College Road Trip parents guide

College Road Trip Parent Guide

Overall B

Melanie (Raven) can hardly wait to graduate and fly the nest. Yet as the high school student plans the perfect College Road Trip to investigate potential schools, her over-protective father refuses to let her leave the coop unless he comes along with the rest of her baggage.

Release date March 6, 2008

Violence B-
Sexual Content A-
Profanity A-
Substance Use B+

Why is College Road Trip rated G? The MPAA rated College Road Trip G

Run Time: 83 minutes

Parent Movie Review

The MPAA has rated College Road Trip G.

Fatherhood has a way of changing people, even caustic comedians like Martin Lawrence. According to one televised interview, this once foul-mouthed, stand-up entertainer wanted to tame down to a G-rated performance so his kids could see Dad on screen.

In College Road Trip, Lawrence plays James Porter, an uptight and controlling parent whose daughter, Melanie (Raven-Symone) is about to graduate from high school. Her dream is to attend Georgetown University. His plan is to keep her closer to home where he can supervise her every move. However, when Melanie gets an unexpected interview at the prestigious Washington D.C. school, James decides to take a road trip and show her other options along the way.

While the film is free of obscenities and the sexually suggestive material seen in many other Martin Lawrence films like Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins and Big Momma’s House, the script still brandishes the repeated, unprovoked use of tazers and golf clubs as humorous weapons of violence.

Like so many movies in this genre, College Road Trip is packed with unbelievably destructive and bizarre events meant for amusement. After following their faulty GPS device deep into the backwoods, James and Melanie discover her little brother (Eshaya Draper) and his pet pig stowed away in the spare tire compartment. What should be a simple tire change results in the expensive cruiser rolling down a mountain, forcing the trio and their pig to hike to a nearby hotel. There the porker completely bulldozes an outdoor wedding reception after ingesting an entire bag of coffee beans. If the constant mayhem isn’t enough, the Porters also meet Doug (Donny Osmond) and Wendy (Molly Ephraim) Greenhut, a musically exuberant dad and daughter pair who are also scouting out perspective schools.

The script seems to have started out with good intentions, yet every effort to bond with the characters on this journey is soon sidelined by the inflated antics of nearly everyone on screen. Although the movie tries to drive home a tender ending as father and daughter both make the inevitable move into a new phase of life, 90 minutes of screaming girls and wild mishaps are a lot to endure for a few brief moments of sentiment.

Starring Raven Symone, Martin Lawrence, Donny Osmond. Running time: 83 minutes. Theatrical release March 6, 2008. Updated

College Road Trip
Rating & Content Info

Why is College Road Trip rated G? College Road Trip is rated G by the MPAA

Unable to talk to her dad, Melanie lies about attending a party with her friends before heading out on a road trip. At one stop, James tazers an undercover officer and later gets tazered himself by a dorm mother who finds him hiding under the bed of one of the girls. A group of men fight each other with golf clubs while driving stolen carts. After ingesting caffeine, a pig causes plenty of destruction as he leads his owners through an outdoor wedding reception. A man hugs and kisses another man on the cheek.

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College Road Trip Parents' Guide

Why is it difficult for some parents when their children leave home? What kind of preparations could make for an easier transition?

Why is Melanie unable to talk to her dad? How does the road trip change their relationship?

What role does trust play in parent-child interactions?

Home Video

The most recent home video release of College Road Trip movie is July 14, 2008. Here are some details…

DVD Release Date: 15 July 2008

Hitch a ride on this College Road Trip and do some sightseeing with an alternate opening and ending, bloopers and deleted scenes (with optional commentary by Raven-Symone). Learn more about the trip’s itinerary with Raven’s Video Diary, and audio commentaries (one by director Roger Kumble and actor Raven Symone, and the other with screenwriters Emi Mochizuki and Carrie Evans). The tour also offers a featurette (On the Set: Double Dutch Bus) and a music video (with Raven-Symone). Audio tracks are available in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround (English) and Dolby Surround (French), with subtitles in French and Spanish.

Related home video titles:

Along with her television work in “That’s So Raven”, Raven-Symone starred in Princess Diary 2: The Role Engagement and lent her vocal talents to characters in Everyone’s Hero and Fat Albert.