National Lampoon's European Vacation
1985 · Directed by Amy Heckerling
A twelve-year-old gets abducted, returned eight years later not a day older, and has to fly a sarcastic NASA UFO home. Peak Disney weird.
Why It's Cult
Flight of the Navigator is what happened when Disney let a small budget and a good idea run wild. Paul Reubens voices the ship. The opening act is genuinely unsettling — a kid comes home and his parents aren't there because it's not his year anymore. Then it turns into a joyride. Formative viewing for anyone born in the eighties.
The Plot, Officially
After surviving the Wally World expedition in National Lampoon's Vacation (1983), the Griswolds embark on a fascinating, worry-free, all-expenses-paid trip to cosmopolitan Europe, courtesy of the popular TV game show, Pig in a Poke. This time, the merry holidaymaker, Clark Griswold, his wife, Ellen, and their teenage children, Audrey and Rusty, find themselves in a race against the clock, trying to see as many sights as possible in London, Paris, Germany, and Rome. Once more, disaster follows, as British driving idiosyncrasies, unforgivable fashion crimes in the City of Lights, a daunting language barrier in a Bavarian village, and a brush with the law in Rome stand in the way of happiness. Can the Griswolds survive the European Vacation?
Starring
Chevy Chase, Beverly D'Angelo, Dana Hill
Where to Watch
via JustWatch →
