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Shaw the hunter, voiced by Gary Sinise

Despite its overly familiar plot elements and the excessive time it takes getting to its real story, Open Season has a lot going for it. The voice cast is uniformly good. The animation (Sony Pictures' first foray into CG features) is not remarkably distinct but is highly watchable and sometimes pretty cool, particularly in an extended flood scene. There are some genuinely funny bits, likely to amuse kids and adults alike. But underneath it all is an edge of mean-spiritedness far more problematic than the lack of originality. Sure there is an enduring tradition of hunting in cartoons (Elmer Fudd, anyone?). But a hunter pulling his truck off the road to drive intentionally into the deer caught in his headlights, viscerally rendered in three dimensions, seems to cross a line. Watching scene after scene of Shaw aiming and discharging his rifle, or lunging at one of the film's animal heroes with a gleaming hunting knife, I started to feel distinctly uncomfortable about my own child's exposure to the film.

It's not just the hunting story line that seems to have a crueler edge in Open Season. The warm and fuzzy, loyalty-affirming resolve to Boog and Elliot's relationship does not, in my opinion, redeem the nasty exchanges mined for laughs along the way. And while I'm as much a fan of absurdist humor as the next gal, the running gag of bunny abuse (rabbits are thrown against a window instead of rocks, used like rags to wipe up messes, and otherwise stomped upon and mistreated) just seems to me to be, well, abusive. Jill Culton, one of the film's directors, has an impressive resume, having overseen story development in classics like Monsters, Inc. and the Toy Story movies. Those films offered plenty of laughs—some of them more than a little irreverent—without resorting to over-the-top meanness or the denigration of their characters. A little less cruelty and a lot more originality might have put Open Season somewhere in their league.

1. The animals in Open Season not only defend themselves against the hunters, they seek and find vengeance. In real life, what is the difference between self-defense and revenge? Is there ever an appropriate time to go from defender to aggressor
2. Is hunting for sport moral? How about hunting for food or clothing? Discuss man's relationship to animals in light of Genesis 1:26.
3. Beth's love and protection of Boog was actually keeping him from living the kind of life for which he was created. Are you holding back anyone you love out of fear or over-protectionism
4. Boog resisted leaving his safe and comfortable existence for a more risky life in the wild. Is fear or an unwillingness to leave your comfort zone holding you back from anything you know you should try?

Open Season is rated PG for plenty of bodily function humor (animal scat and vomit is on display once or twice) and "brief language" (mostly double entendres to do with male anatomy). The peril faced by the protagonists will likely be too intense for younger or sensitive kids; hunting weaponry is frequently shown in a menacing fashion in order to heighten the action.

Photos © Copyright Sony Pictures Animation

© Carolyn Arends 2006, subject to licensing agreement with Christianity Today International. All rights reserved. Click for reprint information.

Is anybody else out there flinching every time the big screen gets a new cartoon full of senselessly jabbering animals? I grew up in a time when an animated Disney feature was an occasional treat and more—a work of art. These days, it seems like there's a new digitally animated movie about critters every week. They seem so much alike, so disposable, and sometimes rather meaningless. I wonder if it's starting to annoy the kids as well.

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