ironhorse_iv
Yes, it's a yabba-dabba-dumb dumb movie, but it's a fun film. I kinda like this rock and a hard place movie. It's not as bad, as some people may think. It's somewhat underrated. Directed by Brian Levant, this live action adaptation of the 1960s animated television series of the same name tells the story of Fred Flintstone, a stone-age family man living in the town of Bedrock. Each week, Fred pursue several ill-fated schemes in order to get rich, often getting in trouble. The film follows a similar plot line in which, Fred Flintstone played by John Goodman venture into yet another scheme; this time run by the villainous, executive vice-president of Slate & Co, Cliff Vandercave (Kyle MacLachlan). Only to find out that this 'get rich' plan, might cost him, his friendship with long-time, buddy, Barney Rubble (Rick Moranis). Without spoiling the movie, too much, like the show, it's highly parodying the 1950 show, 'the Honeymooners', while also having clever juxtaposition of the modern day with a Stone Age flair. It's the main reason for this movie's charm. As adaptations go, this is probably one of the most faithful you can find of a source material. Of course, it also helped that the creators, William Hanna and Joseph Barbera were supervising the whole project as executive producers. One of the reasons, Brian Levant was selected as the director was because he was a huge fan of the animation series and it shows in how much work and love, Levant and his crew provided. Everything prop, costume and set in this film, looks and feels like it was from the animation series. It was amazing! Added to that, the visual effects for Dino, Dictabird, and the other prehistoric creatures were great! Jim Henson's Creature Shop did a hell of a job! Even most of the casting match so well to the original series. Reportedly, this version would not have been made if John Goodman had turned down the role. He was awesome. Rick Moranis also, work well as Fred's friend, Barney. I really do buy their friendship. Elizabeth Perkins was astonishing as Fred's wife, Wilma. Not only, was she beautiful, but she was able to show Wilma's signature sass. I like the conflict, she has with Halle Berry's Miss Stone. Berry was sexy, and on fire with this role. Yet, how iconic would it, be if Sharon Stone was to play the character with her namesake character. It would had been great. Anyways, however, not everybody was great in this film. Rosie O'Donnell is a great example. She really fails to live up to the role as Barney's wife, Betty, even with her mastering the character's signature giggle. The reasons for that, is that she doesn't show any other mannerisms, besides Betty looking worry and caring for her husband. Where was Betty's attitude!? Honestly, the original choice of Janine Turner would had been better! Another distracting role in the film, had to be Elizabeth Taylor as Wilma's mother, Pearl Slaghoople in her last theatrical appearance. She looks nothing like the original character. If anything, she was just rehashing a role, similar to 1962's 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'. In my opinion, I would rather see, Audrey Meadows, as she was wonderful, in her deadpan delivery as housewife Alice Kramden on the 'the Honeymooners'. Plus, it would be a clever way to ease fans into seeing this film. Yet, there were some fans that criticized this film for its adult-driven storyline, which they deemed too mature for family audiences. In my opinion, those critics are all wrong. It's so faithful to the original, which also had references to sex, plus on screen drinking and smoking. The show was popular, because of its adult-driven humor. The first two seasons of the show were kinda notorious for it. Look at those old Winston Cigarettes commercial to get what, I'm talking about. Anyways, the show turn more, family-friendly by the third season when the baby, Pebbles is introduced & the ratings start to drop. If anything, the adult storyline save this movie from being boring. As a kid of the 1990s, the embezzlement plot wasn't too complex, not to figure out. I think, our children are smarter than we take them, for. At least, the plot is better than the original plot that seem to be a weird version of 1940's 'The Grapes of Wrath'. That really sounds depressing. Yet, there were some plot-holes in the story that I didn't like, such as the inconsistencies of Barney's kid, strength and the villains wanted an idiot to run the company to the ground, by hiring the smartest person for the job with an aptitude test. It just doesn't make any sense like the saber-toothed tiger that somehow is in the show's credits, but never in the show. Anyways, I have to say, this movie deserve more credit. It's not the worst out there. If anything, the 2000's prequel, 'The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas' is far more unwatchable. Unlike its predecessor, it failed at the box office, which this film didn't. In the end, give the 1994 version, another look. It's deserve it.
