Open Season

Before I go any further, a word in defense, if I may, of traditional film critics, a species as much endangered as the hunters in "Open Season."

As late as Tuesday morning, I was leaning toward seeing "School for Scoundrels" and just saying no to both of Ashton Kutcher's movies this week. Then I read Roger Moore's rather glowing review of "Open Season." Mr. Moore, who reviews movies for the Orlando Sun-Sentinel, is, for my money, the best critic working today. In his review he dropped two magic words: "Chuck Jones." With that, I was hooked.

And I must say, for the most part, he was dead right; "Open Season" often does have the same manic spirit that drove the old "Looney Tunes" classics.

For anyone unfamiliar with the "plot," I'll break it down very quickly. Boog, a domesticated bear, befriends a young buck named Elliott, who leads him into trouble. Boog is forced to go into the wild, where the two of them rally the various woodland creatures in defense against the hunters coming for "Open Season." Terribly familiar? Yes, but often fun nonetheless.

Martin Lawrence works best for me when you don't actually have to see him, and he has a voice tailormade for comedy. Kutcher, on the other hand, just sounds like Bobcat Goldthwait throughout, and had me wondering why Boog didn't just eat him at the onset. Of the supporting animal cast, reliable hands Billy Connolly, as the leader of a band of Scottish (naturally) squirrels, and Patrick Warburton as the king buck are very funny.

The rather obvious messages about working together and not shooting animals (two things that are A-OK in my book) are never beaten into the audience. Whereas "Cars" ground to a halt in the middle as Lightning had to learn how to act right, our critters here manage to adapt without stopping the action for too long at any point.

How are the jokes? For the most part fit for all audiences. Given the Scottish squirrels, I suppose the "Braveheart" bit was kind of obvious but still worked for me.

There was one jarring bit near the end that I'll give away (at least I warned you.) At the end, as Boog and Elliott are sharing a bit of male bonding, Elliott blurts out "bros before does." As I was laughing louder than I probably should have, I heard the young fellow behind me, who had until that point been laughing just as loud, ask his mother "what does that mean?" Luckily for her, when she didn't respond, he quickly let it go.

It does make you wonder why they would put a joke like that in a PG movie, but nothing shocks me nowadays. Soon enough, that youngun will be old enough to get it, but hopefully I'll never be too old to enjoy silly but fun flicks like "Open Season."