Review: ‘Open Season’ falls short of animated predecessors

Directed by: Jill Culton and Roger Allers

Starring: (The voices of) Martin Lawrence, Ashton Kutcher, Gary Sinise, Debra Messing

Rated: PG

A few years ago, in the pre-“Toy Story” era, a computer-animated film with the technical pizzazz such as Sony Pictures Animation’s first feature, “Open Season,” would have been heralded as a triumph. But the time is not pre-“Toy Story,” and that film along with “Shrek,” “Monsters, Inc.,” “Robots” and a good number of others have set the bar high for the animated feature.

Besides technical proficiency, this kind of movie has to have a story line that rouses kids into glee as well as throwing in some humor aimed at Mom and Dad.

“Open Season” doesn’t completely fail in these areas, but it doesn’t bring anything new to the table.

It’s not a bad film – quite to the contrary, I rather enjoyed it. But it has to be compared to other works in its class, and the expectations for a major company’s maiden voyage are always lofty.

The story is classic: A domesticated bear meets up with a refugee from the wild who leads him into trouble. The bear’s guardian is forced to release her ward back into his “natural habitat.” The bear is – to mix a metaphor ¬– like a fish out of water. Hunting season starts in a couple of days. The bear and his friend team with the other inhabitants of the woods to thwart the hunters’ plans.

This scenario should have the kids in an uproar, but it’s just too pedestrian nowadays.

“Open Season” is great-looking and heartwarming but just not all that inspiring.

The score brings another sad problem. I applaud the producers for turning musical duties over to Paul Westerberg, a maven songwriter from the post-punk generation who led the Replacements before going solo. But, as much as I usually detest the over-the-top anthems of Andrew Lloyd Webber, et al, I realize kids’ movies need that sort of melodramatic music that sticks in the minds of the viewers. As haunting and beautiful as Westerberg’s “A Good Day” is to one of his long time fans, it’s not going to upstage something like “A Whole New World.”[[In-content Ad]]