Mr. Bean's Holiday isn't the character's first film outing; however it is one of his better ones. The last Mr. Bean movie, Bean, was a terrible attempt at trying to work short sketches into a longer movie with a major plot. This didn't work, which is why the second movie's plot really isn't that important. Instead, the premise is simply Mr. Bean's attempts to make it to the French Riviera after winning an all-expense-paid trip and camcorder in a church raffle.
For those unfamiliar with Mr. Bean, the best parallel would be Borat. Both share similar characteristics, though Mr. Bean's focus is more on himself rather than social issues. In a sense, both Borat (the movie) and Mr. Bean's Holiday follow the same plot pacing. The overall story is really just a means to thrust Bean into numerous awkward situations. The only difference is that while Borat is more joke-oriented, Mr. Bean is based in slapstick comedy. Oh... and Mr. Bean is much cleaner. Though the movie's situations don't reach the same brilliance as the original shorts, they're still a lot of fun... well, more fun then the first movie at least.
One of the key reasons the situations in the movie don't match up to the originals is that Mr. Bean is a nice guy. In the original sketches, Mr. Bean was a bit of an asshole; he was cheap, selfish and showed no consideration to anyone around him - including his family. Despite his mean-spirited nature, Bean was still a likeable character and the skits were family friendly. Although Mr. Bean's Holiday retains the family-friendly nature, Bean is portrayed as more of an excentric oddball. This doesn't completely hurt the movie, but longtime fans will notice the difference. However, the movie isn't completely lacking an asshole; Willem Dafoe does a more than adequate job at picking up the slack to the point that, regardless of your family's differing views on other issues, you will all agree that you hate him.
Mr. Bean's Holiday also includes a lengthy section of deleted scenes as well as three additional shorts; "French Beans", "Beans in Cannes" and "The Human Bean."
Experience has taught me that there are two types of people in the world, people who love Mr. Bean and those who don't like Mr. Bean. If you find yourself in the first group, Mr. Bean's Holiday is worth at least a rental. It doesn't match the original shorts, but is still funny. Then there's the third group; those who have never heard of Mr. Bean. For this group, I would suggest picking up one of the DVD sets of the TV show since Mr. Bean's Holiday isn't the best of examples. But, if you're in the market for a family friendly comedy, it should fit the bill.
