movie review
Open Season 3
Entertaining, despite new voices
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In 2006’s ‘Open Season,’ the main characters were voiced by Ashton Kutcher and Martin Lawrence. I loved them, and you’ll still hear me utter “You’re funny” at inopportune moments, mimicking Kutcher’s voice. Lots of other great voices really made the movie for me, including Gary Sinise, Debra Messing, Billy Connolly, and Jane Krakowski.
By the time ‘Open Season 2’ came along on DVD in 2008, the main characters were voiced by Joel McHale and Mike Epps, and many of the original actors returned, as well. Now comes ‘Open Season 3,’ also straight-to-DVD, and the main characters are voiced by Matthew Munn (Boog) and Matthew Taylor (Elliot).
Now I’ve got nothing against these guys; their voices are fine. And if I hadn’t heard Kutcher and Lawrence in the original roles, I’d be ok with it. (Full Disclosure: I haven’t seen ‘Open Season 2’). But Kutcher and Lawrence were the reason I loved the first movie, so their presence is sorely missed. A few other actors returned, including Georgia Engel, Steve Schirripa and Crispin Glover, but much of the cast is new.
But, you know, it’s an ok movie. It’s neither great nor awful, and the story moves along fairly well for a kids’ movie. Boog the Grizzly bear is miffed that his best buddy Elliot the mule deer and their guy friends are preoccupied with wives and children, and thus can’t spend time with Boog.
So Boog ends up changing places with a bear named Doug who stars in a Russian traveling circus. Under the big top, Boog meets Ursa (Melissa Sturm), a female dancing bear who makes Boog realize why all his friends are preoccupied with their female counterparts, as well as a spitting llama named Alistair (Dana Snyder). There’s also a parallel storyline where Mr. Weenie (Cody Cameron), Bobbie (Georgia Engel) and their pet friends try to extricate Boog from the circus before it returns to Russia.
The animation is perhaps less convincing than the first movie, but it’s still entertaining for kids 5 and older and offers a nice message about the value of love and friendship. I should warn you that there’s a big fat “advertisement” for Sony 3D entertainment systems before the movie starts playing.
I say “advertisement” because it seems like it’s the beginning of the movie – but it’s not. Boog and Elliot are sitting down with popcorn to watch a movie and start talking about the cool Sony 3D system. So if your 5-year-old starts hounding you for one, that’s why.
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