Bon Voyage! (1962)

Just what I expected

A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Have you talked to Amy about 'things'? Have you talked to Elliot about 'things'? Just say sex Disney. Mr. Willard just does not understand his lousy kids. He is concerned about his fourteen year old daughter Amy attracting all kinds of boys especially within the ten seconds on the elevator; His son Elliot moping over the girl he left behind to go on this vacation until he immediately gets over it and sees girls everywhere he goes. So now he is concerned that his son is a playa; His son Skipper who is quickly growing up and maybe its important to have some father and son bonding moments. Skipper rather play with kids his own age. Mrs. Willard is easy-going until Elliot is seeing this Desi girl and her concerned father is spying too. Either you could think that she is racist or you could think she is worried her son might cause some heartbreak. The Desi girl's father has put his foot down. The guy Amy is seeing has finally started to raise concerns to Mrs. Willard as well. This French woman is flirting with Mr. Willard ooh la la. He says he is a happily married man ah aint that sweet. If anything the only problem with this movie is that it is too long.

Stuck for something to watch while we had a few glasses of wine, we chose to stream this from Amazon. After all, it was one of those 'put-upon father with teenage kids and a far wiser wife' type of films. And Fred McMurray is a pleasant and reliable actor and it's a Disney production, so what could go wrong? Plenty. The first half of the film drags terribly, with the gags firing on only a couple of cylinders and there is a desperate need for some vim and vigour. Compared to James Stewart's wonderful 'Mr Hobbs takes a Vacation' (made in the same year) this film falls flat in most areas, and even the usually excellent Sherman brothers music is uncharacteristically dull. There's a curious scene in which Dad finds himself alone in a street-side cafe and is approached by a pretty woman who seems to be an er.. 'escort'. It lasts only a couple of minutes and does not connect to anything else in the film, except a little later we see the same woman trying to chat up the elder son. With an already long running time of 2hrs 12 minutes, this scene could have easily been cut with no effect on the movie. The best thing I can say is that Fred McMurray does his best and Jane Wyman (not my favourite actress) looks quite nice, as does the sunlit scenery.

Wow, this movie is boring. I think it's supposed to be a comedy, but I didn't really find it very funny. It's not one thing or another. It's not really terrible, but then it's not really good either. The scenes when they walk around Paris are better than most of the film, for at least you get to see some of the scenery, but that doesn't really make up for the bland, boring movie that this is. I think the concept is okay and they had a real opportunity to make a decent film, but somehow they just couldn't. I don't think it would have been quite so bad if it hadn't been so long. They could have easily have made a decent film by just cutting about an hour of the movie's runtime. It's not offensive or horrible in any way, however, and it wouldn't hurt to have it on in the background.

Bon Voyage Let's See. On board for 'Bon voyage' is my mother's favorite actor 'Fred MacMurray'. There is actress and Ronald Regan's ex 'Jane Wyman'. Disney maverick's 'Tommy Kirk' and 'Kevin Anthony "Moochie" Corcoran' are on board as well. And then there is Deborah Walley, who I never heard of before, but she seems like she's a good actress.OK, there is the wholesome Disney atmosphere, some wacky situations, one involving Fred getting lost in the sewers of Paris and other wacky things including Fred almost getting arrested from causing a scene at a restaurant. He has some other wacky conversations with some relatives who have never meet him, but think it's horrible that Jane Whyman's character has marred of all things 'A plumber'. He slyly reveals that he is the plumber much to their shocked snobbery surprise. Overall there is the interesting sitcom concept and premise of a family taking a vacation in Europe.This concept was used in 'National Lampoon's European Vacation' and produced a rather funny film. The concept used in this film produced a rather dull and boring movie. Despite the cleaner friendly film, it isn't a Disney film worth adding to your collection and I would have to say it isn't worth renting either. NLEV is crude in parts and is not worth letting your kids watch unless you find a way to severely edit out all the inappropriate parts.But 'Bon Voyage' is not the better equivalent. With Fred MacMurray you expect better work. His character is annoying. When a man hits on his wife instead of hitting him, he guzzles down booze and gets upset at his wife because a guy is flirting with her. He does finally sock the guy, so justice wins out in the end, even though you have to wait for it to happen while enduring his whining about it. The melodrama that bubbles up from this film is also annoying and leaves you wondering about the deeper storyline that they never reveal. Even if they did you probably wouldn't care anyway.The Disney magic does not flow upon everything that it does. This is not the worst film ever made or the worst film Disney ever made, it's just a rather boring dull film. So I say Bon Voyage 'Bon Voyage ( and don't come back)