 |
RV
Every parent has been in Bob Munro’s shoes. One minute, you’re having a sweet heart-to-heart talk with your precious little girl, and the next, your snarky teenager is calling you a dork. It’s a situation that confirms Bob’s (Robin Williams) suspicions -- he’s losing touch with his family. “We watch TV in four separate rooms and IM each other when dinner’s ready,” he complains to his wife. Bob’s solution? Road trip! He rents a hideous-looking RV and persuades his wife (Cheryl Hines of “Curb Your Enthusiasm”) to give up their Hawaiian vacation and take their kids (Josh Hutcherson and Joanna “JoJo” Levesque) to the Colorado Rockies on a road trip. Once there, they encounter a bizarre community of campers, including a banjo-playing Jeff Daniels and his wife, played by Kristin Chenoweth, who seem overly eager to make friends with the Munro clan. But Bob hasn’t exactly been honest with his family. He’s got business on his mind, and this trip is more than just a family vacation. Will they all come together in the name of family unity? We can thank Chevy Chase for blazing a trail for these kinds of movies with 1983’s “Vacation.” It’s pure escapism, and a fun way to spend a couple of hours. Just don’t expect anything too in-depth. PRE-SCHOOLER (ages 2-5): This movie contains too many innuendoes and crude jokes for little ones. Family-centric shows like “The Berenstain Bears” and “Arthur” are better suited for preschoolers. GRADE-SCHOOLER (ages 6-10): This movie has everything grade-schoolers will love: crude humor, goofy physical comedy, and kids they’ll identify with. We get to see Robin Williams deal with his sarcastic family, nearly get flattened by a runaway RV, and get splattered by, uh, waste products. But most of it’s just clean fun, thanks to the PG rating, with a few warm, fuzzy moments thrown in for good measure. TWEEN/TEEN (ages 11+): This movie is probably a little more true-to-life than most of us would like to admit! It takes work to bring a family together. Bob’s motives may be a little deceitful, but the resulting family harmony is a good thing. Tweens and teens will identify with pop star JoJo Levesque (most recently seen in “Aquamarine,”) and maybe even learn something about connecting with their family in a world of cell phones and cyberspace. Jane Louise Boursaw is a freelance writer specializing in the television and movie industry. Her syndicated column, "Reel Life With Jane," is published in papers throughout the country. Email her at jboursaw@charter.net. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
