THE STORY: It’s the hunters versus the woodland creatures in this heart-warming animated tale of a grizzly bear and a deer who team up to outwit their predators. They are aided by a kind forest ranger (voiced by Debra Messing) who raised the grizzly from cubhood.
THE REVIEW: Open Season is part of the current glut of animated children’s movies hoping to cash in on the success of Pixar and Dreamworks. Sony’s production isn’t nearly as interesting or original—but it sure looks good.
The jokes come fast and furious without a laugh. Sure, Open Season is an impressive movie to watch. The animation is surprisingly good and proves that Sony is going to be an animation studio to be reckoned with—the problem is whether or not they can actually make a good movie with all that animated brilliance.
The entire premise of a proverbial fish-out-of-water scenario has been used with better effect in Over The Hedge. As with Over The Hedge, Open Season offers a lot of diverse characters with interesting personalities—it’s a shame none of them translated to the screen. There is no subtle character—each comes at us trying to force us into laughing.
FRANKLY: Open Season is a victory and defeat. There is no doubt that Open Season will come in the top five at the box office this weekend. Secondly, Sony proves they can get into the animation game. Sony has to prove they can come up with scripts that are as good as their animation. The problem with animation films like this is that film studios figure they can make any kind of animation with a few silly laughs to keep kids interested. It’s not true and Open Season misses the mark.
+ Charlie Craine
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