DVD Review: College Road Trip

Writers: Emi Mochizuki, Carrie Evans, Cinco Paul, Ken Daurio
Director: Roger Kumber
Cast: Martin Lawrence, Raven-Symone, Brenda Song, Kym Whitley, Margo Harshman, Eshaya Draper, Na’Kia Bell Smith, Donny Osmond, Molly Ephraim
Rating: G
Studio: Walt Disney Video
Release Date: July 15, 2008

I didn’t expect anything from the Martin Lawrence-Raven-Symone Walt Disney movie, College Road Trip. I was right to expect nothing because boy was this movie awful. The jokes weren’t funny, there were far too many “annoying” characters to make me care about the movie and the entire plot was just plain stupid.

I get the premise that Martin Lawrence was a protective father, but he did some pretty stupid things for being the chief of police (like breaking into a sorority and sleeping under the bed). This didn’t exactly make the movie as realistic as it seemed to be trying to go, but then I do believe in some movies you should try and suspend your belief of reality. This movie isn’t one of them.

College Road Trip was so bad I counted down (on my watch) the minutes until I could turn this drivel off. While my son said he liked it, normally, he’ll be overly absorbed in the movies he finds to be enjoyable. While he laughed at a few things, he tried to find other things to do to occupy his time, while watching the movie. This says a lot about it. It can’t even hold a 13 year old kid’s attention. This must be why the movie has a rating of less than three on IMDB. Sure, the IMDB community can be picky, but for once I completely agree with the fans assessment of College Road Trip.

Release Information:
College Road Trip debuted in over 2,000 theaters in North America on March 7, 2008. In its opening weekend, College Road Trip grossed $14 million. This made it the number two film at the box office for the weekend. It has earned around $45 million domestically in that time. The movie has received mixed reviews from both online and offline critics.

Walt Disney Video has just released College Road Trip on standard DVD and Blu-Ray. The movie was made available on July 15, 2008. You can pick up at copy of College Road Trip at pretty much any retailer in your area that sells movies, and online, of course, at retailers like Amazon. Speaking of Amazon, you can purchase your copy of College Road Trip in standard DVD form for $17.99 or the Blu-Ray edition for $23.95.

The College Road Trip Plot
Before I go any further, I have to say that Donny Osmond and Molly Ephraim were so over the top that they ruined this movie for me. Well, the poor writing and disastrous plot didn’t help, but Donny Osmond and Molly Ephraim certainly add a most annoying element that made me go from merely looking at my watch to wanting to cut my wrists from the sheer horror of having to endure their “antics” on my screen.

For those who know nothing about the College Road Trip story, Donny Osmond plays Doug Greenhut and Molly plays his daughter, Wendy. They meet Martin Lawrence’s character, James Porter and his daughter, Melanie (Raven-Symone) at Northwestern University. The duo meet up with the Porters again when they have car trouble and much later in the movie. I know both Molly and Donny had success on Broadway, but putting them in here just so they can sing was the dumbest idea on the planet. I seriously wanted to grab a spork and use it to get them to shut their mouths. If your kid likes annoying films, then this will be right up their alley. Otherwise, avoid this movie like the plague.

As you might have guessed, the main characters in College Road Trip do just that. They go on a college road trip. Melanie wants to be a lawyer. She has her heart set on Georgetown, but she is put on the waiting list. Her father, James, has been grooming her to attend Northwestern since she was a baby, because it is only 40 miles away from home. Melanie’s mother, Michelle (Kym Whitley) thinks they should support their daughter, but James thinks he is supporting her by having her stay close to home instead of following her dreams.

When Melanie’s friends (one of whom is Zack and Cody’s Brenda Song) decide to take a college road trip to Pittsburgh, they offer to take her to visit Georgetown. Having done well in a mock trial, the person playing the judge offers to put in a good word for her with some friends he has at Georgetown. Melanie soon has an interview scheduled and she even has approval to go with her friends, until James gets an idea. He will take Melanie on the road trip while her mom stays home working. With her little brother, Trey (Eshaya Porter) busy with science camp all day, it seems like the perfect time for some father and daughter bonding. When Trey and his genius pig, Albert, stow away to go to Washington D.C. (so Trey can get a letter to the U.S. Treasury), things get even more interesting. Well, they are supposed to get interesting. In truth, they actually get pretty dumb.

