[Publicity photos of characters from this film are available on the Vortex Technology WWW server via the "Professor Neon's TV & Movie Mania" URL: "http://www.vortex.com/ProfNeon.html".] THE FLINTSTONES A review by Professor Neon May 24, 1994 Starring: John Goodman, Elizabeth Perkins, Rick Moranis, Rosie O'Donnell, Kyle MacLachlan, Halle Berry, Elizabeth Taylor Cameos by: Jonathan Winters, Laraine Newman, Jay Leno. Directed by: Brian Levant Produced by: Bruce Cohen Written by: Tom S. Parker, Jim Jennewein, and Steven E. de Souza Based on the Animated Series by: Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. Special Visual Effects by: Industrial Light & Magic (A division of Lucas Digital, Ltd.) Animatronic Creatures by: Jim Henson's Creature Shop Film Copyright 1994 by Universal Pictures, Inc. & Amblin Entertainment, Inc. "The Flintstones" and Flintstone Characters are Copyright & TM Hanna-Barbara Productions, Inc. MPAA Rated: PG Professor Neon's rating (0-10, 5=average, 10=best): 6.5 Total run time (as of 4/15/94): 92 minutes Release date: Friday, May 27, 1994 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ I came up from the Lab to view "The Flintstones" fully expecting to dislike it. Memories of "Popeye" (Robin Williams--1980) are still all too strong. Most attempts at transforming animated characters to live-action have been less than artistically successful, to say the least. After the full 92 minutes of Flintstones (longer would definitely have been too much!) I sat with my chin on my hand trying to decide how best to describe the experience. The best word I can come up with is "interesting." And indeed, I find that I did not dislike the film. In fact, I mildly enjoyed it. It's a novelty film really--and if you're into novelty movies you'll probably want to see it. Let's face it, when you go to see a live-action version of a cartoon, high drama (or even high comedy) shouldn't be what you expect. The production values of Flintstones are quite good, and ILM has done their usual state-of-the-art job with the effects. The team of ILM and Jim Henson's Creature Shop did a great job of bringing to "life" characters which were originally created only to be cartoons. "Dino" in particular is wonderful and may be a merchandising dream come true--if enough children see the film in the first place. Within the very limited confines of the Flintstones universe, performances were fine. Goodman is indeed the embodiment of Fred Flintstone, though sometimes it was difficult to be sure if he was doing Flintstone or Jackie Gleason from "The Honeymooners." But in all fairness, it's long been speculated that the entire Flintstones concept was inspired from "The Honeymooners" in the first place. Rick Moranis is a credible Barney Rubble, and Elizabeth Taylor looks good as Fred's mother-in-law (in her first film appearance in over ten years). As might be expected, the film relies heavily on sight gags, and on audience amusement at seeing the various animated devices of the cartoon show brought to life. The plot (involving Fred being framed as an embezzler, and friction between the Flintstones and the Rubbles) is of little import. The biggest potential pitfall (that's a stone quarry joke, son) for "The Flintstones" may be difficulty in finding its audience. It may be too (and I use the word with some trepidation) "sophisticated" a film for many small children. It also is probably not sufficiently sophisticated for those adults who don't appreciate its "novelty" aspects. Whether enough moviegoers fall into the right categories for "The Flintstones" to be successful is difficult to predict. Yabba-Dabba-Doo? [ Professor Neon ] --- Professor Neon's rating for "The Flintstones" (0-10, 5=average, 10=best): 6.5 --------------------------------------------- "Professor Neon's TV and Movie Mania" is a half hour audio show that features a look at a broad universe ranging from classic to current television, films, and videos, with a special emphasis on the unusual, odd, silly, strange, bizarre, cult, surreal, and weird. New editions of the show are distributed biweekly on the Internet via the Internet Multicasting Service in Washington D.C. The shows are available as audio files which can be retrieved via FTP from any of the many Internet Multicast / Internet Talk Radio archive sites around the world. Once you've retrieved the appropriate audio file, you can play it on virtually any workstation, PC, Mac, or other computer equipped with even simple audio facilities. 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