Chevy Chase started one of his most successful characters in the "Vacation" films as Clark Griswold, the well intentioned but totally inept father of the typical all-American family. National Lampoon and director Harold Ramis (Ghostbusters) satirize much of the American road trip in this first film, which co-stars Beverly D'Angelo, Randy Quaid, and Imogene Coca as Aunt Edna. Supermodel Christie Brinkley has a role as Clark's temptation on the trip and Eugene Levy has a memorable cameo as a car salesman, who sells Clark the family "Truckster". John Candy plays a park guard in one of his funniest character roles.

Clark Griswold and family head out on a cross-country road trip to Wally World. Clark has planned the event carefully, complete with computer print out itinerary to hit all the roadside attractions. Along the way, they take a wrong turn in St. Louis and end up on the "wrong side of town", stop at a distant cousin's house for the night (Randy Quaid), pick up an aunt and her dog, accidentally kill the dog and Aunt, and finally arrive at Wally World, after dropping their dead Aunt on another relative's back porch. Clark also participates in a robbery at the Grand Canyon, gets shot at in a wild west town and skinny dips with a supermodel. It's a wild ride and one of the funniest of the entire series of films. National Lampoon has been known for its off-the wall humor and this film never lets up in its outrageous situations and gags. Chase is perfect as the family father, D'Angelo plays the sexy and down to earth mom, and the cameos help keep the film moving along well.

The DVD is presented in widescreen and suffers a bit from age. Although digitally remastered for this edition it suffers from graininess and less then sharp focus in certain scenes. Sound is mono, which is an injustice to the nice soundtrack music written by Fleetwood Mac's Lindsay Buckingham.

This edition contains some well thought out extras including an interactive segment with film clips and interviews from cast members Christie Brinkley, Chevy Chase, Dana Barron and producer Matty Simmons. A special short introduction features Simmons, Quaid and Chase, although Chase gets the spotlight. Commentary is provided by the "Griswold family" of Harold Ramis, the director, Chase, Simmons, Anthony Michael Hall and Dana Barron. There is nothing special about the commentary; i.e., the commentary is not the cast doing their characters, which would have made it more entertaining to hear.

"Vacation" is still one of the best in the National Lampoon series of films, and its satire is still fresh today. Chase is at his best in this farce. This DVD edition is an improvement over the original release but is by no means a "special edition". Added extras are cute but should have been included the first time around.