Barnes & Noble
A pampered performing bear and a misfit mule deer are nature's latest odd couple in this fish-out-of-water (or, more accurately, bear-out-of-garage) computer-animated comedy. Boog (a dialed-down Martin Lawrence) lives an idyllic, domesticated existence with Beth (Debra Messing), a forest ranger. Boog reluctantly, and with immediate regret, comes to the rescue of Elliot (Ashton Kutcher), who is strapped to the truck of a maniacal hunter. The overly grateful Elliot manages to get Boog banished to the deep forest following a late-night trashing of a convenience store. Boog is ill equipped for life in the wilderness, and on the eve of hunting season, he begins his treacherous trek home with Elliot as an unwanted sidekick. Along the way they meet a menagerie of forest creatures -- who are a species apart from the cutesy creatures who once populated Disney features -- and they band together to turn the tables on the hunters. As viewers learned earlier from Over the Hedge, The Wild, and Barnyard, hyper-verbal, pop culture-savvy animals ruled the animated roost in 2006. Open Season ups the anthropomorphic ante to amuse adults and includes enough rudely amusing bodily function gags for kids to earn a PG rating. And if hunters don't protest this movie's portrayal of them, then rabbit lovers surely will. Some of Open Season's funniest moments are at the expense of these unfortunate creatures, who are subjected to all manner of abuse.
All Movie Guide
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