DVD Review: “Open Season”

I know that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but what if the cover is really, really pretty? Visually, this movie is fantastic: the scenery, lighting, animal’s fur, level of detail, is all very well done. The story itself was serviceable, but nothing we haven’t seen before (a domesticated bear is let loose in the wild and is befriended by a mule deer, who helps him rally the once-skeptical forest creatures to fight back against a group of hunters). Think Footloose, but with less dancing and more hairy animals and poop jokes. Special features include two behind-the-scenes featurettes (a making-of, and one about the voice actors, which I really liked), creator commentary, some limited character commentary tracks, DVD games for the kids (including a forest edition of Wheel of Fortune), art gallery, deleted scenes, music video, and the animated short Boog and Elliot’s Midnight Bun Run (bleh).