Psycho's Movie Reviews #396: Open Season (2006)

Open Season is an award-winning 2006 American computer-animated comedy film, directed by Roger Allers and Jill Culton from a screenplay by Steve Bencich, Ron J. Friedman, and Nat Mauldin. The film stars the voices of Martin Lawrence, Ashton Kutcher, Gary Sinise, Debra Messing, Billy Connolly, Jon Favreau, Georgia Engel, Jane Krakowski, Gordon Tootoosis, and Patrick Warburton. Its plot follows Boog, a domesticated grizzly bear who teams up with an amnesiac one-antlered mule deer named Elliot and other woodland animals to defeat human hunters.

Open Season was produced by Sony Pictures Animation as its debut film, and was released to theaters by Columbia Pictures under Sony Pictures Releasing on September 29, 2006. It has also been released in the IMAX 3D format. A video game for the film was released on multiple platforms.

Despite receiving mixed reviews from film critics, the film was positively welcomed from audiences and was a box office success, earning $200.8 million on an $85 million budget and was followed by three direct-to-video sequels: Open Season 2 (2008), Open Season 3 (2010), and Open Season: Scared Silly (2016).

Plot

In the small town of Timberline, a 900-pound (408 kg) grizzly bear named Boog enjoys a captive but luxurious existence and spends his days as the star attraction of the town's nature show, while at night living in the garage of park ranger Beth, who has raised Boog since he was a cub. One day, the cold-hearted hunting fanatic Shaw drives into Timberline with a one-antlered mule deer named Elliot strapped to the hood of his truck, who is unconscious after being hit by the truck. When Boog meets him, he discovers that Elliot has memory loss, thinks that he is lonely, and forgets about the accident. When Boog becomes sick from eating too many candy bars, events quickly spiral out of control, as the two raid a convenience store. Elliot escapes before Boog is caught by a friend of Beth's, Sheriff Gordy.

Shaw tries to shoot Boog and Elliot, but Beth shoots both animals with a tranquilizer gun just before Shaw fires his own gun. Shaw flees before Gordy can arrest him. Realizing that Boog is too threatening in the town, Beth relocates him and Elliot into the Timberline National Forest, only two days before open season starts, but they are relocated above the waterfalls, where they will be safe from the hunters. Since he lacks any outdoor survival skills, Boog reluctantly takes Elliot as his unstable guide to get him back home to Timberline to reunite with Beth, but in the woods, they quickly learn that animals can be extremely unwelcoming. Boog runs into a lot of forest animals who think that he is a loser, including skunks Maria and Rosie, ducks Serge and Deni, various unnamed panic-stricken rabbits, the Scottish-accented squirrel McSquizzy and his loyal gang of fellow acorn-throwing squirrels, beaver Reilly and his construction worker team, a porcupine named Buddy who is in search of a friend, and a herd of deer led by Ian and Giselle, the girl that Elliot is in love with and quickly remembers.

Eventually, Boog learns about self-reliance and Elliot gains self-confidence, and they start to become friends. The next day, it is revealed that Elliot has absolutely no idea where he and Boog are going and has been leading Boog in a big circle, due to his memory loss. After accidentally causing a flood at Reilly's dam, Boog and Elliot are confronted by Shaw; Boog rescues his toy bear, Dinkleman, before the current makes the doll float out of Boog's paw. They end up in a waterfall, which sends the animals falling down into the hunting grounds. After thinking that Shaw is dead, at first all the animals are furious at Boog for pushing them into the hunting ground, but then he accuses Elliot of lying to him about knowing where Timberline is. Boog angrily storms off, but unwittingly ends up in Shaw's log cabin, where he is discovered by Shaw, who is revealed to have survived, while Boog manages to make a hasty escape before Shaw could get him when he ends up on a nearby road where Boog happens upon the glowing lights of Timberline. Instead of deserting the animals, Boog reconciles with Elliot and helps the animals defend themselves, while befriending them in the process, using supplies taken from an RV owned by a caring married couple named Bob and Bobbie, who are looking for Bigfoot, while their pet dachshund Mr. Weenie joins the forest animals.

The next day, Boog leads a revolution against the hunters, causing the hunters to retreat in defeat after McSquizzy blows up their trucks with a propane tank ignited by using an emergency flare. Shaw returns for a final showdown and seemingly kills Elliot by gun-shot, prompting Boog to furiously confront Shaw and quickly overpower him by tying him up with his own gun. Boog accompanies Elliot, who survived and with his memory back but his remaining antler is broken off by the shot. The forest animals thank Boog for his help and then proceed to take out their vengeance on Shaw by smothering him with honey and pillow feathers and sending him fleeing into the woods. Beth later returns in a helicopter to take Boog back home. Realizing how the experience has changed him, Boog decides to stay in the forest with his new friends under Beth's blessing.

In a mid-credits scene, while crossing the street, Shaw suddenly gets struck by Bob and Bobbie, who humorously mistake him for Bigfoot and strap him on top of their trailer. Unable to escape, Shaw shouts in fear as the camera zooms into his mouth and the rest of the credits appear.

