Watching movies is one of my favorite things to do with my mom. Her favorite movie is “National Lampoon's Vacation.” The first time she introduced it to me, I naturally fell in love. Then, when we heard that a so called remake “Vacation” was coming out, we had to go see it in theaters right away, so we did. I was not disappointed by the movie. It was a very well thought out movie that ties the new and the old together. There were many similarities and differences from the old version to the new one, many things that I also liked about it.

In “Vacation,” I was pleasantly surprised with how many similarities there was to the old classic like with the characters/actors. The family is set up the same way. A dad that wants a perfect vacation, a mom that’s not so sure if the family should drive a car all the way from Chicago, Illinois to Walley World in California, and two kids that don’t want to be there. In the original movie, Rusty was the son of Clark and now Rusty is the dad. One thing the producers did that I think is pretty neat is that they they had Clark and Ellen featured and played by the same people as in the original, Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo. These two were the main characters in the original movie, so I think that  it is clever they were able to use them in the new movie. Not only are the actors/characters similar, but so are some of the scenes or storylines. In both movies the Griswolds run into some similar problems throughout their journey to Walley World. A few are that they lost some of their money and things, their car got destroyed, and at the end they all want to give up and go home. Both Rusty and Clark have the determination to keep going, to make it their final destination. Things don’t go quite go as perfectly planned as the two thought when they arrive. This added an exciting twist to the ending of both movies. 

This movie also holds a lot of differences that make the new and the old stand on their own. In the original, Rusty Griswold isn’t played by the same person as the old, but I think Ed Helms did a fantastic job of filling this legendary role. Along their way to Walley World, the new Griswolds stop at some new places like Rusty’s wife, Deb played by Christina Applegate, college. Rusty and the two boys find some new and unexpected things about her. They also take on some new and exciting adventures that are not expected to happen on a nice family vacation which really added something extra.

This movie was overall done very well. When I watched it for the very first time, it was much more similar to the original movie then I thought it would be which I surprisingly enjoyed. I like how they tie in some of the old actors with the new ones. I also enjoyed seeing the similar journeys and how they made some small references to the old one. When movies do that, like when in the new movie they were talking about the “original Vacation,” it’s rewarding to the audience that they get those jokes from the old movie. Overall I really enjoyed the storyline of this movie.

I think that this movie did a really solid job of having the right amount of similarities and differences. It was just enough for people like my mom and I, we love the classics but always enjoy a good remake which at times can be hard to accomplish. Overall the new and the old tie together very nicely to create two very similar but different movies. All in all, it is almost like an old classic, with a slight modern twist. Vacation is a movie that can appeal to all viewers.