Open Season Theatrical Review

We have the monumentally successful "Shrek" to thank for the recent glut of computer animated movies directed at the kids. I've even lost count as to how many of these films have been released this year, let alone in the time since the big green ogre. Whatever the number, it's a few too many. None of them have had the charm, the class or the novelty of that one singularly magic movie in 2001.

The newest entry in this "genre" is "Open Season", a movie full of talking animals and ideas warmed over from older (not to mention better) films. In this case, Boog is a grizzly bear living in the garage of a park ranger named Beth. One day, however, he is misconstrued as being a ferocious creature and Beth is forced to drop him into the middle of the wilderness. There, he has to learn the ways of animals and lead the fight against hunters.

One of the biggest things that "Shrek", "Toy Story" and the upper echelon of computer kid movies had going for them is the fact they all appealed to both children and their parents equally. The younger members of the audience appreciated the funny characters and the talking animals; the adults could identify with the humor that flew over the kids heads. This was a conscious decision by the filmmakers to attract a wide audience. And by god it worked.

The unfortunate byproduct of this phenomenon was every studio throwing together a computer movie they felt was in the mold of previous success stories. Some are better than others and every once in a while, one forgoes the adult audience completely ("Curious George"). The thing with "Open Season" is that the audience is never completely sure whom the movie is directed to.

Is this a kiddie flick? Is it a "Shrek"-ish picture designed to bring in the families? I still don't know. There are pieces of dialogue tilting the scale to the family idea ("Bros before does") and then the movie does a 180 into kiddie territory (one character-Elliot-is called "smelliot" and another is called "backpack boy"). I make a big deal about this point because the intended audience is crucial to understanding why things are done the way they are in the film. If you want to make a straight up kids film, pour on all the schmaltz you possible can and make "Curious George" (a film that didn't deserve any kind of rating). But if you want to appeal to a little more than the kids, commit to it. Stop straddling the fence.

With all that said, "Open Season" is really warmed over Disney territory. There is a staunch anti-hunting message near the end ("Bambi"), a character having to choose one family over another ("The Little Mermaid), an animals vs. humans storyline ("The Rescuers"), an annoying sidekick to the main character (take your pick). It's one of those middling movies that doesn't do a whole lot right but doesn't do a whole lot wrong.

The voice casting, which is filled with household names, is headlined by Martin Lawrence as Boog and Ashton Kutcher as sidekick Elliot. Normally the voices don't irk me in animated films. Here, though, Lawrence is horribly miscast. The voice immediately hit me as too rough sounding for a kids film. The joy of Eddie Murphy as donkey in "Shrek" is that we can imagine a donkey sounding like Murphy if donkeys could talk. Boog should have a deep sounding voice-bearish, if you allow the pun. Someone like a Jonathan Winters or even Al Karn. It would've even been interesting to hear what James Earl Jones would have done with the part. But not Lawrence.

Speaking of Boog, I do have to commend the animators who worked on his fur in the film. It looks entirely real at all times and is actually quite fascinating to watch a stray hair or two. Similarly, the rapids in the water sequence are beautiful to behold. The white caps at the crest of the waves and the brilliance of the blue water seems to be taken right from a picture, not generated by a computer.

Unfortunately, I can't similarly commend the human rendering. The more computer generated movies I watch, the more I am convinced these films should stick to animals or objects, leaving humans on the sidelines. The faces of Beth and Shaw, to name only two, lack the subtleties in a real face. There are no wrinkles, no blemishes, no texture. It's just smooth, almost in a botox-type of way.

I've already lambasted the story for being a retread in so many ways, but lets look at it a bit more. It's a very straight forward tale about standing with your friends when push comes to shove instead of taking the easy way out. Boog has the choice of defending his new home and his new family or turning his back on them after being basically abandoned because of a misunderstanding with Beth. In classic movie fashion, Boog is seen from behind a curtain talking to Elliot. His actions, obviously, are big and scary. Therefore, the people gathered for the performance assume he is ferocious-despite all the previous evidence to the contrary. From this point, Beth is forced to drop Boog in the woods on the eve of open (hunting) season (hence the name of the movie).

She doesn't even have the courtesy to do it when he's awake; he was hit with a tranquilizer dart during the "rampage". No explanations, no goodbyes. Believe it or not, it stirs negative emotions toward Beth despite the fact she does the best she can. Is it fair to the character (yes, I know she is a computer image)? Not really because her hand is forced by the town.

When we get into the forest, there is a literal barrage of animal characters we meet, most of which are rather forgettable. A territorial squirrel McSquizzy, the "king of the forest" buck Ian, beautiful doe Gielle…the list goes on. Are they vital to the story? Of course not. They provide the comic relief and are featured in the end battle; there isn't any real development for them so they are simply stereotypes. Ian believes Elliot is inferior even though the latter is more of a leader than the former. McSquizzy is, apparently, British and that influences his role in the film. They are neither memorable nor will they ingrain themselves in the popular culture like other film sidekicks.

"Open Season" is good for some inoffensive entertainment, outside of a fart and poop joke. Anyone looking to make this a new "Shrek" or even a film that will be remembered next year is in for a disappointment. "Open Season" ranks a solid 5.