College Road Trip

This film goes to show that you can be on top of the world and fall all the way down. With "Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins","Wild Hogs" and now "College Road Trip" under Lawrence's belt, i don't know how much more he can take. This movie is pretty standard "Cheaper by the Dozen" film. With all the sight gags and kiddy jokes about pigs and dancing, and, of course the soft spot for tolerance. Donny Osmond was straight forward in this film and Lawrence was really exaggerated as a goofy dad. Raven Symone played a OK part, but not a real big leap forward for the young actress. Of course, this doesn't mean the film is all bad. The movie, in its quirky way is funny. With its zany comedy style, like animal humor and kiss jokes...this film reaches to little kids. If you have young ones, this wont be bad for them, but for you...its okay.

College Road Trip was a pretty funny movie. It wasn't as funny as I thought it would be but it was funny enough. It was well made. In the beginning I thought it was going to be bad the way the first half started but then it got really good. There were also a ton of great messages in this movie. Im not a big fan of Raven Symone but she actually did a pretty good job for her first big movie hit. I find her very annoying and it seems like she never knows when to shut up. I thought that this was a very different movie for Martin Lawrence. Although it was a different type of movie for him he nailed the part. A bad thing about this movie was that it seemed like it copied of of a couple movies in several scenes. One of the movies were Penelope. The direction in this movie was fairly good. The message was about being able to let your kids grow up and having trust in them. This movie does show that life does go by really fast. That fact is true about life going by way to fast. So in that case you should spend more time with your kids and live life to the fullest. I didn't like Martin Lawrences wife in the movie that much. I thought that she did a good job despite me not liking her. They also found a mother that looked a little bit like Raven Symone which was smart. One of my favorite scenes in the movie was when the father and daughter went sky diving. It goes to show you that a father can get along with his daughter and have deep conversations. The person I saw this movie with teared a little bit at the end. So I guess it was like a little bit of a tear jerker to some people and maybe you to. This is a perfect movie for you to see to if you are going to college soon. It was more of a little kids type of movie but also the whole family can enjoy it to. It really gives you a good outlook of what college is going to be like. The story was also very cute. Overall this movie was pretty good and a very cute family movie.

I have never seen a Martin Lawrence movie before, and this movie did make me into a new fan. I have seen his material here and there, but his material never has grabbed me. But today, I went with my mother and my eight-year-old niece to see "College Road Trip." I fully expected to be disappointed, but it turned out to be okay for me. Not the best and not the worst, but entertaining here and there.

The story goes that Raven Symone is Melanie, who aspires to become a lawyer at Northwestern University in her hometown suburban Chicago, but gets a letter of acceptance to Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. Her three girlfriends are going, and she wants to go to. But her father James (Lawrence) fears losing his little girl, and wants to accompany her on the trip. Tagging along is her little brother Trey and their pet pig Albert, who hide in the trunk the first quarter of the journey. That leaves behind Mom Michelle (Kym Whitley).

On the way, they stop at Northwestern University, and who do they run into - Donny Osmond as Doug Greenhut and Molly Ephraim as his daughter Wendy. Both have the same exact aspirations - She wants to go to Georgetown and he tags along with her. And when James and Melanie make pitstops, Doug and Wendy end up at those same stops. Doug and Wendy's annoyingly overperky behavior and singing and dancing are the highlights of this movie. They are so loud they make James and Melanie cringe, but they always pop up at the same stops. And when James' car breaks down, they get into Doug and Wendy's truck. But my real favorite part is when they lose Doug and Wendy along the way, get on a bus, and get all the Asian tourists to sing and dance to Frankie Smith's 1981 hit, "Double Dutch Bus."

As James and Melanie get closer, they visit James' mother in Pittsburgh, and James gets to come to terms with his long lost mother about letting go of children. Finally, they sky dive all the way to Georgetown, where, who else, Wendy becomes Melanie's roommate and then the two would head to Japan.

Donny Osmond and the pig do take away from Martin Lawrence's and Raven Symone's performances. The pig is funny, especially when Lawrence disguises him as a baby in a quaint hotel where no pets are allowed and then makes a big mess at a wedding taking place at that hotel. Osmond's preppy, squeaky clean, teen idol image is played to great exaggeration, his character's wife and daughter add to the perkiness. But Martin Lawrence and his family are sadly undermined by Donny Osmond and the pig, which is the film's major weakness. For 83 minutes, it is not super slow, it does go fast, but there are bumps and curves along, and then there is forced sentiment, when Melanie finally gets to say goodbye to her parents, amid the manic craziness. Martin Lawrence, like many comedians of his generation who turn to movies, is more of a comedian and less of an actor whose performances often resort to overacted slapstick.

OK, this movie is in no possible way to be family movie of the year, I can't stand Marin Lawerence with a passion, I mean this guy has the most ridicules sense of humor and his movies usually equal bad. But my boyfriend wanted to see College Road Trip so badly, so it was his pick. We saw it tonite, I have to say that actually with several exceptions, this wasn't such a bad family film. As for me and my boyfriend alone to see it? No, uh uh, but I'm judging this as what it is meant to be, a family film. I know that these Disney family films get a little old, the story is played over a million times, but I realized something, the story is safe, so naturally they'll play on it. So honestly, it's not that big of a deal, as for some of the jokes? Some were not that bad, some were cute, but some were just, oh, god, Donny Osmond.

Melanie is what you would call the perfect daughter, perfect grades, good morals, great friends, and has just got an interview with Georgetown University for acceptance. The problem? Her over protective and controlling father, James doesn't want to let go of her, so he tells her that they'll go on a college road trip and in the mean time he'll try to convince her to go to a school closer to home. But along the way he learns that maybe it's time to think of what she wants and to trust her.

College Road Trip isn't a horrific film, I wouldn't put this into the bottom 100 on IMDb, believe me, you could do so much worse when it comes to a Disney family film. I know a lot of people are giving this film a bad rep, but honestly, it's worth it for the kids. It's cute enough for the family, has a good message, and isn't all so bad. Honestly, if it were not for Donny Osmond coming into the film and scaring 10 years off my life, I would give it a higher rating, but I think my rating is generous enough. For the family, I recommend, for an adult, you might wanna avoid. I'll be having nightmares for a few days of Donny and his daughter singing.

4/10

I watched this movie because I like to watch Martin Lawrence movies.

This is a family movie. There is no swearing, there is no violence, etc. It's the way family movies should be. The storyline isn't the best nor is the musical score or acting however, it is not as bad as others deem it to be. I think too many people expect to be entertained by movies as if it was the first time being on a roller coaster. Those types of movies are jewels and should be praised as such however, these types of movies (college road trip) should not be condemned by seemingly heartless people who think they are experts in how movies should be. I often wonder if these people actually sit through and watch movies or just make bad comments because they don't like a particular actor. Oh well. I liked this movie.