Open Season Information

Open Season is a 2006 American computer-animated comedy film, written by Steve Bencich and Ron J. Friedman and directed by Jill Culton, Roger Allers, and Anthony Stacchi. The film stars Martin Lawrence, Ashton Kutcher, Gary Sinise, Debra Messing, Gordon Tootoosis, Jon Favreau, Matthew W. Taylor, Jane Krakowski, Cody Cameron, Danny Mann, Billy Connolly, Georgia Engel, and Patrick Warburton and was produced by Sony Pictures Animation and released by Columbia Pictures on September 29, 2006. The story centers around woodland creatures that are traditionally hunted teaming up against hunters. It has also been released in the IMAX 3D format. It was Sony Pictures Animation's first theatrical film. A video game for the film was released on multiple platforms.

Plot

In the tranquil town of Timberline, 900-pound (407 kg) grizzly bear Boog enjoys a captive, but happy existence and spends his day as the star attraction of the town's nature show with nights living the life of luxury in the garage of park ranger Beth, who raised him since he was a cub. One day, the hunting fanatic Shaw drives into town with the one-antlered deer Elliot strapped to the hood of his truck. Boog wakes and frees Elliot at the last minute and against his better judgment, before Shaw can go after him. Boog never expects to see his "buddy" again. Elliot follows Boog home and finds him sleeping in the garage and starts to throw rabbits at the window. He tells him to be "free" from his garage captivity. Elliot introduces Boog to a world of sweet temptations outside of the garage that he has unknown. When Boog becomes intoxicated with sugar, events quickly spiral out of control as the two ransack the town's grocery store. Elliot escapes before Boog is caught by a friend of Beth, police officer Gordy. At the nature show, Elliot who is being chased by Shaw, meets Boog who attacks him, causing the whole audience in the show to panic before Boog threatens to kill Elliot. Shaw prepares to shoot Boog but Gordy stops him and Beth shoots him and Elliot with a tranquilizer gun. Shaw flees before Gordy can arrest him for shooting a gun in the town. The two trouble-makers are released into the Timberline National Forest, only three days before open season starts. However, they are set over the falls, where they will be safe.

Since he lacks any outdoor skills, Boog takes Elliot as his hapless guide to get him back home to Timberline to reunite with Beth. But in the woods, they quickly learn that it is every animal for itself. The two run into their share of the forest animals including skunks Maria and Rosie, ducks Serge and Deni, panic-stricken rabbits, the Scottish-accented squirrel, McSquizzy and his rogue gang, Reilly and his beaver construction worker team, a porcupine named Buddy who is in search of a friend and the herd of deer led by Ian and Giselle (who Elliot is in love with) With each adverse encounter, Boog learns a little about self-reliance and Elliot gains self-respect and they start to become friends. Day by day Elliot still attempts to lead Boog out of the forest, but it becomes evident that he has no clue where they are going. After winding up at Reilly's dam, Boog and Elliot are confronted by Shaw, they ended up in a waterfall with the flood washes everyone in the forest before the water recedes.

At first everyone blames Boog who accuses Elliot of lying to him about leading him home. Elliot admits he thought that if Boog spent time with him, he would befriend him. Boog leaves to unwittingly find Shaw's log cabin. Shaw discovers him and pursues him to the city road where Boog happens upon the glowing lights of Timberline. Instead of deserting his companions, Boog helps the other animals defend themselves using supplies taken from Bob and Bobbie's (two 'scientists' looking for Bigfoot) RV while their pet dachshund Mr. Weenie joins the wilds. The next day, Boog leads a rampage against the hunters, sending them running after McSquizzy blows up their trucks with a propane tank named "Mr. Happy". Shaw returns for a final battle and shoots Elliot which enrages Boog to tie up Shaw with his own gun. Boog finds that Elliot survived the shot, only losing his second antler in the fight. Beth returns to take Boog back home where he will be safe, but instead he stays with his friends. They both realize that the bear is at home in the forest.

Voice cast

• Martin Lawrence as Boog, a 900-pound, smooth-talking grizzly bear.
• Ashton Kutcher as Elliot, a hyperactive and dull-witted, albeit clever mule deer.
• Gary Sinise as Shaw, the nastiest hunter in Timberline and Beth's arch-rival.
• Debra Messing as Beth, a park ranger who raised Boog since he was a cub.
• Billy Connolly as McSquizzy, a grumpy, old Scottish-accented Eastern gray squirrel.
• Jon Favreau as Reilly, a hard-working North American beaver
• Patrick Warburton as Ian, a vain mule deer stag who leads the herd and threw out Elliot.
• Jane Krakowski as Giselle, a beautiful mule deer doe and Elliot's love interest.
• Gordon Tootoosis as Gordy, Timberline's sheriff and Beth's friend.
• Georgia Engel as Bobbie, a fat lady who's Bob's wife and Mr. Weenie's owner.
• Cody Cameron as Mr. Weenie, a domesticated, German-accented dachshund who is Bob and Bobbie's pet.
• Danny Mann as Serge, a French-accented mallard duck.
• Matthew W. Taylor as Deni, a dumb, somewhat crazy and laconic mallard duck who is Serge's brother and sidekick. / Buddy, a blue North American porcupine who is in search of a friend.
• Nika Futterman as Rosie, a Spanish-accented striped skunk.
• Michelle Murdocca as Maria, a striped skunk who is Rosie's identical sister.
• Fergal Reilly as O'Toole, a North American beaver and one of Reilly's men.

Production

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

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 re-shape the character models into stronger poses and silhouettes and subtle distortions such as squash, stretch, and smears, typical of traditional, hand-drawn animation.

Until the film's premiere, Martin Lawrence and Ashton Kutcher never met during production.

Reception

Critical reception

Open Season received mixed reviews from critics. Critics of Rotten Tomatoes gave the film 48% (based on 100 reviews) with the consensus "Open Season is a cliched palette of tired jokes and CG animal shenanigans that have been seen multiple times this cinematic year."

Kevin Smith gave the film a good review during an appearance as a guest critic on At the Movies with 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 mixed review, saying, "It's just okay, the animation is uninspired."

Box office

Open Season opened #1 with $23 million on its opening weekend. It grossed $85.1 million in the United States and $112.2 million in foreign countries, making $197.3 million worldwide.

Accolades

The film was nominated for 6 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.

Home media

Open Season was released on DVD, Blu-ray, and UMD Video on January 30, 2007. It includes a new animated short called Boog and Elliot's Midnight Bun Run. The film was later released to 3D Blu-ray on November 16, 2010.

Video game

See Open Season (video game) for more information A video game based on the film was released for PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, Nintendo DS, Nintendo Gamecube, Game Boy Advance, and Microsoft Windows.

Soundtrack

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.

Track list:

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 a Paul Westerberg's version of "Wild as I Wanna Be."

Charts

Chart (2009)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Top Soundtracks	15

Sequels

Open Season was followed by two direct-to-video sequels: Open Season 2 (2008) and Open Season 3 (2010).