Production

The ideas for Open Season came from cartoonist Steve Moore, who is known for his comic strip In the Bleachers. Moore and producer John Carls submitted the story to Sony in June 2002, and the film immediately went into development. On February 29, 2004, Sony Pictures Animation announced the beginning of the production on Open Season, its first CGI animated film.

The film location was inspired by the towns of Sun Valley, Idaho and McCall, Idaho, and the Sawtooth National Forest. References to the Lawn Lake, Colorado, Dam flood, Longs Peak, and other points of interest in the area are depicted in the film.

The Sony animation team developed a digital tool called shapers that allowed the animators to reshape the character models into stronger poses and silhouettes and subtle distortions such as squash, stretch, and smears, typical of traditional, hand drawn animation.

To choose the voice cast, Culton blindly listened to audition tapes, unknowingly picking Lawrence and Kutcher for the lead roles. Their ability to improvise significantly contributed to the creative process. "They really became meshed with the characters", said Culton. Until the film's premiere, Lawrence and Kutcher never met during production.

Release/Reception/Box Office

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 48% based on 101 reviews with an average rating of 5.4/10. The site's consensus reads: "Open Season is a clichéd palette of tired jokes and CGI animal shenanigans that have been seen multiple times this cinematic year." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 49 out of 100 based on 18 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F scale.

Kevin Smith gave the film a thumbs up during an appearance as a guest critic on Ebert and Roeper, saying: "If your kids like poop jokes as much as I do, Open Season will put a big smile on their faces". However, Richard Roeper gave the film a thumbs down, saying, "It's just okay, the animation is uninspired".

Open Season opened number one with $23 million on its opening weekend. It grossed $88.6 million in the United States and $112.2 million in foreign countries, making $200.8 million worldwide. The film was released in the United Kingdom on October 13, 2006, and opened at number three, behind The Departed and The Devil Wears Prada.

Budget $85 million

Box office $200.8 million

My Review

What's a 'unihorn' you may ask? Well, it's a deer that only has one antler, of course. And you'll only see one in the new Sony Pictures Animation film, Open Season, starring Martin Lawrence, Debra Messing, Ashton Kutcher, Gary Sinise, Jon Favreau, and many more.

I was very much looking forward to seeing Open Season on it's first weekend, but I was a bit worried when I saw only a 5.5 on IMDb, because normally, most of the users are right about these movies. But my friends and I still wanted to see this fun looking picture, so we saw it tonight and may I say that I am surprised by you IMDb users who didn't like this film, everyone is entitled to an opinion, I agree. But seriously, how could you not like this film? It has amazing animation, fun characters, and hilarious jokes for kids as well as adults!

That's when Open Season turns into Hill Street Blues! There is one of the most amazing chase scenes I've ever seen in the movies. Boog, Elliot, and their porcupine friend try and escape the gun shots of Shaw – but on water. Bobbing and weaving through the water, under water, above water, around rocks – great scene! There's even a waterfall at the end to top it off! I have somewhat of a test for animated movies I've been giving myself over the past few years – ever since seeing the water scenes in The Incredibles, and noticing how real it looked, I've started to take an eye to the screen. If water doesn't look real, than it doesn't pass the test. Let's just say, Open Season aced my test. This water chase scene goes on for about 5 minutes, maybe a little more; but it's so exciting and amazing to watch! It's not just the water of Open Season, it's the entire field of animation; the animals really come alive on the screen. I'm a huge fan of animation; I think it has to do with the fact that anything done with computer fascinates me. The detailed description of each character, from their eyes, nose, mouth, walk, and hair – and in this movie, fur; it's just so amazing! But back to the story - after meeting back up with the group of beavers, led by Reilly (voiced by Jon Favreau), some of Elliot's former deer mates (Patrick Warburton and Jane Krakowski), and a few other animals, Boog and Elliot team up and go on the attack against the hunters. Bras, plungers, grills, forks, knives, spoons, and basically, anything they can get their hands on – sorry, whatever they can get their paws on – they use to charge the hunters with.

Open Season is directed by Jill Culton, Roger Allers, and Tony Stacchi; each has a number of major credits to their name. Both Tony and Jill make their feature directorial debut on this film; however, Jill has worked at Pixar on the character development for Monsters Inc. and Toy Story. Tony worked on a number of films for ILM including Hook and Ghost. Roger Allers co-directed The Lion King, and has just recently completed The Little Match Girl – a short attached to The Little Mermaid.

Seriously, people, learn to have some fun, I know this was a kid's movie, but my friends and I had a great time watching this movie. This is one of the best movies I have seen of 2006, hopefully, the rating will go up. To those who loved this movie, thank you for having a good sense of humour, to those who didn't like the movie, just give it another shot, please!

Open Season is a fun and very enjoyable film for kids and families. It's definitely a film you'll be talking about for a long time. And don't forget, you can also check out the film in IMAX 3D, opening at major theaters across the country. 8/10

{That song from the scene where Boog and Elliot are trashing up the corner shop is a banger!}