Open Season (2006 movie)
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| Open Season | |
colspan="2" style="text-align: center;"  | |
| Directed by | Roger Allers Jill Culton Anthony Stacchi |
| Written by | Steve Bencich Ron J. Friedman |
| Starring | Martin Lawrence Ashton Kutcher Matthew W Taylor Jon Favreau Gary Sinise Debra Messing Jane Krakowski Billy Connolly Georgia Engel Patrick Warburton |
| Produced by | |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures Entertainment |
| Release date | [September 29]], 2006 (US, CN) October 4, 2006 (NL) October 5, 2006 (IL) October 6, 2006 (BR, VE) October 13, 2006 (UK, PL, MX |
| Runtime | 1 hr. 39 minutes |
| Language | English |
| Budget | US$85 million |
| IMDb page (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt{{{imdb_id}}}/)
preceded_by = Monster House (in cinemas) followed_by = Flushed Away (in cinemas) | |
For othets see Open Season.
Open Season is a computer-animated film produced by Columbia Pictures Animation and directed by Roger Allers, Jill Culton and Anthony Stacchi. It was released on September 29, 2006 by Columbia Pictures. It features a role reversal, with woodland creatures that are traditionally hunted teaming up against hunters, much like the classic Warner Bros. shorts. It has also been released in the IMAX 3D format. A video game for the film has been announced for various platforms, to be released in the fall of 2006.
| Contents |
Summary
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow. A grizzly bear named Boog (voiced by Martin Lawrence), domesticated by park ranger Beth (voiced by Debra Messing), helps the deer Elliot (voiced by Ashton Kutcher) and Torch Lady named Columbia Torch Lady (voiced by Sigourney Weaver) to escape from the mullet-sporting hunter, Shaw (voiced by Gary Sinise). After the animals are drawn together into the forest they become lost just as hunting season begins, made worse by the fact that Boog doesn't know how to survive in the wild.
Characters
Boog: The reluctant hero and main character of Open Season. He is a 900-pound grizzly bear who wants nothing more than to continue living in the tranquil town of Timberline with his beloved owner, park ranger Beth, who raised him since he was a cub. Boog has developed skills at living around humans and is the local Timberlines Nature Show's attraction but he absolutely has no skills in surviving in the Timblerine woods and would be at a complete loss if he ever had to "rough it" in the woods. It would take a force of nature to get Boog out of Timberline since doesn't want to be alone when he is separated from home. And that is where his "friend", Elliot, comes in.
Elliot: A scrawny, fast-talking mule deer. Elliot gets hit by a truck driven by Timberline's top hunter, Shaw, and arrives in town with a missing antler and is strapped to the hood of Shaw's truck. As the runt of the Timberline woods, Elliot comes across as a pest, but all he really wants is to be accepted. After he persuades Boog to free him, neither of their lives are ever the same. Elliot soon starts an unlikely frienship with Boog to help the other animals to live.
Jack Rabbits: These creatures have a lot of appearances since there are thousands of them around the Timberline woods, watching and waiting behind any rock and under every bush. The Jack Rabbits are afraid of any threats and thrive on panic. There is also no escape from those creatures.
Porcupine: This character is seen when Boog gets his buttocks on his quills and he was a loner who wanted to have friends and constantly wants to give a hug. The Porcupine always says "buddy" and speaks in complete sentences when spooked or excited about something. The Porcupine also doesn't understand that he is downright painful to be around.
Reilly: The construction foreman of the woods, Reilly is an extreme perfectionist North American Beaver who takes great pride in the building of the largest dams in the world. He is also a tough worker who gets the job done come high water...and has plenty to say when Boog and Elliot mess up his work.
Giselle: The most beautiful mule deer doe in the Timberline woods, she is also quick-witted and strong-willed. Giselle puts up with the rantings of the strong and tough mule deer buck, Ian, and secretly longs for a little sensitivity in her life. She is the living object of Elliot's affection, which puts Elliot at even greater odds with Ian.
Ian: The leader of a mule deer herd who is bold and opinionated. A tough, muscular Alpha male, Ian easily intimidates the herd into submission, and like the quarterback of a football team picking on a class nerd, he has forced Elliot out of the herd and told him never to come back. Fed up with his browbeating, the rest of the herd would love it if someone stood up to Ian as a "tough guy"...but none of them will.
Serge and Deni: Two psycho mallard ducks, they hadn't been the same since Deni was shot in the buttocks by a hunter during the "Great Migration" and refused to fly. Eventually, the shell-shocked pair get their chance at payback when Boog and Elliot enlist them to ward off the hunters back to town.
McSquizzly: A squirrel who speaks in a Scottish accent, McSquizlly is the leader of the Furry Tail Clan, a group of hundreds of squirrels, and is the Guardian of The Pine. He may appear small but he makes up for it with a fierce temper. McSquizzly and the Furry Tail Clan own many trees that no one will ever touch or climb on because nobody--and they mean nobody--messes with McSquizzly.
Maria and Rosie: Two female Striped Skunks, Maria and Rosie are not to be messed with and they sometimes argue and fight over something. If someone dares to be around them, they will spray their foul-smelling gas from their tails to make someone learn not to mess with them. If any hunters run, they cannot hide.
