Open Season (2006 film)

Open Season
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Roger Allers Jill Culton
Screenplay by	Steve Bencich Ron J. Friedman Nat Mauldin
Story by	Jill Culton Anthony Stacchi
Based on	An original story by Steve Moore John B. Carls
Produced by	Michelle Murdocca
Starring	Martin Lawrence Ashton Kutcher Gary Sinise Debra Messing Billy Connolly Jon Favreau Georgia Engel Jane Krakowski Gordon Tootoosis Patrick Warburton
Edited by	Pamela Ziegenhagen-Shefland
Music by	Paul Westerberg (songs) Ramin Djawadi (score)
Production companies	Columbia Pictures[1] Sony Pictures Animation[2]
Distributed by	Sony Pictures Releasing[1]
Release date	September 29, 2006 (2006-09-29) (United States) October 13, 2006 (2006-10-13) (United Kingdom)
Running time	86 minutes[3]
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$85 million[4]
Box office	$200.8 million[4]

Open Season is a 2006 American computer-animated comedy film, directed by Roger Allers and Jill Culton from a screenplay by Steve Bencich, Ron J. Friedman, and Nat Mauldin. The film stars the voices of Martin Lawrence, Ashton Kutcher, Gary Sinise, Debra Messing, Billy Connolly, Jon Favreau, Georgia Engel, Jane Krakowski, Gordon Tootoosis, and Patrick Warburton. Its plot follows Boog, a domesticated grizzly bear who teams up with a one-antlered deer named Elliot and other woodland animals to defeat human hunters.

Open Season was produced by Sony Pictures Animation as its debut film, and was released to theaters by Columbia Pictures under Sony Pictures Releasing on September 29, 2006. It has also been released in the IMAX 3D format.^[5] A video game for the film was released on multiple platforms.

Despite receiving mixed reviews from film critics, the film was positively welcomed from audiences and was a box office success, earning $200.8 million on an $85 million budget and was followed by three direct-to-video sequels: Open Season 2 (2008), Open Season 3 (2010), and Open Season: Scared Silly (2015).

Plot[]

In the 5-square mike or 3,200-acre small town of Timberline, Central Oregon, established March 20th, 1845, a 900-pound (408 kg) grizzly bear named Boog enjoys a captive but luxurious existence and spends his days as the star attraction of the town's nature show, while at night living in the garage of park ranger Beth, who has raised Boog since he was a cub. One day, the cold-hearted hunting fanatic Shaw drives into Timberline with a one-antlered deer named Elliot strapped to the hood of his truck, who is unconscious after being hit by the truck. When Boog meets him, he discovers that he has memory loss, thinks he's lonely, and forgets about the accident. After he frees him, the deer follows Boog home, only to find Boog sleeping comfortably in the garage. To wake Boog up, Elliot throws rabbits at the window. He tells Boog to be "free" from his garage captivity and introduces him to a world of sweet temptations he has never known. When Boog becomes sick from eating too many candy bars, events quickly spiral out of control, as the two raid a convenience store. Elliot escapes before Boog is caught by a friend of Beth's, Sheriff Gordy. At the nature show, Elliot, being chased by Shaw, sees Boog and goes to him for help, but wanting nothing to do with him after their previous encounter, Boog tries to get rid of him. The audience sees and mistakes him for attacking Elliot and they go into panic.

Shaw attempts to shoot Boog and Elliot, but Beth sedates both animals with a tranquilizer gun just before Shaw fires his own gun. Shaw flees before Gordy can arrest him. Realizing that Boog is too threatening in the town, Beth relocates him and Elliot into the Timberline National Forest, only two days before open season starts, but they are relocated above the waterfalls, where they will be safe from the hunters. Since he lacks any outdoor survival skills, Boog reluctantly takes Elliot as his unstable guide to get him back home to Timberline to reunite with Beth, but in the woods, they quickly learn that animals can be extremely unwelcoming. Boog runs into a lot of forest animals who think he’s a loser, including skunks Maria and Rosie, ducks Serge and Deni, various unnamed panic-stricken rabbits, the Scottish-accented squirrel McSquizzy and his loyal gang of fellow acorn-throwing squirrels, Beaver Reilley and his construction worker team, a porcupine named Buddy who is in search of a friend, and a herd of deer led by Ian and Giselle, whom Elliot is in love with and quickly remembers.

