Review: American Dad ‘Familyland’

Spoilers Below

The Smiths are out on a family vacation to the wondrous and popular “Familyland” (which is totally not based on any other theme park). Francine is especially excited for the trip because it brings a feeling of nostalgia. She is reminded of the times when the family went to the park when Steve and Hayley were kids. Times have changed though. As the family arrives in the parking lot, they are all in a zombified state due to their mobile devices. When the Smiths finally get inside the park, they can’t even agree on the part of the park to go to first, so they separate.

With the Smiths scattered in four different parts of the park, Francine wanders alone (with Clause) and remembers the good old days of when her family actually acted like a family. Sitting by a nearby statue of the park creator, Roy Family, Francine is obviously distressed. Overhearing the conversation, the statue sheds a single tear and Roy Family awakes from his cryogenic slumber. Angered about how much family values have deteriorated over the years, Roy Family turns the entire theme park into a prison and chaos ensues. A week into the lockdown Stan, Hayley, Steve and Roger have become leaders in their respective areas of the park. Roy Family makes an announcement saying that each army must fight to the death and only the winning army would be allowed to leave Familyland. To make matters worse, Roy has taken in Francine and made her do his chores!

Familyland is an episode I’m sure each of us can relate to. In the brand new year of 2014, many of us have lost sight of many family values (or maybe they’re just evolving). Technologies that were intended to bring people together have instead wedged families apart. We se

I got a lot of laughs from this episode as well. Avery Bullock who is voiced by the legendary Patrick Stewart narrated and appeared in this episode and he was excellent. The entire cast was great for that matter. I couldn’t shake the smile from my face!e a good example of this in this episode. There are certainly great moral influences to this episode and it all accompanied by the usual laughter we have all come to expect from American Dad. Like many other episodes of American Dad, we see the Smiths go from a very normal situation to a very strange extreme. In this case a family vacation turns into a fight to the death. This episode was very well written and I had a good time reviewing it. Familyland was heavily based on Disney theme parks and this episode took many elements from the actual parks. I’ve only been to the park in Orlando once in my life but I still remember it like it was yesterday. It was cool to visualize the Smiths in a place where I’ve actually been. That kind of attention to detail was well appreciated.

‘Familyland’ was a fun and adventurous episode that came packed with touching moments, action sequences and a piano playing bear. I think I would have to say it is one of my favorite episodes of the season.

What did you all think of ‘Familyland’? Enjoy it as much as I did? Are you as urged to plan a trip to Disney World as I am? Let us know and have a great day!