Movie Review:
by Lynn B
Ever
wonder what happens to the animals living underground when a big construction
project moves in? It’s not pretty. In Hoot, some teens
decide to do something about it.
Based
on the young-adult novel by Carl Hiaasen, "Hoot" focuses
on three teens speaking up and taking action stop a pancake house
chain from building on a lot that is inhabited by tiny, endangered
burrowing owls.
The teens
are Roy (Logan Lerman), just moved to Florida from Montana, Beatrice
the Bear (Brie Larson) a tall soccer jock gal with a bad temper and
Mullet Fingers (Cody Linley) a runaway living homeless in a local
boat yard. Once learning about the owls, the trio combines a little
minor vandalism, civil disobedience and research to stall the start
of construction and save the little owls. They drive construction
site manager Curly (Tim Blake Nelson) nuts and well-meaning but dorky
police officer Delinko (Luke Wilson is hot on their trail. The real
bad guy is the head of the food company chain who couldn’t care
less about steam rolling the owls to build his latest money maker.
It’s up to the teens to get the whole town on their side.
The message
of Hoot is that, no matter what your age, you can make a
difference, champion a cause and even save lives. It’s great
that filmmakers got together to make us all aware of our environment.
Hey, there are living things on every square inch of earth and we
can’t go around destroying them for our own profit. Love the
message but the presentation is a little bland.
This PG
film plays like a TV movie and doesn’t have the interesting
characters or edge that Holes, another teen-aimed film based
upon a popular novel, had. Characters are cliché. Poor Luke
Wilson’s inept cop is painfully silly and ridiculous (not his
fault). The young teen actors are adequate but not fantastic. The
pace is painfully slow and there is no really believable jeopardy
for the kids. The filmmakers say they wanted to make a “timeless”
film that could have taken place today or in the 1950’s. That’s
all well and good but watching a school full of modern teens who have
no cell phones, no pagers, no blackberries, no text messaging, etc.
just seems well… unrealistic.
Hoot
isn’t a horrible film. It’s sweet. If it’s heart
you are looking for and a good cause to champion, this is the movie
for you. I’m all for that but it would have been nice to see
these qualities presented in a faster-moving, more involving, more
updated, less clichéd piece of cinema.
This
movie is rated PG
Official
Movie Web Site - HOOT
Pictures
courtesy of and copyright New Line Cinema, 2006
