Dir. Roger Allers, Jill Culton, Anthony Stacchi
Writ. Steve Bencich, Ron j. Friedman
Act. Martin Lawrence, Ashton Kutcher, Debra Messing, Gary Sinese

The movie year of 2006 has been for the most part a drag and animated children's movies are no exception. The latest offering, Open Season, is another example of a movie that allows it to be mediocre and does not stand out in any way, shape, or form as an animated feature.

Boog, voiced by Martin Lawrence (Big Momma's House,) is a large domesticated Grizzly bear who is under the care of a park ranger named Beth, voiced by Debra Messing (The Wedding Date.) When Boog runs amuck in town, thanks in large part to a mule deer named Elliot, voiced by Ashton Moore….sorry, Kutcher (Guess Who?,) Beth is forced to release Boog high up into the mountains three days before hunting season begins. Boog, Elliot, and the other animals that they befriend, sort of, are know forced to hide from all of the hunters, one in particular being Shaw, voiced by Gary Sinese (Forrest Gump,) who has it in for Boog.

To me, the most important thing in an animated movie is the actor. If the actor attempts to create a character with its animated creation, then it makes it "believable" and I find it to be very good base for animated movies. The most obvious example would be Robin Williams as the Genie in Aladdin, and another being Mike Myers and Eddie Murphy as Shrek and donkey. Why am I mentioning this? Because with very few exceptions, one really, none of the actors in this movie apply in effort to their animal characters. Kutcher is obnoxious as the deer and I would call his effort as a poor man's Eddie Murphy's donkey. Why cast Martin Lawrence? We have all seen his resume and while he is a funny man, I don't see any trophies in his case so his ability is not why he was hired. His performance mad Boog a non entity. I really didn't care if about his story and I blame Lawrence and the writers who wrote an un-funny character and wasted a comedic actor's talent. The only actor who was at all enjoyable was Billy Connolly (The Last Samurai) as the nutty squirrel McSquizzy. But he didn't have to do a lot with it to make it good. For Connolly, all he had to do was talk.

The story was pretty weak as well. No big surprise that it came from the same people that brought us the very unfunny animated cartoon Chicken Little, Steve Bencich and Ron J. Friedman. Talk about two guys who are in dire need of a career change. Now, they did do a couple of thing funny, the rabbits for one and the squirrels for two. My best laugh came when Elliott was throwing rabbits into the window of the garage to get Boog's attention. That and just about every other scene with the rabbits gave me at least a chuckle. The squirrels were pretty much a gimmie for a laugh when you make them a bunch of angry Scotsman with Connolly as McSquizzy. Beyond this, there was no humor written into the movie, especially for the two main characters.

The kids will probably like this movie but the parents should bring a pillow. Better yet, convince them to go to the video store and rent Curious George. It's much better in every conceivable way.

Brian - the Naked Gun