TV Reviews : ‘Trip’ a Humorous Peek at Family Life

Lynn Johnston’s popular comic strip, “For Better or For Worse,” is less a collection of daily gags than a humorous chronicle of contemporary family life. So it’s not surprising that the best moments in “The Last Camping Trip,” the first animated special based on the strip (airing at 7:35 tonight on the Disney Channel), depict everyday crises and consolations.

School is finally out and 15-year-old Michael hopes to spend the vacation at a friend’s lakeside cabin. His mother and father veto those plans as the whole family is going on a camping trip at the seashore, a trip fraught with the minor disasters that anyone who’s gone camping with a less-than-outdoorsy family has experienced.

Michael is determined not to have good time (and to make sure no else does, either) until he meets Sarah, a pretty girl from an adjacent campsite. Sarah and Michael discover they hate the same things (especially parents who treat them “like little kids”) and it’s puppy love at first sight. Their brief romance ends on an affirming note.

The show has some weak spots: The trite slow-motion montage of Michael and Sarah, set to a twangy folk song, only slows down the story, and a subplot involving a handsome rival for Sarah’s affection ends before it really begins. However, the impromptu rap song that the mother performs in an effort to break Michael’s Walkman-induced stupor sounds like the desperate ploy of an imaginative parent.

Voice actor Vic Sahay captures all the sulky nuances of a put-upon teen-ager’s internal monologues, and the scenes between Michael and his younger sister, Elizabeth (Lianne Picard-Poirier), have the ring of carefully observed authenticity. The animation by Lacewood Productions looks rather limited, but the believable story and the vocal performances carry the visuals. Five more “For Better or For Worse” specials are in the works, and they’re off to a promising start.