Read More @HJ Reviews: A Trip Without Enlightenment Darrel Manson Previews: Trailer, Photos, Wallpaper,Overview David Bruce, Webmaster

College Road Trip is an odd duck. On the one hand, it tries to be a touching drama about separation anxiety: that emotion which surfaces when parents have to watch their kids go off to college. While costar Donny Osmond's folks never really had to deal with that in his case—"I only went off to one semester of college," he says, due to his performer's lifestyle—Osmond himself has had three kids go off to college. "The separation anxiety sure hit me hard," he admits. "Like with the most recent son, he moved just five minutes away from the house because he just wanted his independence... He doesn't live here any more, and that's tough."

On the other hand, it's a broad roadtrip movie, one that's aiming to deliver something comedic for every member of your G-rated family. "Any age group can get something out of this film," as Osmond observes. "You know, the parents love it for the fact that it teaches a principle of letting your children go at a certain age; it's great for college kids because they're saying, I know what Melanie feels like; let me go!; and the kids love the pig. So there's something in it for everybody."

And on this front, one of the best things the film has to offer is a performance that will have kids and adults of all ages chortling. The surprise is that this performance comes not from stars Martin Lawrence or Raven-Symonè (or even the pig!) but from Donny Osmond himself. The now-elder-statesman pop-music sensation and one-time Broadway star delivers a rave-review portrayal of eager-beaver show-tune-singing father Doug Greenhut, a character so sunnily optimistic and over the top that you'll probably remember the performance for years.

"This was pretty much a fluke, Greg," he told me when I spoke with him over the phone. "It was a little cameo thing that turned out to be a little bit more than a cameo; but they called me up when I was between tours, and I had exactly two weeks and that was how much time they needed. So I flew out to Connecticut and had a blast. I thought, Why not? Let's just enjoy it and have fun."

He was pleased to find out that the film was not just all fun and games, though, as much as he enjoyed the chance to improv his way through Doug's scenes, "to just let go and have fun and be an idiot." He discovered the serious side to the film, the lesson that Martin Lawrence's James learns about trust and respect. It's a lesson that had "better resonate with every parent," advised Osmond, who has kids and grandkids of his own. "That's what kids really need from their parents," he says. "When you tell your kids that they're stupid, they'll believe it. How can they have any respect for themselves when you don't have any respect for them?"

So even if this particular Road Trip goes off into the weeds and tumbles down an embankment, audiences can take away these two things: words of sound advice, and one hoot of a character, courtesy of grown-up Donny Osmond.