Unfortunately, at this point we have to accept the fact that Hollywood would rather make reboots or sequels to long forgotten franchises than produce more original content.

There’s been plenty of criticism over the last decade. While a number of people bring up good points, it is not going to stop the reboots or remakes from coming no matter how vocal the naysayers are. Ultimately, this puts a lot of pressure for the people involved with these productions, especially for comedies, to deliver a satisfying product that will satisfy the old and new fans.

It is possible to pull it off, as evidenced by 21 Jump Street, but how will the new sequel to the critically acclaimed 1980s comedy National Lampoon’s Vacation fare?

Taking place decades after the original Vacation, Clark Griswold’s’ son Rusty (portrayed by The Hangover’s Ed Helms) is now grown up and dissatisfied with his life. He works as an airline pilot who feels the need to reconnect with his wife, Debbie (played by Christina Applegate) and their two sons. To do this, he decides to recreate a childhood memory by taking the family to the destination of the original Vacation, Walley World. Along the way he also catches up with his sister, Audrey, who is married to anchorman Stone Crandall (played by Chris Hemsworth).

Seeing as how this is a Vacation movie, the family of course has its fair share of encountering Murphy’s Law, which threatens to tear the family apart.

Unlike the previous sequels, there’s really no big twist on the Vacation formula here. It doesn’t take place during a holiday or in a different country or state. It borrows the same plot as the original, a family road trip, and even the same destination as the original Vacation.

The twist on the formula this time is that the focus is on Clark’s son Rusty rather than Clark himself. That would be fine if there felt like a difference in Rusty’s character than that of his father. Other than different jobs and families, they have no difference in personality and overall journey. Oh wait, there is a difference. Clark’s journey was funnier, more charming, and didn’t rely on much as gross-out humor to be funny.

While there was the occasional swear word and gross out gag in the original, the new Vacation primarily relies on vulgarity to get the laughs across. It’s not my style of humor, but I’ll laugh at the occasional fart joke once in awhile.

The issue is dealing with a movie where the gross stunts are relied on more than the characters for the laughs. The overall humor aside from that was pretty mediocre. I did get a kick out of watching Thor behaving a little over sexual before the joke ran its course.

If I had to give some praise to the film, the actors did a decent job doing their part, including some of the child actors that played Rusty’s sons. It’s just disappointing to see them deal with the shallow material they were given.

Just like the film itself, Vacation shows that sometimes revisiting old things in modern times doesn’t work.

The film’s failure wasn’t primarily because it was nearly a remake of a classic, it failed because it lacked the charm and humor that could be seen in the original and Christmas Vacation for that matter. Not one scene in the movie comes close to the hijinks and character breakdowns of those two classics. You’re better off watching those.