Open Season (2006 film)

Open Season
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Roger Allers Jill Culton Anthony Stacchi
Written by	Steve Bencich Ron J. Friedman
Produced by	Michelle Murdocca Amy Jupiter Steve Moore John B. Carls
Starring	Martin Lawrence Ashton Kutcher Debra Messing Gary Sinise Jon Favreau Matthew W. Taylor Jane Krakowski Billy Connolly Georgia Engel Patrick Warburton
Music by	Ramin Djawadi
Production company	Sony Pictures Animation
Distributed by	Sony Pictures Entertainment Columbia Pictures Universal Pictures (outside USA/UK)
Release date	September 29, 2006
Running time	86 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$85,000,000
Box office	Domestic: $85,105,259 Worldwide: $189,088,279

Open Season is a Template:Fy computer-animated comedy film. The film was directed by Roger Allers, Jill Culton and Anthony Stacchi. It was released on September 29, 2006. The film was produced by Sony Pictures Animation and released by Columbia Pictures. 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 feature. A video game for the film was released on multiple platforms. Open Season 2, a sequel, was released on January 27, 2009.

Plot

In the tranquil town of Timberline, 900 pound grizzly bear Boog (Martin Lawrence) enjoys a captive, but happy existence. He spends his day as the star attraction of the town's nature show and spends his nights living the life of luxury in the garage of park ranger Beth (Debra Messing) who raised him since he was a cub.

One day, the hunting fanatic Shaw (Gary Sinise) drives into town with the one-antlered mule deer Elliot (Ashton Kutcher) strapped to the hood of his truck. Boog wakes him as the two scream in terror. With Boog reluctant to intervene, Elliot begs to Boog for help to escape. At the last minute and against his better judgment, Boog frees Elliot before Shaw could 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. Elliot tells Boog the he is intent on returning the favor by "freeing" him from his garage captivity. Elliot introduces Boog to a world of sweet temptations outside of the garage that he has never known. When the grizzly becomes intoxicated with sugar, events quickly spiral out of control as the two ransack the town's food store. Elliot escapes before Boog is caught by a friend of Beth, police officer Gordy (Gordon Tootoosis).

At the nature show, Boog meets up with Elliot who is being chased by Shaw. Boog attacks the mule deer, causing the whole audience in the show to panic before Boog threatens to kill Elliot. Shaw prepares to shoot Boog but the bear is instead shot by Beth with a tranquilizer gun; she shoots Elliot as well (six times). The two trouble-makers are released into the Timberline National Forest, only 3 days before the start of open season.

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's every animal for itself. The two run into their share of the forest animals including hot-tempered skunks, psychotic ducks and panic-stricken rabbits. They also run into critters such as the Scottish-accented squirrel, McSquizzy (Billy Connolly) and his rogue gang, Reilly (Jon Favreau) and his beaver construction worker team, and a porcupine who is in search of a friend. With each adverse encounter, Boog learns a little about self-reliance and Elliot gains self-respect. Elliot finds his herd crush, a pretty female, Giselle, but is also found by the herd leader, Ian (Patrick Warburton), a 'jock' mule deer who has forced Elliot out of the herd. They walk away from Ian's taunting, realizing that they've obtained true friendship.

Elliot 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. Boog tries to run over the dam, but it is not a "load bearing structure". It breaks under his weight and the rush of water washes everyone in the forest, including Shaw, to the clearing below the 'falls.

At first everyone blames Boog, but Boog accuses Elliot of lying to him about leading him home. Elliot confesses, saying he wanted Boog as a friend and thought if they just spent time together it would work out. Angry, 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 Bobby's RV while their pet, Mr. Weenie, joins along.

The following day, Boog leads a rampage against the hunters, sending them running after McSquizzy blows up their trucks. Shaw returns for a final battle. Elliot takes a bullet meant for Boog, enraging the bear who ties up Shaw with his own gun. Boog finds that Elliot survived the blast, 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 realise that the bear is at home in the forest.

Production

The film location was inspired by the towns of Sun Valleyand 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.

Of the three directors on working on the film, only Roger Allers had experience in feature film directing before.

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.

Martin Lawrence and Ashton Kutcher never met during production.

Release

The film was released on DVD and UMD Video and Blu-Ray on January 30, 2007. It includes a new animated short called "Boog and Elliot's Midnight Bun Run", deleted scenes, Audio Commentary, I Wanna Lose Control music video, Swept Away documentary and other disc extras.

Reception

Open Season received mixed reviews from critics. Critics of Rotten Tomatoes gave the film 47% 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 movie 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."

The film opened #1 with $23 million on its opening weekend. It grossed $85.1 million in the United States and $104.8 million in foreign countries making $189.9 million worldwide.

Soundtrack

Untitled

The soundtrack includes original music scored by Ramin Djawadi (half of the 1980s synthpop duo Blancmange) with help by and original songs written by Paul Westerberg, formerly of The Replacements. Audio of the songs can be located here.

#	Song	Artist	Where Played
1	"Me In The Meadow"	Paul Westerberg	Credits
2	"Love You In The Fall"
3	"I Belong"		Film
4	"I Wanna Lose Control (Uh-Oh)"	Deathray
5	"Better Than This"	Paul Westerberg
6	"Wild Wild Life"	Talking Heads
7	"Right to Arm Bears"	Paul Westerberg
8	"Good Day"
9	"All About Me"
10	"Wild As I Wanna Be"	Deathray	Credits
11	"Whisper Me Luck"	Paul Westerberg	Film
12	"I Belong" (Reprise)	Pete Yorn
13	"Wild As I Wanna Be"	Paul Westerberg	iTunes exclusive

Credits

• Adam Ayan – Mastering
• Bob Badami – Music Consultant
• Jeff "Bucko" Biggers – Engineer
• Michael Bland – Drums
• Jim Boquist – Bass, Mandolin, Accordion, Vocals (bckgr)
• Kevin Bowe – Harmonica, Percussion, Engineer, Sitar (Electric)
• Kim Buie – A&R
• John Fields – Mixing

• Lou Giordano – Producer
• Dana Gumbiner – Producer
• Darren Hill – A&R
• Michelle Kinney – Cello
• Karen Naff – Design
• Tommy Stinson – Bass, Vocals
• Lia Vollack – Soundtrack Producer
• Paul Westerberg – Guitar, Harmonica, Piano, Accordion, Vocals, Producer

Charts

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

External links

• Official website
• Open Season at IMDb
• Open Season at AllMovie
• Open Season at Rotten Tomatoes