Open Season

Sean · #1 10-02-2006, 11:08 AM

Just thought I'd remind everyone to go out and catch Open Season (http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/openseason/) since it sucked away the last four years of my life. I'd tell you what I think of it, but my objectivity is obviously completely out the window on this one. So I'll just say it rocks and everyone should see it and leave it at that.

jOHN rODRIGUEZ · #2 10-03-2006, 01:28 AM

Very nice mix Sean, love the dubby vibe going on in it. Not too crazy about the movie though.

Think I've just had one too many animated films for this summer.

matt · #3 10-03-2006, 07:21 AM

this has been getting some pretty bad reviews although even the bad reviews do seem to be impressed by the visuals

my favourite quote from a review says "An excellent case for euthanizing the entire talking-animals genre."

still, i’m looking after my 5 year old nephew all day saturday so I may take him along to see this, although to be honest I’ll probably opt for hoodwinked instead

Sean · #4 10-03-2006, 12:09 PM

I've seen a lot of the reviews, and many of the negative ones seem to be negative primarily for reasons that I find to be superficial. I'll mention two of the biggest ones to explain what I mean. First is the one you just mentioned....that it's "another talking animal" movie. This is most easily addressed by simply saying that I've never seen a review complaining about "another talking human drama", or "another cowboy movie", etc. A film's quality has very little to do with things like what this complaint says.

Another complaint I've seen with some frequency is that it's "just another movie with poop humor". I'll say it straight up....we have a couple poop jokes. But viewed in context of the film and the characters, reviewers who complain about it have missed the fact that our poop jokes actually serve important story and character points. Boog is a bear who's grown up in a domestic setting, with all the comforts of home that we know. Suddenly, he ends up in a completely foreign environment when he's relocated to the wilderness. If you were suddenly thrust into that environment, what would some of your biggest concerns be? What to eat, what might eat you, and where to go to the bathroom. Having gone camping in the rainforests of Thailand, I know those were concerns I've had to deal with before, and they're very realistic. So in Open Season, Boog has to go poop and can't manage it because he's so out of his element, while Elliot is so in his element that he doesn't even realize when he's doing it. Informative and fun at the same time.

So overall, it seems to me that we're largely suffering from the fact that we're like the 12th animated film to come out this year. Not much that can be done about that. Personally, I'm proud of this film and think it's fun to watch....and I'll admit when a film I work on is a stinker. Hell, I worked on The King and I and Quest For Camelot....we all knew those sucked while we were working on them, but they paid the bills. So as always, I'd say go decide for yourself. I totally understand the subjective tastes that will lead people to like or dislike it, but don't skip it just because it's "another talking animal film with poop jokes" or some such nonsense.

Dirty0900 · #5 10-03-2006, 02:21 PM

Can i ask what you did on the film Sean?

Sean · #6 10-03-2006, 02:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dirty0900

Can i ask what you did on the film Sean?

I was one of four Animation Supervisors. My main focus was Elliot, the deer voiced by Ashton Kutcher. I had been a little hesitant when I heard he and Martin Lawrence were cast to do the two main voices, but they ended up doing great work and it was a very fun film to work on.