I hate to say anymore because there really isn’t much else to the story. James stops at nothing to fool his daughter into going to Northwestern. Their car falls apart. They end up disrupting a wedding, James gets caught in a sorority and is put in jail, and the two end up going on a high flying adventure. Overall, this movie was cliché, trite, and unless your child is into dumb humor they really won’t like it anymore than you do.

I didn’t really have any trouble with the acting per se. The actors were all just kind of goofing around. My son laughed at some of the stupid things that happened, but mainly he just kept watching because he liked Albert. Throughout most of the film, he wanted to play with legos and other things to keep himself distracted because the movie wasn’t doing a good enough job of entertaining him and holding his interest. None of us liked the movie. I feel like I wasted over an hour of my life watching this drivel and I’ll be much more particular when watching future releases with these stars in it.

Storyline/Plot:
Replayability:
Acting:
Directing:

Audio/Visual:
The best thing College Road Trip has going for it is the visual quality. It doesn’t appear to have any compression errors and there are very minor instances of dirt. The average person will not notice any of these problems unless you are looking for them. The color palette is vibrant in this anamorphic widescreen transfer. College Road Trip is displayed at a 2.35:1 aspect ratio. It looks good I just wish a good movie went with this excellent display.

The audio is decent for College Road Trip. I wasn’t expecting anything too dynamic. This English 5.1 Dolby Digital surround track gets the job done. You can expect to hear everything clearly with little chance of having to toggle the volume. There is also a French Dolby Digital 5.1 track, though I did not listen to it. I’m just not that fluent in French. Subtitles are available in English, Spanish and French.

Visual:
Audio:

Bonus Features:

Like all terrible movies, College Road Trip features a plethora of bonus features. Isn’t that always the way? This set starts the bonuses off with two commentaries. These are only available in widescreen (since you have the option of choosing widescreen or fullscreen). The first commentary is with director, Roger Kimble and Raven Symone. This certainly had more personality than the other commentary, but it was just one big promotion for why this movie was good, and we all know this isn’t exactly the truth. The other commentary is by two of the writers for College Road Trip, Emi Mochizuki & Carrie Evans.

The rest of the bonuses are as follows, for your viewing pleasure (if you happen to like this movie).

- Gag Reel
- Alternate Openings & Endings
- Deleted Scenes – with optional commentary by director Roger Kumble
- “Double Dutch Bus” Music Video Performed by Raven-Symone
- On the Set: Double Dutch Bus
- Raven’s Video Diary

There are plenty of bonuses. What matters is whether you care about watching them or not based on your opinion of this movie.

Bonus Features:

Bottom Line:
Had I expected anything from College Road Trip it would have been a great disappointment. The movie is boring, poorly written and not even your kid will like this mess of a movie. I know that Raven and Martin are good on their own, but their personalities are both so strong that they clash in every scene, making the movie almost unbearable to watch. None of the characters are fun. The only jokes that made me chuckle revolve around the pig, and that wasn’t very often. I say pass this one and save your money for something more enjoyable, such as the upcoming release of Sleeping Beauty.

Overall Rating:

Technorati Tags: College Road Trip, Martin Lawrence, Disney Home Video, Walt Disney, Raven-Symone, Family Movie, Kids, Comedy

Written by Dominick Evans - Visit Website
---
Dominick is in his late 20s. He lives in Michigan with his life partner, Ashtyn, their 14 year old son Robert, and their Shih-Tzu, Oliver. Dominick is a writer and the head editor for both LI Kids and Literary Illusions. He enjoys composing music and is an aspiring director/screenwriter. In his free time he enjoys spending time with his family, playing and watching sports, playing video games, watching movies, and singing.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!