The Griswolds return in Super Bowl commercial, short film!

It’s a happy time for those of us who still have fond memories of the Vacation movies because we choose to pretend the Vegas film never happened: Clark and Ellen Griswold are back! Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo have reprised their characters for a 15-minute short film, Hotel Hell Vacation, for HomeAway.com, an online vacation rental marketplace. The short will premiere after a 30-second mock trailer for the film during the third quarter of Sunday’s Super Bowl. What’s the plot? “Clark surprises Ellen with a romantic second honeymoon before meeting up with their son Rusty and his family for an extended vacation. In classic Griswold family tradition, they run into plenty of travel mishaps along the way.” (In classic Vacation tradition, Rusty will be played by a new actor.)

The HomeAway.com campaign has other components, too, like Clark’s Facebook page (he has close to 77,000 fans) and Twitter account, as well as a forthcoming interactive ‘Griswolds Getaway’ Online Game that allows players to try their hand at stacking luggage on top of the Wagon Queen Family Truckster. “As luggage falls from the sky, players have to grab and stack the different items while avoiding flying obstacles that can knock the luggage off the top of the car,” the press release says. “Players, and the Truckster, journey through five tricky levels (including a stop at Cousin Eddie’s house) to the final pay-off at a spacious vacation rental.”

We’ll see on Sunday if this campaign is as genius as it sounds. Any bets?