Open Season (2006 film)
Open Season is a 2006 American computer-animated comedy film, directed by Roger Allers, Jill Culton and Anthony Stacchi 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 a one-antlered 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 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 critics, the film was a box office success and was followed by three direct-to-video sequels: Open Season 2, Open Season 3, and .
Plot
In the small town of Timberline, a 900-pound 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 deer named Elliot strapped to the hood of his truck, who is unconscious after being hit by the truck. After Boog frees him, the deer follows Boog home, only to find Boog sleeping comfortably in the garage. To wake Boog up, Elliot throws rabbits at the window. He tells Boog to be "free" from his garage captivity and introduces him to a world of sweet temptations he has never known. When Boog becomes sick from eating too many candy bars, events quickly spiral out of control, as the two raid a local convenience store. Elliot escapes before Boog is caught by a friend of Beth's, local police officer Gordy. At the nature show, Elliot, being chased by Shaw, sees Boog, who "attacks" Elliot. This causes the whole audience to panic.Shaw attempts to shoot Boog and Elliot, but Beth sedates 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 three 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 his share of forest animals, who think he’s a loser. They consists of skunks, Maria and Rosie, ducks, Serge and Deni, various unnamed panic-stricken rabbits, the Scottish-accented squirrel, McSquizzy, along with his loyal gang, Reilly, a beaver and his construction worker team, a porcupine named Buddy that is in search of a friend, and the herd of deer led by Ian and Giselle, with whom Elliot is in love with.
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. 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 Shaw is dead, at first all the animals are furious at Boog, 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, and pursues him to the city 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 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 where he will be safe, but realizing how the experience has changed him, Boog decides to remain in the forest with his new friends with Beth's blessing.
In a mid-credits scene, while he finds the street, Shaw suddenly gets struck by Bob and Bobbie, who humorously mistake him for Bigfoot and strap him on top of their trailer.
Cast
- Martin Lawrence as Boog, a 900 pound, pampered grizzly bear
- Ashton Kutcher as Elliot, a mischievous and awkward, but fast-talking mule deer who got his antler broken off after being hit by Shaw's truck. He is Boog's best friend.
- Gary Sinise as Shaw, the nastiest hunter in Timberline and Beth's arch-rival
- Debra Messing as Beth, a park ranger who raised Boog as a cub
- Billy Connolly as McSquizzy, a grumpy old eastern gray squirrel with a Scottish accent
- Jon Favreau as Reilly, a diligent North American beaver
- Georgia Engel as Bobbie, a friendly but dim-witted woman who is Mr. Weenie's owner
- *Bobbie's husband, Bob, is unvoiced.
- Jane Krakowski as Giselle, a glamorous mule deer doe, a victim of Ian's stalking, and Elliot's love interest
- Gordon Tootoosis as Gordy, Timberline's sheriff and Beth's friend
- Patrick Warburton as Ian, an intimidating mule deer stag and the alpha leader of his herd
- Cody Cameron as Mr. Weenie, Bob and Bobbie's domesticated, German accented dachshund
- Danny Mann as Serge, a French accented mallard duck
- Matthew W. Taylor as Deni, a mute, somewhat insane but brave mallard duck and Serge's brother, and Buddy, a blue North American porcupine that searches for friends
- Nika Futterman as Rosie, a striped skunk with a Mexican accent
- Michelle Murdocca as Maria, a striped skunk that is Rosie's identical twin
- Fergal Reilly as O'Toole, a North American beaver and one of Reilly's men
Production
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.
Reception
Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 48% based on 100 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".
Box office
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.Accolades
The film was nominated for six Annie Awards, including Best Animated Feature, Best Animated Effects, Best Character Design in a Feature Production, Best Production Design in a Feature Production, and Best Storyboarding in a Feature Production.Home media
Open Season was released on DVD, Blu-ray, and UMD Video on January 30, 2007. It includes a new animated short called Boog and Elliot's Midnight Bun Run. The film was later released to 3D Blu-ray on November 16, 2010.Video game
A video game based on the film was released on September 18, 2006, for PlayStation 2, Xbox, Xbox 360, Nintendo DS, Nintendo Gamecube, Game Boy Advance, PlayStation Portable, and Microsoft Windows. For Wii, it was released on November 19, 2006, together with the console's launch.Soundtrack
The soundtrack includes an original film score by Ramin Djawadi and several original songs by Paul Westerberg, formerly of The Replacements. Rolling Stone gave the film's soundtrack three stars out of five, as did Allmusic.;Track list:
Open Season—Original Motion Picture Soundtrack includes two songs that did not appear on the soundtrack CD: an alternative version of "I Belong" and a Paul Westerberg's version of "Wild as I Wanna Be".