Overview: As the holidays approach, Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase) wants to have a perfect family Christmas, so he pesters his wife, Ellen (Beverly D’Angelo), and children, as he tries to make sure everything is in line, including the tree and house decorations. 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Verdict: Warner Bros. is expanding their 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray catalog offerings this month with the release of the highly-anticipated National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation in the expansive 4K Ultra HD video format this December 1st, 2022.

For my money, this National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation [4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital] combo pack sharpness takes a fairly large step forward from others in their 4K Ultra HD catalog and even comes with HDR (High Dynamic Range) for the complete 4K Ultra HD experience, of course.

So, what we have is National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation presented to us as a two-disc combo pack with a sheet for a Digital HD Copy. Other stand out points you should know are: Codec: HEVC / H.265 (74.98 Mbps), Resolution: Native 4K (2160p), HDR: HDR10 Aspect ratio: 1.85:1 and Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1.

Featuring Dolby Vision and HDR10 for brighter, deeper, and way more lifelike colors, as with most all 4K UHDs, everything that we watch features these qualities - but somehow, this film gloriously shines within them all.

Noticeably crisp with the overall clarity receiving an obvious boost here on this release, what is more is that it is enjoyably noticeable.

For as well as some new nuances to the somewhat drab palette courtesy of Dolby Vision we also get to witness sudden bright pops of color; such as the now infamous Lighting of the House scene! All Clark Griswold wants to do is have the merriest Christmas possible with his family, and after the entire Christmas dinner was a disaster, he thinks he can redeem their time together by plugging in the holiday lights around his house. He’s spent weeks putting them up, and the momentous moment has finally arrived.

Unfortunately, just as everyone gathers outside for the main event, they don’t work when Clark tries to plug them in. He keeps checking and re-checking the connection to no avail, until finally, the sagacity of Ellen saves the day allowing Clark a single moment of Christmas heroics. The house blazes to life, and causes a few grids to lose power in the process!

Indeed, the picture enjoys the fruits of the added resolution in terms of bringing out the aforementioned extremely fine facial and some of the yellow graded material; notably the attack of the killersquirrel scene!

When an unexpected guest decides to crash Christmas, the entire family is in on the squirrel hunt. First the Griswold’s try to corner it, then the rottweilers chase it all over the house, causing mayhem and destruction everywhere they go. Tables, chairs, bookshelves, and china cabinets are all collateral damage in pursuit of the fury fiend!

Finally, one of the hounds chases it into the kitchen, with Clark in hot pursuit. When their rampage comes back towards him, he hightails it towards the front door, where an incredibly pissed of Margo from next door is waiting to give him a piece of her mind. She gets a piece of rabid squirrel instead, with a side of ravenous rottweiler!

As for the audio, well we have a veritable smorgasbord of choice here: English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit), English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit), French: Dolby Digital Mono and Spanish: Dolby Digital Mono.

Overall, this is a very strong 4K HDR Blu-ray presentation, and, for the most part, the audio track remains fairly similar to its DTS-HD counterpart; with much of the action occupying the surrounds with outstanding directionality and placement where effects flawlessly pan between the sides and rears.

As for the movie itself, well, The film has several references to the original National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation: opening scene, with the family singing in the car, is similar to an early scene in the original Vacation; their car flying over snowbank is similar to car flying over roadblock in Arizona in Vacation; another befuddled, elderly aunt drops in, but the movie is good enough that it doesn’t become a rehash of the first film.

It takes its time getting started; the first thirty minutes are hit and miss, but after that, it gets good, and the final thirty minutes are hilarious. Aunt Bethany is introduced with some funny lines (Is your house on fire? she cheerfully asks upon seeing 25,000 Christmas lights on it), but filmmakers wisely avoided a repeat of Aunt Edna from the original, as this confused granny lives happily through the holiday.

Speaking of holiday, Holiday Road worked well in the original Vacation, was tired and formulaic in Euro Vacation, and was wisely avoided here, and replaced with a wonderful original score, of that, wow, yes they did.

The music, and the overall tone of the entire film, is sentimental without being overly sappy; Clark watching old home movies of his youth has just the right amount of sentiment, then it was ended perfectly with a well done gag.

Uncle Lewis is a delightful Grinch, with his strangled voice and deadpan delivery of lines which could have been painfully unfunny complaints, but his delivery and timing makes them work.

Oh, and the kids are great replacements, upgrades, for the two awful, nitwit kids in Euro Vacation. So yeah, this is, and without a shadow of a doubt, my favorite film in the National Lampoon’s Vacation series, and probably my favorite Christmas movie ever!

DIGITAL, 4K & BLU-RAY ELEMENTS:
Audio Commentary featuring Director Jeremiah S. Chechik, Randy Quaid, Beverly D’Angelo, Johnny Galecki, Miriam Flynn, and Producer Matty Simmons
Theatrical Trailer

The film is directed by Jeremiah S. Chechik. The screenplay is by John Hughes and based on characters by Hughes. The film is produced by Hughes and Tom Jacobsen and stars Chevy Chase, Beverly D’Angelo and Randy Quaid.

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