Movie Review: Hoot

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 to 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.

For good intentions but muddled execution... 3 out of 5 stars

***

Lynn Barker is a Hollywood-based entertainment journalist and produced screenwriter.