Neil Welch
Fred Flintstone is promoted to vice-president in order to serve as an unwitting patsy for a fraud, and it costs him his lifelong friendship with Barney Rubble.This film exists in order to bring to life all the anachronistic gags from the TV series, and it does this very well - the iconic title sequences, in particular, are recreated with loving accuracy. Of course, a film needs rather than that in order to sustain 2 hours' running time, and here we have a story of corporate skulduggery with a subtext about the value of friendship. It is perfectly adequate as a basis for the visuals.Because Bedrock is just about perfectly realised, and the casting is very nearly spot-on, too - only Rosie O'Donnell comes across as a little too brash and robust for Betty. The playing is broad, but it needs to be.This is a fun family film, but it will mean rather more to those who grew up with the TV cartoon series.
fedor8
Alright, I admit it: the only reason I watched this merchandise-selling spielbergian fluff was to trash it here afterwards. Guilty as charged. (And not the first time, either.) I remember well the mega-hype, the incessant advertising surrounding this crap 20 years ago, and knew (as any sane person did) that this celluloid junk wasn't to be considered even as a potential time-waster on the dullest rainy afternoon.Did I have ANY hopes at all that this garbage based on a mediocre kiddy cartoon could possibly surprise me? Of course not. Any movie that expects us to laugh at or with Rosie O'Donnell and Liz Taylor (ironically, the only genuine-looking large lizards) is doomed from the start. Not to mention that even as a kid I'd considered nearly all Hanna-Barbera cartoons as vastly inferior to Disney, Warner Brothers, MGM and others.In a sense, though, the movie was better than I'd expected: I'd foreseen giving a 0/10 film but ended up dishing out a generous 1/10 rating instead. Naturally, this is only due to IMDb's rating system. IMDb is to blame that I can't allocate the appropriate number to this utterly useless pile of "comedic" debris. Normally I'm quite content with the 1 as the lowest rating – given that even a 3 signifies horse-manure - but I can't get rid of this ugly feeling of insulting all the 1-rated movies by giving this bull-manure a number larger than Nirvana.TF is fascinating though. It is absolutely fascinating how a bunch of Hollywood dummies managed to get together and get EVERYTHING wrong. (Not that any film-maker could have made a good live-action movie out of the "The Flintstones"; this was CLEARLY mission impossible.) No aspect of this embarrassing "comedy" had not been brought down to the level of a school play: from the mostly abysmal casting to the grotesque/ugly (as opposed to cute) creatures to the unsuitable story-line to the cringe-worthy Porky's-level "humour"; this mega-turkey flops on every conceivable level."Supply and demand… corporate embezzlement… street protests…" Did I dream it? How many kids understand these terms? There is even a lynch mob scene, complete with a noose: is this the stuff of family pictures? I admit that my last viewing of the TV show was back when I was around 8, but I don't recall any episodes in which Wall Street terminology was being thrown around. Clearly, some money-obsessed Hollywood yuppie must have written this script, completely neglecting to consider themes and topics that kids are interested in and familiar with. Even the B-grade writers who concocted all those inferior stories in the overrated TV original knew better than to make corporate fraud the central premise of a dumb lowest-common-denominator caveman comedy. That Spielberg would actually OK this plot – plus the totally irrational casting of Rosie as Betty – speaks volumes about what an overrated film-maker he is.Then again, TF isn't really a family picture. Usage of the term "family picture" presupposes that adults can enjoy the movie as well as kids. Speaking of which, TF isn't for kids either; I doubt there are many 5 year-olds daft enough to laugh at this uninspired collection of bargain-basement "gags". No; even they are too old for this crap. The only demographic group that might be suitable for this garbage is infants. They fulfill all the criteria: 1) their brains are light-years from being on par even with Sean Penn; 2) they haven't yet opened their eyes which spares them the badness of the visual "gags" – especially the incessant mugging; 3) they don't yet understand English which spares them the anguish of hearing and understanding all the awful dialog. Infants are almost ideally suited as an audience for trash such as this.The only way this forgettable franchise could have been transplanted onto the big screen with any measure of non-badness would have been to do it as an absurdist comedy in the ZAZ vein. Even then it would have been a tall order, even for the best writers, to make it work. But for the WORST Hollywood writers this was a ridiculously impossible task. Nevertheless, this pile of chicken droppings managed to rake in tons of money at the box-office, reminding us that idiocracy didn't start in this century.As of this writing, I've seen around 800 comedies. I wouldn't hesitate for a second to rank this malarkey in the Top 10 of the Worst Hollywood Comedies Ever Made. Rosie & co make Adam Sandler look like Chaplin. Even Jack Black fumbling about in a wrestling ring becomes high art next to John Goodman going "ya-ba-dubba-doo".
