I recently saw this movie on DVD at a friend's house, and surprising it wasn't as terrible as I expected. Alot of the reviews of this movie are either by diehard Ernest fans or people who are totally against his brand of humor. I consider myself somewhere inbetween, as this was one of my first Ernest films. Some of Ernest's antics are entertaining, in a goofy/innocent slapstick way. The general plot of Ernest trying to save a camp works well I suppose.
The only things that ruin the movie are the supposedly criminal kids and the ending. The juvy kids are actually 100 times more well behaved than the "normal," non-criminal children! I assume the juvy kids were put in the "institution" for a reason! I mean they could have at least made them badasses who reform, but instead the writers made them lovable from the start, which was pretty annoying.
The other glaring annoyance is the ending. At the end of the film Ernest and the kids attack a group of Krader Construction workers with firebombs and stuff and I'm pretty damn sure they were trying to kill these guys. At least in this part the Juvy kid's true nature is exposed. This scene is made even more over the top by the Krader boss with the hunting rifle who tries to kill Ernest but can't because of some Indian powers that protect him from bullets. It was poorly done and ruined what was otherwise a fun little movie.
Besides these painful flaws, Ernest Goes to Camp has some fun hijinks that children or viewers in the mood for something light might enjoy. I was surprised by a pretty clever reference Ernest makes about being in the Vietnam war at one point, too bad they didn't use more of such humor.
The only things that ruin the movie are the supposedly criminal kids and the ending. The juvy kids are actually 100 times more well behaved than the "normal," non-criminal children! I assume the juvy kids were put in the "institution" for a reason! I mean they could have at least made them badasses who reform, but instead the writers made them lovable from the start, which was pretty annoying.
The other glaring annoyance is the ending. At the end of the film Ernest and the kids attack a group of Krader Construction workers with firebombs and stuff and I'm pretty damn sure they were trying to kill these guys. At least in this part the Juvy kid's true nature is exposed. This scene is made even more over the top by the Krader boss with the hunting rifle who tries to kill Ernest but can't because of some Indian powers that protect him from bullets. It was poorly done and ruined what was otherwise a fun little movie.
Besides these painful flaws, Ernest Goes to Camp has some fun hijinks that children or viewers in the mood for something light might enjoy. I was surprised by a pretty clever reference Ernest makes about being in the Vietnam war at one point, too bad they didn't use more of such humor.