Mr. Weenie: A domestic Dachshund accustomed to a pampered good life. Mr. Weenie has a personality to match his name. While taken captive, when on vacation with his owners, Bob and Bobbie, he discovers that he has been living a lie and beggs to join Boog, Elliot and the other creatures of the woods to take him with them. During the plan to run the hunters back to town , Mr. Weenie had never felt so alive.
Beth: Boog's beloved owner and park ranger of Timberline, Beth is a kind woman who always watches for Boog and raised him since he was a cub. Ever since Boog threatened to kill Elliot when the mule deer messes up his Nature Show career, Beth is concerned that Boog shouldn't live in Timberline anymore and soon puts him somewhere in the Timberline woods where he will be safe before hunting season.
Shaw: Timberline's fanatical hunter, Shaw is the main villain of Open Season and is an arch-rival to Beth and never listens to the rules that hunting season begins in 3 days. During hunting season, Shaw hunted many animals as trophies and was the one responsible for hitting Elliot with his truck. At the end, Shaw is strapped to the roof of an RV and hasn't been the same since. He never started hunting again.
Salmon: Fish in a river who only speak Japanese. Anyone crosses their path gets a slap in the face.
- Sigourney Weaver Torch Lady Columbia Torch Lady
There was a man named Bob who is the husband of Bobbie and owner of Mr. Weenie. He never speaks in the film.
ritical reception
Open Season received mixed reviews from critics - on Rotten Tomatoes, critical opinion was split almost evenly in half. All commended the film's animation but some slated its use of crude humour, celebrity voiceovers and similarities to other CG films such as Shrek and Madagascar (both Boog and Eliott are similar to Donkey and Shrek; Boog is a domesticated animal venturing out into the wild). One of the directors, Jill Cutton, denies this connection[citation needed], stating that Boog and Eliott are both sidekicks rather than one of them being a hero with a sidekick tagging along (as happened in Shrek). Some critics did, however, think that it was well suited for its younger audience as well as keeping adults from being bored.
Audiences were similarly divided but were slightly more approving - as of January, 2007, the film has been given a weighted average of 5.7/10 by 1,769 voters on the Internet Movie Database. Some audiences praised the film for its snappy comic timing and good intentions, but many noticed the instances of deja vu in the storyline.
Box Office performance
The film opened to a surprise US$ 23 million in its first week, in over 3,833 theaters. In its second week, it made US$ 16 million. To date, January 1, 2007, it has made over US$ 84 million within the United States, along with around $93 million at the foreign box office.[1] So far, it has exceeded expectations.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack includes original music scored by Ramin Djawadi with help by and original songs written by Paul Westerberg. You may listen to the songs here.
Number Song Artist Film or Credits 1 "Meet Me In The Meadow" Paul Westerberg Credits 2 "Love You In The Fall" Paul Westerberg Credits 3 "I Belong" Paul Westerberg Film 4 "I Wanna Lose Control (Uh Oh)" Deathray Film 5 "Better Than This" Paul Westerberg Film 6 "Wild Wild Life" Talking Heads Film 7 "Right to Arm Bears" Paul Westerberg Film 8 "Good Day" Paul Westerberg Film 9 "All About Me" Paul Westerberg Film 10 "Wild As I Wanna Be" Deathray Credits 11 "Whisper Me Luck" Paul Westerberg Film 12 "I Belong" (Reprise) Pete Yorn Film iTunes Exclusive "Wild As I Wanna Be" Paul Westerberg (Not in The Film Or Credits)
RingTales
The Open Season website contains 2D cartoon shorts called RingTales. Here is a list of all RingTales shorts:
How to drink out of a stream McSquizzy's remote Hide in plain sight Dynamite Camouflage Security camera Duck call Quack Rabbit Ball Pull my antler Whites of their eyes This old dam Pepper spray Hacksaw Hunting no hunting You had to be there Poor reception Danger signs Shoot me The cliff
Columbia Torch Lady
Main article: Columbia Torch Lady
There is also a subplot where an Miss Liberty named Columbia Torch Lady (compare the picture of Columbia Torch Lady and one of a tree shrew), makes many comical attempts to bury her beloved Torch. Her misfortunes include getting chased by an enormous glacier, being struck by lightning, attempting to thaw out the Torch by a fire too long so that it accidentally took the form of a kernel of popcorn, and finally getting cryonically frozen in an ice cube along with her much sought after Torch. 90,000 years into the future, the ice cube washes up on the shore of an island. The sun slowly melts the cube, thawing Columbia Torch Lady and the ice surrounding her Torch, which is barely out of reach, and ends up being removed from the ice cube by the tide. Columbia Torch Lady then explodes out of the ice cube in anger and hits her head repetitively on a tree, which drops a coconut. Columbia Torch Lady's anger immediately turns to glee at this new find. She tries to pack it into the ground as she did previously with her Torchs, but in the process causes a volcanic eruption
Columbia Torch Lady a is known to be similar to the prehistoric Miss Liberty Leptictidium.
