Times At Ridgemont High often get comments such as "Looks no better than an upconverted DVD," and I know that Christmas Vacation is going to get the same treatment, because, at times, it doesn't look any better than an upconverted DVD. In fact, I'd go so far to say that this is one of the weakest HD DVD transfers I've yet seen. Now, that isn't to say the transfer is awful, because the movie itself is exceedingly soft and grainy. You can't get gold if your source material is merely bronze, and that's clearly the case here. And, in fact, some of the scenes have a lot of depth and detail to them. Most of the time, I would not confuse the image with a DVD, but at the same time, it's nothing to shout about at all.

The Audio:
The audio is even more lackluster than the video, if you can believe that, with only a Dolby Digital Plus 2.0 track that is badly in need of some work. There's plenty of hiss and low fidelity here. I guess some people might call it nostalgiac, but I just call it shoddy.

The Supplements: The main draw as far as special features go is a commentary track with Beverly D'Angelo, Randy Quaid, Johnny Galecki, Miriam Flynn (Eddie's wife), director Jeremiah Chechik and producer Matty Simmons. Notice anything missing from that list? Yeah, Chevy Chase is nowhere to be found, which is patently ridiculous, since he is the heart and soul of the movie. Without him, the commentary is a hollow shell. Beverly D'Angelo bravely tries to lead the proceedings, and while she and Matty Simmons do get some funny riffing, the track only really comes alive for a few minutes when Randy Quaid really gets going on all cylinders. This commentary is a total miss when the inclusion of Chevy Chase probably could have made it a great hit.

We also get a theatrical trailer.

The Conclusion: It's not the holiday classic some wish it could be, but National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation still has enough laughs in it to warrant a viewing every half-decade or so. Considering the general low quality of most Christmas-themed movies (and that includes A Christmas Story, a film bizarrely held in high regard by some people), Christmas Vacation can at times actually seem like a breath of fresh air. However, the hit-and-miss nature of the film, combined with the poor image and sound on this HD DVD, make it less than an ideal choice for a purchase. Rent It.

Daniel Hirshleifer is the High Definition Editor for DVD Talk.