Let’s start with the minivan. The 4WD Warner Bros. Edition is the full-dress rendition of Chevrolet’s five-year-old Venture. The marketing alliance with Warner Brothers is one of Chevrolet’s deeper mysteries, but the big feature of this Venture is an LCD-screen DVD player (the player’s mounted near the floor between the front seats, with the 5.6-inch screen folding down from the roof), which can keep your kids entertained with Warner Brothers cartoons, or whatever. The second row has video camera/video game headphone inputs, and headphone inputs are also found in the third row. Each station has individual volume control.

Together with the premium stereo unit, you have multiple options for entertaining the brood or a bunch of your limited-attention-span buddies.

This Venture also sported a full leather interior, side airbags for front passengers, keyless entry, air conditioning with both front and rear controls, OnStar, anti-lock brakes, nice alloy wheels, a rear wiper/washer, and power everything-including sliding rear doors on both sides that can be operated remotely from the key fob. (Personally, I was more entertained operating the doors than I was by any offerings emanating from the full-blown media delivery hardware.)

The Venture also has quite respectable performance for a minivan. The Warner Bros. Edition has an extended wheelbase over the base models, improving interior legroom and smoothing out ride dynamics. A respectable amount of power (185 horses at 5,200 rpm; 210 lb-ft of torque at 4,000 rpm) comes from the 3.4-liter V6, although this may be due to the light weight of the Venture compared to other minivans.

Finally, it boasts the innovative Versatrak AWD system, with the rear wheels kicking in as needed in slippery circumstances. We had no trouble climbing snowy mountain switchbacks with this drivetrain.

The verdict: comfortable and capable for a crowd.