Clark Griswold (Chase) is determined for his family to have a Christmas Vacation they'll never forget! Full of laughs reminiscent of the original National Lampoon's Vacation, some familiar relatives come for a visit and spend the holiday the way it should be spent—as an old fashioned family Christmas; the Hap-Hap-Happiest Christmas ever! (Tricia Littrell)
Special features on the Blu-ray Disc include the same commentary track as found on the DVD and the theatrical trailer. The only addition on the HD DVD is an up-front ad.
The 1.78:1 Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD picture look washed-out and desaturated. Fleshtones are lacking warmth, and the image is soft and lacking of fine detail. The image quality of both formats seems to be nearly identical. (Danny Richelieu)
The Blu-ray Disc's Dolby® Digital 2.0-channel soundtrack and the HD DVD's Dolby Digital Plus 2.0-channel soundtrack are limited, with a narrow stereo spread and little depth to the soundstage. Fidelity is improved, however, over the Dolby encoding included with the DVD on both formats, but is still lacking. Differences between the two are not easy to hear. (Danny Richelieu)