Open Season

Open Season is a 2006 American computer-animated comedy film directed by Jill Culton, Roger Allers and Anthony Stacchi from a screenplay by Steve Bencich and Ron J. Friedman. It follows Boog, a domestic grizzly bear who teams up with a one antlered deer named Elliot and other woodland animals to defeat human hunters.

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. It was produced by Sony Pictures Animation as its first film and project, and was released by Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Releasing on September 29, 2006.

It has also been released in the IMAX 3D format. A video game for the film was released on multiple platforms. Despite receiving mixed reviews from critics, the film was a box office success (earning $197.3 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 peaceful town of Timberline, a 900 pound (408 kg) grizzly bear named Boog enjoys a captive, but pampered existence and spends his day as the star attraction of the town's nature show, while at night living in the garage of park ranger Beth, who has raised him since he was a cub. One day, the sadistic hunting fanatic Shaw drives into town with a one-antlered deer who was strapped to the hood of his truck. After Boog frees him, the deer follows Boog home to find him sleeping in the garage. To wake Boog up, the deer throws rabbits at the window and introduces himself as Elliot. He tells him to be "free" from his garage captivity and introduces Boog 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 the town's grocery store. Elliot escapes before Boog is caught by a friend of Beth's police officer Gordy. At the nature show, Elliot being chased by Shaw, sees Boog, which "attacks" him. This causes the whole audience to panic.

Shaw attempts to shoot Boog and Elliot, but Beth sedates them both with a tranquilizer gun just before Shaw fires his gun. Shaw flees before Gordy can arrest him for shooting a gun in the town. The two troublemakers are banned from the town and into the Timberline National Forest, only three 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 accident prone 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 forest animals, which they think they are pests. The only forest animals they befriend are skunks, Maria and Rosie, ducks, Serge and Deni, various unnamed panic stricken rabbits, the Scottish accented squirrel, McSquizzy, along with his roguish gang, Reilly, a beaver and his construction worker team, a porcupine named Buddy that is in search of a friend, and the herd of deer led by Ian and his assistant, Giselle with whom Elliot is in love.

With each adverse encounter, Boog learns a little about self reliance and Elliot gains self respect and they start to become friends. The next day, it's revealed that Elliot has absolutely no idea where they're 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 then loses his toy bear, Dinkleman, as the current makes the doll float out of Boog's paw. They end up in a waterfall, which floods and sends the animals falling down into the hunting grounds. After thinking Shaw is dead, at first everyone is furious at Boog, but then he accuses Elliot of lying to him about leading him home and driving everyone to the hunting grounds. Boog storms off, but unwittingly ends up in Shaw's log cabin, where he is discovered by Shaw, who survived and pursues him to the city road where Boog happens upon the glowing lights of Timberline. Instead of deserting his companions, Boog reconciles with Elliot and helps the animals defend themselves using supplies taken from an RV owned by couple named Bob and Bobbie, who are looking for Bigfoot, while their pet dachshund Mr. Weenie joins with the forest animals.

The next day, the animals overpowered the hunters, causing them 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 confrontation and seemingly shoots Elliot, allowing Boog to furiously confront Shaw and quickly overpowers him and ties him up with his own gun. Boog accompanies Elliot, who is actually alive but his second antler is broken 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 banish him from Timberline. While he gets banished, Shaw suddenly gets struck by Bob and Bobbie, who humorously mistake him for a Sasquatch and strap him on top of their trailer. Beth later returns in helicopter to take Boog back home where he will be safe, but realizing how the adventures changed him, Boog decides to remain on forest with his new friends.

Voice cast

 * Martin Lawrence as Boog, a 900 pound, suave grizzly bear
 * Ashton Kutcher as Elliot, a hyperactive and clumsy, but quick witted mule deer who got his antler broken off by Shaw's truck
 * Gary Sinise as Shaw, the nastiest hunter in Timberline and Beth's arch rival
 * Debra Messing as Beth, a park ranger who raised Boog as a cub
 * Billy Connolly as McSquizzy, a grumpy old eastern gray squirrel with a Scottish accent
 * Jon Favreau as Reilly, a hard working North American beaver
 * Georgia Engel as Bobbie, an obese woman who is Bob's wife and Mr. Weenie's owner
 * Jane Krakowski as Giselle, a beautiful mule deer doe, Ian's assistant, and Elliot's love interest
 * Gordon Tootoosis as Gordy, Timberline's sheriff and Beth's friend
 * Patrick Warburton as Ian, a mean spirited 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
 * Matthew W. Taylor as Deni, a mute, somewhat insane and courageous mallard duck and Serge's brother, and Buddy, a blue North American porcupine that searches for friends
 * Nika Futterman as Rosie, a striped skunk with a Mexican accent
 * Michelle Murdocca as Maria, a striped skunk that is Rosie's identical twin
 * Fergal Reilly as O'Toole, a North American beaver and one of Reilly's men

Additional Voices

 * Kirk Baily
 * Jack Blessing
 * Ranjani Brow
 * David Cowgill
 * Caitlin Cutt
 * Elisa Gabrielli
 * Jackie Gonneau
 * Wendy Hoffmann
 * Scott Menville
 * Renee Robert
 * André Sogliuzzo
 * Hans Tester

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, Leap Year Day, Sony Pictures Animation announced the beginning of the production on its first computer-generated imagery 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 reshape the character models into stronger poses and silhouettes and subtle distortions such as squash, stretch, and smears, typical of traditional, hand drawn animation.

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

Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 48% based on 100 reviews with an average rating of 5.4/10. The site's consensus reads: "Open Season is a clichéd palette of tired jokes and CG animal shenanigans that have been seen multiple times this cinematic year". On Metacritic, the film has a score of 49 out of 100 based on 18 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F scale.

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".

Box office
Open Season opened number one 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. 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.

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.

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
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. For Wii, it was released on November 19, 2006, together with the console's launch.

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).