Ìý Sony Pictures finally threw their hat into the animation ring with Open Season. Martin Lawrence, Ashton Kutcher and Billy Connolly are among those who lend their voices to this "funky" story of woodland creatures banding together against their human predators. Sadly for the fledgling animation house, critics and moviegoers seemed jaded by a deluge of similarly themed toons. Bagging just $84m in international ticket sales, it far from made a killing at the box office.
Bear Necessities
Penney Finkelman, one of the top dogs at Sony Animation, explains her philosophy of filmmaking in a behind-the-scenes featurette, ie "Story, story, story." Of course it also helps to have 250 artists on the cutting edge of CGI technology. Apparently though, they spent most of their time at the local zoo, hanging out with bears for research purposes (surely everyone knows they steal picnic baskets and wear trilby hats!). Later, cameras spy on a production meeting and we see how the overall look of the film evolved. The backstage chat is complemented by a behind-the-scenes art gallery and a multi-angle breakdown of the dam-bursting scene (showing the action in various stages of completion).
Kutcher, Lawrence and Connolly get their chance to shine in another featurette, which includes video snippets from the recording studio - and frankly they should've kept Kutcher off the orange squash… Meanwhile Connolly notes "a wee resemblance" between himself and his squirrelly alter ego McSquizzy - not surprising since we're told that animators take inspiration from the sound booth footage. In the Activities section there's a chance to view selected scenes as performed by foreign actors for overseas moviegoers. ('Ay caramba!' etc.)
When Animals Attack
Two deleted scenes are presented in rough storyboard form. In the first, Elliot (Kutcher) gives Boog (Lawrence) yet another lesson in forest survival (Ray Mears eat your heart out), and there are no prizes for guessing why the second scene was cut. Elliot has his brain drained by a giant parasite in an echo of John Hurt's death scene in Alien (1979). It's enough to scar your kids for life! They'll probably derive better enjoyment out of three animated skits by Steve Moore (whose comic strips provide the basis for the film). A set-top game that cleverly riffs on Wheel Of Fortune should keep older kids amused.
Co-directors Jill Culton, Roger Allers and Anthony Stacchi provide commentary for the main feature and explain how they achieved that Looney Tunes sensibility. According to Allers "a little bit of violence" goes a long way and Culton refers to the "squash and stretch" method where limbs can be pulled and snapped like elastic for comic effect. It basically sounds as if they were aiming at a woodland version of Itchy & Scratchy. This DVD mightn't set the best example for younger viewers, but there is enough here to keep them captive for a few hours.
EXTRA FEATURES
Open Season DVD is released on Monday, 12th February 2007.
