Open Season 3
| Open Season 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 "Sony really said this one out, and abandoned it in the woods" - Schaffrillas Productions
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Open Season 3 is a 2010 American computer-animated comedy film produced by Sony Pictures Animation with animation provided by Reel FX Creative Studios. It is the third installment in the Open Season film series and a sequel to Open Season 2 (2008). Directed by Cody Cameron, the film theatrically premiered in Russia on October 21, 2010 and was released as a direct-to-video in the United States and Canada on January 25, 2011. The film received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $7 million worldwide.
Plot
One spring morning several years after the events of the previous film, Boog awakens after hibernation and plans an annual guys' trip to spend time with his male best friends. Unfortunately, Elliot has distanced himself from Boog since he had started a family with Giselle. They are now the parents of three children: Gisela, Giselita, and Elvis (with Boog now being the honorary uncle). Boog is disappointed that everyone else wants to spend time with their families (especially since he does not have a mate of his own), which causes him to go on the guys trip by himself with Dinkleman; however, this soon leads him to a Russian traveling circus called the Maslova Family Circus.
While at the circus, Boog meets Doug, a lazy, self-centered, mean, scruffy grizzly bear who is unable to perform circus tricks and is tired of performing in the circus on the sidelines. He craves recognition as a full-fledged king of the forest, the ruler of the wildlife. Hatching a plan, Doug lies to his best friend Alistair that he won't forget his help and convinces Boog to switch his life in the forest for Doug's place at the circus. Boog accepts the offer, unaware of Doug's scam.
Meanwhile, Boog falls madly in love with Ursa, a female grizzly bear who was born in Russia and can effortlessly walk on a tightrope, juggle, and dance (which Boog finds to be "bearvana"), but has no luck convincing her that he isn't Doug. Ursa dares Boog to prove to her that he isn't Doug by climbing up the high wire. Boog accepts and does so, but to his surprise, Ursa reveals that she knew he wasn't Doug the moment he rode the unicycle, as Doug was incapable of doing so, though it wasn't for nothing: Boog still had to be punished for juggling a dog. When Boog and Ursa begin working together, they obtain much more as a harmonious duet than it might seem at first glance. Meanwhile, Doug arrives at the forest and disguises himself as Boog by pushing his scruffy fur back with mud.
However, Mr. Weenie, a reformed Fifi, Roberto, and various other pets, including a newcomer named Nate, spot Boog on a TV commercial for the circus and Doug treating the animals like slaves. Believing the performances in the commercial are attempts to kill Boog, they escape and try to rescue him, only to be caught by a gas station employee. They escape again, this time using Bob and Bobbie's RV to get to the circus. That night, the wilds arrive at the Maslova Family Circus, where they meet up with Mr. Weenie and the other pets and execute the plan. They want Boog to return home, but he does not want to leave Ursa. Suddenly, Doug arrives, apologizes to Boog for tricking him, and reunites with Alistair, realizing what he had done before he escaped. While Doug performs with Alistair, Elliot tells Boog that he can stay at the circus if he wants to. Torn between his forest friends and Ursa, Boog invites her to live with them in the forest, and Ursa accepts.
The next morning, Ursa begins to enjoy her new life in the forest and ultimately becomes Boog's mate and the honorary aunt of Elliot and Giselle's kids. Finally, Boog, Elliot, and their male friends go on their guys' trip and sing part of Willie Nelson's "On the Road Again." Elsewhere, Mr. Weenie and the pets travel to Devils Tower with Bob and Bobbie as the couple begin searching for aliens, and the circus begins its long journey back to Russia. In the ending credits, Doug and Alistair reveal a slideshow of themselves enjoying their tour around the world as they make their way back home.
Bad Qualities
- The plot, although a little better than the second film, is still quite average, uninteresting and somewhat generic.
- Also, the writing seems worse, with poorly written and rushed character lines and some rather pointless scenes, such as those showing one of the circus characters (the older man wearing a colorful clown wig) "appreciating" or feeling good for the animals, though the movie never told us anything about who he is or at least introduced him.
