|
“Johnson
Family Vacation”
|
 |
Reviewed
by: |
Wayne A. Klein |
| Genre: |
Comedy |
| Video: |
2.35:1 Widescreen
and 1.33:1 Full screen |
| Audio: |
Dolby Digital
Surround 5.1 |
| Languages |
English |
| Subtitles |
English |
| Length |
96 minutes
|
| Rating |
G |
| Release Date |
8-10-04 |
| Studio |
20th Century
Fox Home Video |
| Commentary:
|
Cedric the
Entertainer, Bow Wow, Director Christopher Erskin and Producer
Eric C. Rhone/2nd audio commentary by writers Todd Jones and
Earl Richey Jones |
| Documentaries:
|
None |
| Featurettes:
|
Making of Featurette
|
| Filmography/Biography:
|
None |
|
Interviews: |
None |
| Trailers/TV
Spots: |
None |
| Alternate/Deleted
Scenes: |
18 deleted
scenes |
| Music
Video: |
None |
| Other:
|
Full screen
version |
| Cast
and Crew: |
Cedric the
Entertainer, Vanessa Williams, Bow Wow, Steve Harvey, Shannon
Elizabeth |
| Written
By: |
Todd R. Jones
and Earl Richey Jones |
| Produced
By: |
Paul Hall,
Eric C. Rhone, Cedric the Entertainer, Wendy Park |
| Directed
By: |
Christopher
Erskin |
| Music:
|
Richard Gibbs
|
| The
Review: |
Making a bid for a modern update
of “National Lampoon’s Vacation”, Cedric the Entertainer heads
a very funny cast in this family friendly comedy about a vacation
that goes awry. The family annual reunion has Nate Johnson
(Cedric) and his estranged wife Dorothy (Williams) on the
road in a brand new car. Fighting kids, a crabby mom, a police
officer that he accidently assaults with a cup of urine and
a menacing truck out of “Duel” are the only things standing
in his way. Nate attempts to rebuild his relationship with
his wife, try and keep his kids from spending his entire salary
before he reaches the reunion. A very funny movie that got
overlooked by the public and critics, “Johnson Family Reunion”
plays like “National Lampoon’s Vacation” without the raunchy
humor. It’s just as funny, too.
|
| Image
and Sound: |
A very entertaining
movie receives a very nice transfer. We get both the widescreen
and full screen versions of the movie. Both look pretty darn
good on DVD. There is one CGI sequence that doesn’t translate
well to DVD which makes me suspect it also looked pretty bad
in the theaters as well. A nicely mixed soundtrack makes good
use of surround speakers throughout the movie. --- |
| The
Extras: |
The fun
stuff is here. We get outtakes, deleted scenes (with optional
commentary) and a better than average “Making of” featurette
that takes viewers behind the scenes into the insanity of
a Cedric the Entertainer film.
|
| Commentary:
|
Two commentary
tracks. Although the writer’s commentary track is full of dry
wit, the director/cast commentary tracks definitely has the
advantage with behind the scenes stories about various scenes,
difficulties encounter, etc. --- |
| Final
Words: |
An under
rated very funny family comedy, “Johnson Family Vacation” proves
that Cedric does, indeed, live up to his title as “the Entertainer”.
There’s a couple of off color bits but they’re pretty mild and
most kids over the age of 7 will miss some of the more adult
humor of the film. |