Eventually, Boog learns about self-reliance and Elliot gains self-confidence, and they start to become friends. The next day, it is revealed that Elliot has absolutely no idea where he and Boog are going and has been leading Boog in a big circle. After accidentally causing a flood at Reilly's dam, Boog and Elliot are confronted by Shaw; Boog rescues his toy bear, Dinkleman, before the current makes the doll float out of Boog's paw. They end up in a waterfall, which sends the animals falling down into the hunting grounds. After thinking Shaw is dead, at first all the animals are furious at Boog, but then he accuses Elliot of lying to him about knowing where Timberline is. Boog angrily storms off, but unwittingly ends up in Shaw's log cabin, where he is discovered by Shaw, who is revealed to have survived, while Boog manages to make a hasty escape before Shaw could get him when he ends up to the city road where Boog happens upon the glowing lights of Timberline. Instead of deserting the animals, Boog reconciles with Elliot and helps the animals defend themselves, while befriending them in the process, using supplies taken from an RV owned by a caring married couple named Bob and Bobbie, who are looking for Bigfoot, while their pet dachshund Mr. Weenie joins the forest animals.

The next day, Boog leads a revolution against the hunters, causing the hunters to retreat in defeat after McSquizzy blows up their trucks with a propane tank ignited by using an emergency flare. Shaw returns for a final showdown and seemingly kills Elliot by gun shot, prompting Boog to furiously confront Shaw and quickly overpower him by tying him up with his own gun. Boog accompanies Elliot, who survived and with his memory back but his remaining antler is broken off by the shot. The forest animals thank Boog for his help and then proceed to take out their vengeance on Shaw by smothering him with honey and pillow feathers and sending him fleeing into the woods. Beth later returns in a helicopter to take Boog back home. Realizing how the experience has changed him, Boog decides to stay in the forest with his new friends under Beth's blessing. In a mid-credits scene, while crossing the street, Shaw suddenly gets struck by Bob and Bobbie, who humorously mistake him for Bigfoot and strap him on top of their trailer. Unable to escape, Shaw shouts. Then camera zooms into his mouth and rest of credits appear.

Cast[]

• Martin Lawrence as Boog, a 900 pound pampered grizzly bear.
• Ashton Kutcher as Elliot, an awkward and mischievous but fast-talking mule deer who got his antler broken off after being hit by Shaw's truck. He is Boog's best friend.
• Gary Sinise as Shaw, the nastiest hunter in Timberline and Beth's arch-rival.
• Debra Messing as Beth, a park ranger who had raised Boog since he was a cub.
• Billy Connolly as McSquizzy, a grumpy elderly eastern gray squirrel with a Scottish accent.^[6]
• Jon Favreau as Reilly, a diligent beaver.
• Georgia Engel as Bobbie, a friendly but dim-witted woman who is Mr. Weenie's owner.
  • Bobbie's husband, Bob, is unvoiced.
• Jane Krakowski as Giselle, a glamorous mule deer doe, a victim of Ian's stalking and Elliot's love interest .
• Gordon Tootoosis as Gordy, Timberline's sheriff and Beth's friend.
• Patrick Warburton as Ian, an intimidating mule deer stag and the alpha leader of his herd.
• Cody Cameron as Mr. Weenie, Bob and Bobbie's domesticated German-accented dachshund.
• Danny Mann as Serge, a French-accented mallard duck.
• Maddie Taylor as Deni, a mute and insane but brave mallard duck and Serge's brother / Buddy, a blue North American porcupine who searches for friends.
• Nika Futterman as Rosie, a striped skunk with a Mexican accent.
• Michelle Murdocca as Maria, a striped skunk who is Rosie's identical twin.
• Fergal Reilly as O'Toole, a redneck beaver and one of Reilly's men.