- It is the only film in the franchise to not feature any main villain, which makes the story even more uninteresting.
- Some characters had issues:
- Elliot is quite unlikable for more than half of the movie, refusing to apologize to Boog for a long time for not telling him the truth about going on the trip with him.
- Doug can be extremely unlikable to many people, mainly due to his rude, manipulative and petty behavior, although he redeems himself at the end of the movie.
- Not to mention, he's basically a copy of Boog, only with the fur spiky, although this was purposeful so that the scene where he and Boog switch places disguising each other could be done.
- Ursa, an important new character in this movie, despite being likeable, it's still worth saying that she has a rather ugly design, especially compared to the other characters.
- Alistair, another major new character, while enjoyable and fun, can be a little irritating and a little gross, as he almost always spits while talking.
- The animation, while still decent, is worse and cheaper than previous movies, a perfect example of this is the constant recycling of background character models and even the previous movie (like the dogs in the circus being obvious copies of Rufus, one of Mr. Weenie's friends, who doesn't even appear in this movie) and the way some scenes are done, such as the scenes that show Doug getting mud to pass it through his fur to look like Boog, which show only his paw already with mud, adjusted in a position above the can.
- Just like the previous movie, due to the low budget, the voice cast has changed once again (with Maddie Taylor, then known as Matthew Taylor, voicing Elliot, Ian and Reilly), which can make the movie even more difficult to watch for people who have already watched the previous two movies and got used to the old voices of the characters.
- The humor and jokes got worse and more generic than the second movie, such as the scenes where Boog goes out alone on his trip at the beginning and ends up getting out of control for having eaten too much chocolate, and starts practically torturing a rabbit he had found in a "funny" way.
- Also, this movie is also full of disgusting scenes, like when Fifi throws up after seeing Roger spitting out a poster (although it was off-screen), and Alistair letting goo out of his nose while crying that Doug didn't come back.
- The film's ending, while better than the previous one, is still bad and cliché, showing the characters happily singing and dancing after it all ended well.
- To complete, the fact that the film has a generic circus story, does not present any villains and almost no action scenes like the previous films and even the later film, can be considered by many to be the most boring and dull movie in the franchise.
Good Qualities
- At least most of the old characters are still likable, like Giselle, Reilly, Buddy, McSquizzy and even Boog himself, although he is a little unlikable at the beginning of the movie.
- Also, it's nice to see Boog finally interacting with other bears and falling in love with Ursa.
- Speaking of Ursa, as said before, she is a very likeable character and a good companion for Boog, same for Alistair.
- Other likeable new characters in this movie are Elliot and Giselle's children, who have shown to care about their father's relationship with Boog and trying to convince him to apologize to him.
- Elliot and Doug at least redeemed themselves in the end, as Elliot apologized to Boog and Doug returning to the circus to play with Alistair for the audience.
- It's fun to see Mr. Weenie and his domestic friends again, though the scenes with them are unfortunately short-lived. By the way, it's interesting to see Fifi this time becoming a supporting character rather than a villain.
- The gas station attendant from the previous movie also returns, and besides that, the joke of his glass being broken and fixed constantly throughout the movie is quite funny, and one of the few good jokes in the movie.
Reception
DVD Verdict gave the film a negative review, saying: "This tiresomely predictable tale exemplifies everything that's wrong about straight-to-DVD animated sequels to big-budget mainstream films: the plot is utterly predictable and rehashes a lot of beats from the original effort, the major voice actors have been replaced by poor substitutes and the quality of the animation has dropped dramatically (most of the visuals are on the level of a video game or one of those cheap CGI Saturday morning TV shows)". R.L. Shaffer of IGN gave the film a slightly positive review saying the animation is fine, and the kids are bound to enjoy it, but Open Season 3 boasts a dull story that feels like it's on autopilot.