Open Season (PG)
Starring: Martin Lawrence, Ashton Kutcher, Billy Connolly, Debra Messing, Gary Sinise
This laugh-out-loud family flick is a great winter warmer to have you in stitches till the end. Sony pictures first feature length animated film is set in the small woodland town of Timberline. Park Ranger Beth (Will & Grace star Debra Messing) takes care of a huggable bear named Boog (Bad Boys star Martin Lawrence) who lives the life of a pet until he meets mischievous one antler dear named Elliot ( MTV Punk’D host Ashton Kutcher). Elliot gets Boog into trouble with a hilarious scene with the pair of them in a convenience store after hours getting hyper on sugary treats. Beth decides it’s time for Boog to go back to his natural habitat of the woods but she is worried that evil hunter Shaw (CSI: NY star Gary Sinise) will kill him when hunting season starts. So she leaves Boog on the other side of the waterfalls to keep him out the way until hunting season is over.
The friendship between Boog and Elliot is a lot like Shrek and Donkey. With Elliot being the annoying talking animal that follows Boog around until Boog finally accepts him as a friend. Lost in the wilderness together Boog promises Elliot a place in the garage if he helps him find the way back to Timberline. On their travels they meet a host of woodland creatures including a ferocious Scottish squirrel (comedian Billy Connollly) named McSquizzy who pelts Boog with nuts when he tries to climb a tree. Boog ends up causing trouble for other animals too as he steps onto the beavers newly built dam, which starts to collapse. He also manages to offend two talkative female skunks when he goes to use their home as a toilet! Soon all the woodland animals turn on Boog when the dam breaks and washes them all down stream towards where the hunters are camping. The animals decide to fight the hunters with comical battle scenes including a camper’s bra being used as a catapult and the skunks making a smoke screen whilst the beavers run in with rabbits on their faces as gas masks and grab all the hunters’ underwear! After seeing the hunters flee the woods the animals are left to enjoy their habitat with Boog and Elliot as new residents.
Definitely one of the best animated comedy films I’ve seen in a while. If you enjoy films like Shrek and Ice Age then this is the film for you this season!