Production[]

Roger Allers and Jill Culton, the directors of the film, at the 34th Annie Awards

The ideas for Open Season came from cartoonist Steve Moore, who is known for his comic strip In the Bleachers.^[7] Moore and producer John Carls submitted the story to Sony in June 2002, and the film immediately went into development.^[8] On February 29, 2004, Sony Pictures Animation announced the beginning of the production on Open Season, its first CGI animated film.^[9]

The film location was inspired by the towns of Sun Valley, Idaho and McCall, Idaho, and the Sawtooth National Forest. References to the Lawn Lake, Colorado, Dam flood, Longs Peak, and other points of interest in the area are depicted in the film.

The Sony animation team developed a digital tool called shapers that allowed the animators to reshape the character models into stronger poses and silhouettes and subtle distortions such as squash, stretch, and smears, typical of traditional, hand drawn animation.^[10]

To choose the voice cast, Culton blindly listened to audition tapes, unknowingly picking Lawrence and Kutcher for the lead roles.^[11] Their ability to improvise significantly contributed to the creative process. "They really became meshed with the characters", said Culton.^[11] Until the film's premiere, Lawrence and Kutcher never met during production.^[12]

Reception[]

Critical response[]

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 48% based on 101 reviews with an average rating of 5.4/10. The site's consensus reads: "Open Season is a clichéd palette of tired jokes and CGI animal shenanigans that have been seen multiple times this cinematic year".^[13] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 49 out of 100 based on 18 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".^[14] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F scale.^[15]

Kevin Smith gave the film a thumbs up during an appearance as a guest critic on Ebert and Roeper, saying: "If your kids like poop jokes as much as I do, Open Season will put a big smile on their faces". However, Richard Roeper gave the film a thumbs down, saying, "It's just okay, the animation is uninspired".^[16]

Box office[]

Open Season opened number one with $23 million on its opening weekend. It grossed $88.6 million in the United States and $112.2 million in foreign countries, making $200.8 million worldwide.^[4] The film was released in the United Kingdom on October 13, 2006, and opened at number three, behind The Departed and The Devil Wears Prada.^[17]

Accolades[]

The film was nominated for six Annie Awards, including Best Animated Feature (lost to Cars), Best Animated Effects, Best Character Design in a Feature Production, Best Production Design in a Feature Production, and Best Storyboarding in a Feature Production.^[18]

Home media[]

Open Season was released on DVD, Blu-ray, and UMD Video on January 30, 2007.^[19] It includes an animated short called Boog and Elliot's Midnight Bun Run. The film was later released to 3D Blu-ray on November 16, 2010.^[20] 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release date on TBA 2022.

Video game[]

A video game based on the film was released on September 18, 2006, for PlayStation 2, Xbox, Xbox 360, Nintendo DS, Nintendo Gamecube, Game Boy Advance, PlayStation Portable, and Microsoft Windows.^[21] For Wii, it was released on November 19, 2006, together with the console's launch.^[22]

Music[]

The soundtrack includes an original film score by Ramin Djawadi and several original songs by Paul Westerberg, formerly of The Replacements. Rolling Stone gave the film's soundtrack three stars out of five, as did Allmusic.^[23][24]

Open Season—Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (10″ LP) includes two songs that did not appear on the soundtrack CD: an alternative version of "I Belong" and Paul Westerberg's own version of "Wild as I Wanna Be".^[25]

Sequels[]

Open Season was followed by three direct-to-video sequels: Open Season 2 (2008), Open Season 3 (2010), and Open Season: Scared Silly (2015). A majority of the characters' voices were recast, with Michelle Murdocca (Maria) being the only cast member to appear in all sequels.

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Open Season (2006 film).

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Open Season (2006 film)

• Official website
• Open Season at IMDb
• Open Season at The Big Cartoon DataBase
• Open Season at AllMovie
• Open Season at Rotten Tomatoes
• Open Season at Metacritic
• Open Season at Box Office Mojo