Reception
Reviews ranged from mildly negative to positive. Upon its inaugural airing on the Disney Channel in 1988, The Lexington Herald-Leader called the film "pleasant," but thought the beginning of the film might seem too similar to National Lampoon's Vacation to viewers unfamiliar with Shepherd's work. Daniel Ruth of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three stars, described it as "cute", and a "wistful, yet chaotic drive down memory lane," and stated, Shepherd "never loses" his "ability to see the world through a child's eyes."
In 1989, prior to the film's broadcast on PBS, Irv Letovsky of The Los Angeles Times was blasé, calling the film, "a lot of cute," but "though cute, this is sort of a compendium of how things used to be." He noted that "some of the older generation might enjoy the diversion." New Jersey Star-Ledger reviewer Jerry Krupnick found the film "hilarious" and "super fun", but declared that the role Shepherd took on for himself in the first 30 minutes of the film only stretched a "nifty 90-minute comedy" to two hours, and made it "cluttered." Time Magazine listed Ollie Hopnoodle as a "Critic's Choice" for viewers in 1989.
Read more about this topic: Ollie Hopnoodle's Haven Of Bliss
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