Film Reviews

Open Season

• Rating:
• Director: Rogers Allers, Jill Culton, Anthony Stacci.
• Starring: (voice of) Martin Lawrence, Ashton Kutcher, Jon Favreau, Billy Connolly.
• Details: US / 99mins (PG).

When a domesticated grizzly bear, Boog (Lawrence), unties his deer friend Elliot (Kutcher) from a sport-hunter's (Gary Sinise) car hood, they find themselves lost in a forest during hunting season. Unable to fend for himself in the wild, Boog enlists the help of the forest animals -including Scottish squirrel McSquizzy (Connolly), a feisty little fellow who looks to Braveheart for inspiration - as they attempt to drive the hunters from their forest. The words 'over-familiarity' rankle throughout Open Season - a domesticated animal lost in the wild sounds an awful lot like Madagascar and The Wild, and forest creatures taking on humans is similar to The Ant Bully and Over The Hedge to me. But if Open Season had taken the greatest hits of those movies and stuffed them into its own movie, then we might have something funny if not original. They don't, however, deciding instead to appeal to the lowest common denominator, and upping the ante with snot, fart and scat jokes (but is that a surprise with Martin Lawrence in the cast?).Open Season lacks freshness, throws up the usual animal cliches and is visually not up-to-scratch. The characters lack any sympathy, which is tough thing to do in a kid's animation, and you may just find yourself rooting for the hunters.

Review by Gavin Burke