Raven-Symone’s Coming-of-Age Comedy comes to DVD 

When high school senior Melanie (Raven-Symone’) announces plans to drive from Illinois to Washington, DC with a couple of girlfriends to visit Georgetown University, her overprotective, police chief father (Martin Lawrence) decides to drive his daughter there himself. With days dwindling down before her he figures that this will be his last chance to spend a little quality time with his daughter before she moves out of the house.

Besides, the manipulative cop has an ace up his sleeve, namely, an unscheduled pit stop at Northwestern where, with the help of some undercover confederates, he’s hoping to talk his daughter into making that nearby school her first pick. What Chief Porter never banked on, however, is that his young son, Trey (Eshaya Draper), would stow away in the car, and bring his pet pig along for the ride, too. 

This kookie cast of characters keeps College Road Trip in motion, one of those wacky misadventures fueled by an ever-compounding comedy of errors. Unfortunately, director Roger Kumble (Cruel Intentions) failed to include any humor for a demographic over the age of about five in the film’s formulaic recipe. This is a bit strange given that the movie is featuring the theme of going off to college.

Anyhow, before they arrive at Georgetown, the Porters and their anthropomorphic boar get a flat tire, before having their car rolls into a ravine. Proceeding on foot, James soon becomes the straight man for all manner of infantile slapstick, from being tasered by a sorority house mother (Kelly Coffield) to falling off a ladder.

More funereal than funny, with a universal message which almost gets lost in the shuffle. Don’t tase me bro!

Fair (1 star)
Rated G
Running time: 83 minutes
Studio: Walt Disney Home Entertainment
DVD Extras: Gag reel, alternate opening and endings, deleted scenes with optional director’s commentary, Raven-Symone’ music video, Raven’s video diary, another featurette, and two audio commentaries: one with Raven and the director, the other with the scriptwriters.

Published in : Entertainment, DVD Releases