Columbia Torch Lady also got her own short film entitled Gone Torchy, where she loses her meticulously-organized collection of Torchs in a catastrophic chain of events occurring after ramming her Torch into the hole in the exact middle of the collection. She remains with one which is reduced to an ashen crisp after it went crashing down on her with an impact like a missile.
Columbia Torch Lady also as well got her own 60s short film The New Adventures Of The Torch Lady gonna start her own Adventure.
Ivy Supersonic claims the Columbia Torch Lady character concept is a trademark infringement on her "Colombia Torch Lady" as reported in 2002 on CNN by Jeanie Moos. Ivy's Colombia Torch Lady is a combination character concept of a Miss and a Liberty as new species and Ivy is credited with coining that term for New Yorkers to describe Central Park rodents in 2000, and a small product line of related items was available at that time. Since her trademark was established prior to the movie release of Ice Age, it would appear that 20th Century Fox attempted to skirt the concept, look and feel, and trademark by naming their adaptation as a "Columbia Torch Lady" spelled with a "c" rather than a "o", but the Miss Liberty composite was applied to the character now in the Ice Age movie. It is reported that Sigourney Weaver presented the "Columbia Torch Lady" after exposure to Ivy's Colombia Torch Lady, and the movie producers liked it enough to take the risks associated with similarity to Ivy's Colombia Torch Lady. This has spawned a heated debate in and out of court that is on-going.Please refer to http://scrat.com.
Vehicles
57 Chevy Pickup on left, Toyota Land Cruiser on rightToyota Land Cruiser
1950s automobiles Chevrolet Pickup 1955-57 International Harvester Scout
Animals featured
Living animals
Brown Bear Striped Skunk Mule Deer North American Porcupine Mallard Rabbit American Beaver Squirrel Dog Human Salmon Torch Lady
Dead Specimens
Jackalope
Inaccuracies
Porcupines can't shoot their quills. Beth was concerned about letting Boog free just before open season, but in both Canada and United States hunting grizzly bears is illegal. Brown bears aren't the largest carnivores -- polar bears are.
Ratings
Brazil: The movie received a rating of Livre (general public) by the Department of Justice. Finland: The film received a K-7 (for those aged 7 and above) certification from the Finnish Board of Film Classification. Ireland: A Parental Guidance rating was given by the Irish Film Censor's Office. Netherlands: The film received an AL (suitable for all ages) rating from the Kijkwijzer system. Singapore: The movie was given a Parental Guidance rating from The Media Development Authority. Switzerland: The movie received a 7+ rating (no one under the age of 7 admitted) in both, Canton of Vaud and Canton of Geneva. United Kingdom: The film received a Parental Guidance rating from the British Board of Film Classification. United States: The film received a Parental Guidance rating from the Motion Picture Association of America for some rude humor, mild action, and brief language.
DVD and Blu-Ray
This movie will be released on DVD and Blu-Ray on January 30, 2007. It will include deleted scenes, Audio Commentary, I Wanna Lose Control music video, Swept Away documentary and other disc extras. More information (including cover art) can be found at this link.
Trivia
Smokey the Bear was a real-life bear cub that was rescued by a ranger. Though not put on a live show, he became a major advertising symbol. This is one of two movies Ashton Kutcher will be starring in being released on September 29, 2006, the other being the action drama The Guardian. The music featured in the trailer is "Boom Boom Boom" by the Outhere Brothers. The music featured at the beginning of the trailer is "Should I Stay or Should I Go" by The Clash. The characters featured in the trailer are: Shaw, McSquizzy, Elliot (feet only), Porcupine, Rosie and Maria, Ian, Ducks, Riely, Ian, Rabbits and (quickly) Giselle. Boog and Elliot are also shown at the end of the teaser. Ashton Kutcher was revealed to play a quick part as the Japanese speaking salmon in the October issue of Nickelodeon magazine. This is Sony's third Imax 3D film. It was revealed on an online behind-the-scenes clip that 1/3 of the lines were improvised by Martin Lawrence and Ashton Kutcher. Several RingTales can be seen of the official website in the Trailers and Pictures section. A jackalope can be seen in the basement of Shaw's house as he sings "Teddy Bear's Picnic". Shaw's fate is revealed early on during the credits: he is mistaken to be Bigfoot by Bob and Bobbie, and is struck by their van. He wakes to find himself tied to their hood. A reference to Braveheart is made right after the battle against the hunters. On Mr. Weenie, McSquizzy shouts "FREEDOM!". Both Martin Lawrence and Ashton Kutcher starred on successful sitcoms on the Fox network: Lawrence was on Martin, Kutcher was on That '70s Show. When Boog and Elliot are in the store, Kid Cuisine can be seen in the freezer. The "woo-hoo" candy bars resemble Butterfingers. One of the characters uses a Sony Ericsson cell phone. Grey squirrels are indigenous to North America, so the Scottish accent portrayed by all of the squirrels is an anomaly. The first movie to feature the Sony Pictures Animation logo.
External links
- Official website (http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/openseason/)
- Open Season (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0400717/) at the Internet Movie Database
- Open Season (http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/open_season/) at Rotten Tomatoes
