<P> Entertainment magazine Variety responded positively to the film stating, "Solid family fare with plenty of yocks, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation is Chevy Chase and brood doing what they do best . Despite the title, which links it to previous pics in the rambling Vacation series, this third entry is firmly rooted at the Griswold family homestead, where Clark Griswold (Chase) is engaged in a typical over-reaching attempt to give his family a perfect, old - fashioned Christmas ." Rita Kempley of The Washington Post gave the film a positive review explaining that "it will prove pater - familiar to fans of the 1983 original and the European Vacation sequel . Only it's a bit more whimsical ." </P> <P> Janet Maslin of The New York Times gave the film a mediocre review explaining that the "third look at the quintessentially middle - American Griswold family, led by Clark and the very patient Ellen is only a weary shadow of the original National Lampoon's Vacation ." Maslin went on to say that "the best thing the new film does is to bring back Cousin Eddie, the wily, scene - stealing slob whose disgusting habits are a source of considerable amusement ." Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun - Times gave the film two out of four stars saying, "The movie is curious in how close it comes to delivering on its material: Sequence after sequence seems to contain all the necessary material, to be well on the way toward a payoff, and then it somehow doesn't work ." </P>

Where was the opening scene of national lampoon's christmas vacation filmed