These cinematic adventures provide viewer amusement without the cost of travel

By Katie Walstrom

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‘Rain Man’

This film is a heartfelt story about a young man, Charlie Babbit (Tom Cruise), who finds out he has an autistic older brother Raymond, (Dustin Hoffman) who was sent to an institution         when he was only a boy. Their fathers’ will left everything to Raymond. Out of anger and jealousy, Charlie kidnaps Raymond as a threat to get the $3 million inheritance, arguing that Raymond wouldn’t know the difference. But during their long journey, Charlie connects with Raymond and changes from a selfish, angry man to an understanding and loving brother. The plot of this film is original and entertaining, and full of life and energy. I found myself laughing out loud from Raymond’s quirks and Charlie’s irritation toward them. The ending was very moving and shows viewers a different side of both Charlie and Raymond. However, the reason for Charlie kidnapping Raymond in the first place wasn’t quite clear the first time I watched it. There should’ve been more emphasis on why Charlie was taking him back to Los Angeles with him. This movie is rated R for a sexual scene and for language, but because it exhibits learning patience, understanding and love, it has a great moral story within it.

‘National Lampoon’s Vacation’

The Griswolds, a family of four, travel cross-country to reach the Wally World theme park for a family vacation. Their journey is filled with hilariously unfortunate events and obstacles that drive father Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase) insane. His wife Ellen (Beverly D’Angelo) and two teenage kids Audrey (Dana Barron) and Rusty (Anthony Michael Hall) put up with their father’s scarily upbeat attitude for three days until they finally reach Wally World, where Clark really loses his mind. This film is filled with classic, comedic actors such as Eugene Levy, John Candy, Randy Quaid, Brian Doyle-Murray and Jane Krakowski. This is a timeless comedy; even if the up-and-coming generations don’t know who any of these famous comedy actors are, this film will always be funny. People can relate to a long, irritating car ride with their family. Hopefully, though, their road trips don’t consists of Clark’s constant blunders and brushes with the law. This movie is rated R for brief nudity, language, and one scene with drugs. So even though this movie is about family, it’s not exactly a family-friendly film. It is definitely worth seeing, nevertheless. I can’t even count how many times I’ve seen this movie; it truly is a classic.

‘Little Miss Sunshine’

Another family film, “Little Miss Sunshine” will tug at the hearts of every viewer. This dysfunctional family consists of the mother, Sheryl Hoover (Toni Collette), father, Richard Hoover (Greg Kinnear), their teenage son, Dwayne (Paul Dano), their young daughter, Olive (Abigail Breslin), Sheryl’s brother, Frank (Steve Carell) and Grandpa (Alan Arkin). Grandpa is a heroin addict. Frank is a homosexual who recently tried to commit suicide after his boyfriend left him. Dwayne has committed to a vow of silence as a follower of the philosopher Nietzsche and won’t speak until he’s an Air Force pilot. Richard is an over-critical father and the head of a self-help program and Sheryl is just trying to keep her family from falling apart. Little Olive, the somewhat forgotten member of the family, has the opportunity to compete in a children’s beauty pageant called Little Miss Sunshine, and her mother rounds up the whole family to drive her cross-country in their yellow Volkswagen bus so she can compete. Their journey is filled with hilarious obstacles and run-ins with the law. This film has the perfect balance of comedy and drama. However, the language, drug use and the raunchy dance Olive performs for the talent portion of the competition (choreographed by her Grandpa) don’t allow this movie to be a family-friendly film, which is really unfortunate because it has a great message of self-worth and originality.