So much average

Memorable, crazy movie

Don't listen to the negative reviews

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

When his daughter is offered an interview at a college in Washington D.C, over-protective father James Porter (Martin Lawrence) offers to drive his daughter from their hometown in Chicago to Washington D.C. Despite his good-intentions, James' interference and over-protective nature turns this road trip into something of a nightmare.There have been many road trip films over the years (all of varying quality), but none that I've seen so far have managed to be quite as annoying as College Road Trip...The underlying base of the story isn't actually too bad; an over-protective father struggling to let his child fly the nest and being unable to bear her being too far away from him. Deep, deep down there is quite a sweet story here, but unfortunately it's suffocated by a bunch of loud and annoying characters (Donny Osmond and his daughter were the worst examples and are two of the most irritating characters that I've ever witnessed on film). It's almost as though the filmmakers genuinely believe that by putting a bunch of unbearably happy people on the screen that this will somehow make its audience happy, but the truth is that a lot of these characters had the opposite effect on me; none of them felt believable and the relentless cheeriness and stupid dialogue that many of the characters were given never felt believable and a lot of the time it made me feel as though I was watching caricatures rather than real people. The film does seem to have all the clichés in the book; over-protective father, weird kid, rebellious teen who has awkward relationship with dad, but whom inevitably bonds with dad et al. The problem with this film isn't necessarily its clichéd approach, but more to do with the fact that the filmmakers don't make any of the characters or the dialogue funny. Character development is also a bit hit-and-miss; for example the weird kid is just weird and given no real development and isn't funny.The performances (if you can call them that) aren't up to much I'm afraid - but that's mainly because many of the actors are either shouting or screaming at one another. When watching this film it often felt like it was trying too hard to be funny and the more it tried the worse it got.There are one or two nice moments between Lawrence and Symone which prevent it from getting the minimum score, but other than that this is an unbearable, unfunny, loud and annoying film that would have greatly benefited from a less is more approach being employed.

I hesitated for a very long time to watch this flick because I was convinced it was a stinker but to my surprise it was very funny. I thought the chemistry amongst the cast was excellent and helped a lot too. So many times you watch these films and the family is so poorly cast but I thought all the actors they got for the roles were a perfect match (even the actress that played Martin Lawrence's mother). When I saw in the previews that the family had a crazy pet pig I thought it was ridiculous and silly, but once you watch the film you quickly fall in love with the cute piggy. I don't think there is anything awful about this film, it's a harmless good time. In my opinion, it also had a very good message about parenting, being a teenager these days and understanding each other. So few films have valuable family messages to take away from them. And from time to time you might actually find yourself tearing up at the sentimental parts unless you're cold-hearted. Frankly, after watching this I don't get the hate other reviewers and critics have towards the film. I can't remember the last time I've seen a really good teen movie - they make so few that are actually worth viewing. It's also one of the few recent Martin Lawrence films I've enjoyed from beginning to end. And Donny Osmond was TOO funny! This should be must-see for parents whose kids will be leaving and going away to college and are finding it hard to let go. Watch this Disney movie with the whole family and have a good laugh. I highly recommend it.

"Melanie Porter" (Raven-Symone) has finally come to lock horns with her father (Martin Lawrence) after growing up as "Daddy's Little Girl." She wants to go to Georgetown University, but he is way too over-protective, and demands that she Northwestern University, which is less than 30-minutes from the family home.She plans a college road trip with two friends (Brenda Song and Margo Harshman), but good old daddy has plans for him to take her on the trip himself.Everything goes wrong for "Melanie" on the trip, which includes her father recruiting fellow police officers to stage an outrageous scene to get her to go to Northwestern to her brainiac brother (Eshaya Draper), stowing away with the family pig in their father's police vehicle.Now, the foursome have to get to Georgetown before "Melanie's" dreams come crashing to the ground.I have to say this is one of the most predictable movies I've seen in some time. You knew during the opening credits that there was going to be comedic bumps in the proverbial road, with the two main characters fighting all the way until they bond again at the end of the film.I wasn't too impressed with the humor. Again, due to the predictability of the movie. I probably laughed six times the entire movie. Most of the jokes you've seen in other movies, and are done better in those movies. The gags were not set up well if you ask me, and you knew the punchline was coming just as the comedic scenes were starting.I also did not like the performances of Donny Osmond and his on-screen daughter played by Molly Ephraim. There is such a thing as being too over-the-top, and they were. Personally, I don't think either were happy with their roles, as, to me, they seemed to have forced their performances a bit too much.On the other hand, Martin and Raven-Symone were pretty good together, and did a fairly good job at being a comedy team -- with her being the "straight man" to Martin as the comic. I've flipped passed Raven-Symone's TV series when they are in the middle of a comedic moment. In the show, she seems to be forcing herself at the comedy. Here, she was more comfortable.The supporting cast was completely under used. It seemed to me that characters showed up when needed in the script. There was very little character development in these characters beyond of being told who they were, and how they related to the main characters. Mostly, the supporting cast were either used in comedic scenes, or to set up plot twists.As for the soundtrack, it's mostly well-known tunes heard for decades, sometimes in other movies and television shows. There isn't any of the major names from Disney like the Jonas Brothers or Miley Cyrus on the soundtrack. It's the original artists you hear like the Jackson 5. You also only get one original song in the movie, sung on-screen by Raven-Symone in a funny moment on a tour bus filled with karaoke-singing Japanese tourists. The song itself was upbeat, and is easy to dance to, but you won't be singing it for weeks after.I couldn't really get into this movie, thanks to it being so predictable. However, there are a few good laughs and pretty good performances from Raven-Symone and Martin which barely carry the movie. I would have to say save this one for a rainy day when there is nothing else on.

Once again, Raven Symone plays the bright know it all teenager. And Martin Lawrence plays the wacky dad that gets into crazy situations in this movie. They put the pig in the movie for extra comedy. Kym Whitley actually cried in this movie! She is goofy in everything that she ever played in. And Kelly Cofield from In Living Color made a cameo as the dorm mother in the sorority house. She is the same wacky person in every movie that she's in! If you saw this movie in theaters, you missed a lot of great deleted scenes. This movie was corny just like most other Disney movies. And it had a fairy tale ending. I like how Donny Osmond's character stopped being so perky at the end of the movie when his daughter said that she was engaged!