Open Season (2006)
-
48% of critics liked it
(100 reviews) -
66% of users liked it
(441,040 ratings)
A domesticated grizzly bear finds that there's more to life than being the star attraction of a mountain town nature show when a fast-talking mule deer offers him a crash course in woodland living in Sony Pictures Animation's first full-length animated feature. Raised by kindly park ranger… More A domesticated grizzly bear finds that there's more to life than being the star attraction of a mountain town nature show when a fast-talking mule deer offers him a crash course in woodland living in Sony Pictures Animation's first full-length animated feature. Raised by kindly park ranger Beth (Debra Messing) since he was a just a cub, 900-pound grizzly Boog (Martin Lawrence) is content to spend his days entertaining Timberline tourists and his nights nestled safely in Beth's luxurious garage. Boog's life is about to get much more complicated, however, when paranoid hunter Shaw (Gary Sinese) returns from a recent foray in the woods with a frightened, one-horn mule deer named Elliot strapped trophy-like to the hood of his truck. Though at first reluctant to answer Elliot's desperate cries for help, gentle giant Boog eventually frees the thankful creature, who in turn decides to teach his hulking friend what it truly means to be free. Subsequently tranquilized and relocated into the wilderness after momentarily reverting to his true animalistic nature, Boog is forced to team with seasoned forest-dweller Elliot in order to find their way out of the woods before hunting season starts and Shaw comes gunning for all creatures great and small. Things are different in the woods than they were back in the safe confines of park ranger Beth's garage, though, and in order to find their way back to Timberline, Boog and Elliot are going to have to rely on the kindness of their fellow creatures, a rowdy and unruly bunch that includes an army of Scottish squirrels led by rogue critter McSquizzy (Billy Connolly), and a productive beaver construction team whose foreman, Reilly (Jon Faverau), is more than willing to lend a helping tail. With hunting season now upon them and time running out as the hunters close in, the unlikely duo of bear and mule deer put their new life lessons to good use by turning the tables on the gun-toting gamesmen, and once again making the woods safe for the furry critters who call the forest home. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Directed By
- Roger Allers, Jill Culton
- Written By
- Steve Bencich, Ron J. Friedman
- Genres
- Action & Adventure, Animation, Kids & Family, Comedy
- In Theaters
- Sep 29, 2006 Wide
- Studio
- Sony Pictures
Critic Reviews
-
, Time Out
I have to say that the humour here (some of it Pythonesque) is mostly spot on and, at times, mischievously dark.
-
Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper
It's just okay.
-
Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star
Now that we've made one of the best computer-generated talking-animal-on-an-odyssey movies in the brief but busy history of the genre, can we please, please move on?
-
Bruce Newman, San Jose Mercury News
A little bit like Over the Hedge, and a lot like the upcoming Flushed Away, in which an animated house mouse is forced to fend for himself in the sewers of London, Open Season may sound a bit familiar, but it is never dull.
-
Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle
With animated movies coming out every other week or so, mediocrity is becoming a rule. Open Season loses more points than most films because of its similarities to Over the Hedge, one of the few kids films that did it right this year.
See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)
Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)
Cast
-
Martin Lawrence
as Boog
-
Ashton Kutcher
as Elliot
-
Gary Sinise
as Shaw
-
Debra Messing
as Park Ranger Beth
-
Billy Connolly
as McSquizzy
-
Jon Favreau
as Reilly
-
Georgia Engel
as Bobbie
-
Jane Krakowski
as Giselle
-
Gordon Tootoosis
as Gordy
-
Patrick Warburton
as Ian
-
Robert Wuhl
as Stuart Sain
-
Rod Taylor
as Billy Patrick
-
Gailard Sartain
as George Plunkett
-
Helen Shaver
as Rachel Rowen
-
Maggie Han
as Cary Sain
-
Timothy Arrington
as Herbert Goodfellow
- Larry King
-
Dina Merrill
as Doris Hays-Britton
-
Saul Rubinek
as Eric Schlockmeister
- Tom Selleck




