Parents' Guide to Disaster Holiday

This South African family comedy is harmless enough but lacks any defining sense of identity. None of the antics, accidents, and follies in Disaster Holiday seem all that disastrous, despite how they are presented. And surely, if Joseph was just honest from the beginning, none of the ensuing "disasters" would happen. Each step of the journey, it seems Joseph is invariably unlucky or misunderstood, and this fact makes the film clearly "about Joseph" and not his family. It seems that the entire point is to generate sympathy for Joseph. He feels like he works hard for his family and (new) wife and doesn't get the respect he deserves, and so on. Yet, even while the final lesson of the film is surely Joseph's to learn (choosing family over work), the film generally is mainly concerned with Joseph's perspective.

This is a shame because this story would have been more fun from the perspective of the kids or stepmother, all of whom excel in their roles. But most of what they have to do involves supporting or not supporting Joseph's ideas and decisions. Indeed, everyone orbits Joseph, and the film chooses to focus on his "plight" and have him on-screen almost the entire time. But the children and his wives (ex-wife and new wife) are the highlights. His children clown him for working too hard, not knowing what they are into, and not understanding how social media works. They fight with one another. They cause havoc and feel like wildcards, which adds some necessary unpredictability. But this isn't enough to save the movie, even though it is (just about) watchable.