Open Season: Scared Silly is what you get when a film franchise originated as an animated star vehicle loses its stars. The original movie was little more than Aston Kutcher and Martin Lawrence playing themselves as a deer and a bear, but the two haven’t returned for the two prior sequels or for this new one, which begs the question “Why bother?” This third sequel does nothing to answer that question in the affirmative. Struggling through its 85 entirely laughless minutes was a tedious experience that I will consider worthwhile if anything I say will steer you away from this movie.
Ostensibly, Open Season: Scared Silly is a buddy comedy about Elliot the deer and Boog the formerly-domesticated-now-wild bear, with Elliot trying to shake Boog of his fears. Doing so involves the legend of the Wailing Wampus Werewolf, a plan gone awry, the return of the original movie’s antagonist hunter Shaw, interpretive dance, and a whole kitchen sink of other plot elements, none of which build on each other. Like Boog, Open Season: Scared Silly isn’t quite smart enough to think through anything, and like Elliot, it can’t manage to keep a coherent thought in its head for more than a few seconds. The end result is just a terribly unfunny mess that’s really a bunch of 2-3 minute sketches held together with duct tape and bent coat hangers. Director David Feiss was head of story on the first Open Season movie (itself no great prize in the annals of animated film history), and in the bonus material he notes that a lot of the ideas from that first film that didn’t make it into the final product made their way back into this one. I don’t doubt it, but I suspect some of those ideas were probably best left exactly where they were, and none of them are able to sustain anything more than a weak punch line.
The worst thing about being so down on Open Season: Scared Silly is probably the feature commentary track that’s the most interesting bonus feature on the disc (and honestly more interesting than the movie itself). Director David Feiss and writer Carlos Kotkin are an entertaining pair as they discuss the making of the movie. Mr. Kotkin helpfully asks Mr. Feiss about the animation process, which ensures that the commentary stays informative and interesting. I almost feel bad trashing all the hard work that went into the movie, but there is so very little of value to show from all the sweat and time. Other bonus features on both the DVD and Blu-ray are a “Super Speedy Recap,” which covers the three prior Open Season movies; and a director profile of David Feiss, which repeats a little bit of information on the commentary track but has enough other stuff in it to be worth a watch for animation fans. The Blu-ray includes a few more bonuses: an artificial bloopers/outtakes reel, which isn’t any funnier than the movie; “Stepping into the Spotlight: Mr. Weenie’s Process,” which tries to extend the conceit that Mr. Weenie is a real dog inhabiting a role and is also not any funnier than the movie; and “Scaredy Pants: The Fears of Open Season: Scared Silly,” which is slight and trivial. The movie’s digital copy is in UltraViolet format.
If you want a movie where a character learns how to overcome their fears and become better for the experience, go watch The Good Dinosaur and leave Open Season: Scared Silly on the shelf.
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