Open Season: Scared Silly Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

Open Season: Scared Silly Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman March 8, 2016

The Open Season films may not be amongst the first to roll off the tongue when discussing the most popular animated films or franchises, not with the likes of Pixar, Disney, DreamWorks, and even Sony's other animated films on the scene, but there's no denying the series delivers soft, cuddly, and cute entertainment to a crowded marketplace in which it's still holding down its own little corner of fun. Open Season: Scared Silly is the third of the series quartet to release straight to video, a market where it's found solid footing and a following amongst little ones in search of more talking animals and whacky adventure. This film sees the heroes facing their fears and a hunter out to give his rifle a workout.

Scary!

It was a dark and stormy night. Yes, it was, and yes, those do exist! Elliot (voiced by William Townsend) is telling a scary campfire story about the legend of the Wailing Wampus Werewolf and its big fangs and relentless pursuit of innocent creatures. It's all fun and games until someone gets really scared. That someone is the affable bear Boog (voiced by Donny Lucas) who wets himself and retreats. He's absolutely terrified. He's a domesticated bear, after all, and not a fighter, despite his size. Elliot decides that the only way to help his friend get over his fears is to scare them right out of him. That should be a pretty easy task considering that Boog is scared of pretty much everything, but matters are complicated when hunter named Shaw (voiced by Trevor Devall), whose trigger finger has been itching like crazy since the end of open season, convinces authorities to allow him to hunt the Wailing Wampus Werewolf, and anything else that stands in his way.

Open Season: Scared Silly is affable, but not particularly memorable. The material feels a little stretched and settles into an awkward middle ground where it's probably not conducive to a feature-length film, even one as short as this (clocking in around 85 minutes), but clearly far too involved to be a short film, like this five-to-seven-minute mini-movies often included with Disney releases. Even if one were to grant it around the same runtime as something like Toy Story That Time Forgot, it probably wouldn't work. Extending it out was probably the right call, but the movie definitely tends to drag in places, struggling through lethargic gags and recycled character moments that only get in the way of an otherwise fun narrative.

As the third straight to video outing, though, one cannot help but praise the filmmakers, and Sony Animation, for building the movie up with as much polish as possible for what is one of the more under-the-radar animation franchises and a movie that's not exactly a marketing juggernaut. With the original voice talents of Martin Lawrence, Gary Sinise, Ashton Kutcher, and others long departed from duty, the movie is left mainly to its own devices and past performance to draw in audiences. It's certainly up to par in terms of its technical presentation, and the new voice cast handles the duty well enough, capturing at least the spirit of the original voices and never fundamentally betraying the essence of the characters audiences have come to love.

Open Season: Scared Silly Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Open Season: Scared Silly offers the typically rock-solid large studio animation presentation. Sony's 1080p transfer is excellent, even as the source animation is clearly a step behind the larger budgeted genre behemoths. Detail is terrific. Animal close-ups reveal tangible, tactile fur that's individually detailed. Clothing textures, where applicable -- such as Mr. Weenie's blue sweater -- present with well defined lines and animated fabric textures. Tree trunks, rocks, terrain, and close-ups of leaves and vegetation reveal more than satisfying detail. Shaw's face is home to pinpoint, countable beard stubbles. Background trees tend to lack more than cursory definition, but that can be traced back to the source and the filmmakers apparent prioritization of vitality and definition to critical foreground detailing instead. Colors are robust and pleasing, lacking nuanced diversity but capturing broader shades with ease, whether animal fur coats, Shaw's hunter clothing, green vegetation, and smaller accents, like digital cameras and logos on support character T-shits. Darker scenes hold good black levels. Banding, aliasing, and other artifacts are never a concern. This is a very enjoyable presentation from start to finish and in all areas of concern.

Open Season: Scared Silly Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Open Season: Scared Silly's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack is scary good. The track makes regular use of the entire stage as sounds maneuver from one speaker to the next with aggression and precision, resulting in some of the better sound imaging to come out of an animated film, particularly of the direct-to-video variety. A pickup truck zips across the listening area. Characters run around from one speaker to another. It's a very entertaining track and its ability to mimic on-screen movement is sublime. Wider dispersal effects impress, too. Lightning strikes with vigor and thunder cracks and rolls about with a wide and immersive sound diffusion. Light atmospheric supports -- the sounds of nature -- could stand a minor boost in presence, but they're nevertheless present and accounted for. More specific, front-and-cetner action bits, like crashes and other examples of action mayhem, are solidly reproduced and play with positive vitality and weight. Musical delivery is wide and clear. Dialogue enjoys natural center placement and faultless prioritization. This is a very good track from Sony that kids and adults alike should enjoy.

Open Season: Scared Silly Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Open Season: Scared Silly contains a commentary and several featurettes. A DVD copy of the film and a UV digital copy code are included with purchase.

• Audio Commentary: Director David Feiss and Writer Carlos Kotkin share some insight into the movie, including old ideas that made it in, previous work with the franchise, recreating the characters while remaining faithful to the original appearance, the voice cast, technical details of the animation process, and much more.
• Bloopers and Outtakes (1080p, 1:23): Pre-manufactured funny moments from the "shoot."
• Stepping Into the Spotlight: Mr. Weenie's Process (1080p, 3:21): The Dachshund discusses how he gets into character.
• Scaredy Pants: The Fears of Open Season: Scared Silly (1080p, 4:26): A quick run-through of each character's personal fears.
• Open Season Super Speedy Recap (1080p, 4:50): A rapid run-through of the series' story and highlights.
• Director Profile: David Feiss (1080p, 6:28): The movie's director discusses his early love for animation and filmmaking and how his work has evolved through the years, including his career in the animation industry leading up to directing Open Season: Scared Silly.
• Previews (1080p): Additional Sony titles.

Open Season: Scared Silly Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Open Season: Scared Silly is a bit overlong and the franchise is growing a little weary since its fun debut back in 2006, but there's still enough enthusiasm, cuteness, and woodland adventure to keep it performing well enough to warrant another entry. Sony's Blu-ray release of Open Season: Scared Silly delivers clear and colorful video and high performance audio. A nice assortment of extra content, including a filmmaker commentary, is included. Recommended.