The Flintstones 1994 Film Review

Before Scooby-Doo had a somewhat successful live action movie but after The Flintstones had an animated movie called The Man Called Flintstone. They got a live action adaptation that is actually more popular then the animated movie is with it being this film very film that i'm going to be talking to you all about today as while the world ha forgotten all about The Flintstones those that grew up with both the show and the movie never will and so then join me as I review the film that proves that if you hire a fan to make something that there a fan off then you will end up with a good movie with the film in question being called simply just "The Flintstones" enjoy.

The plot of this film is when he is chosen to eb an executive at work Fred Flintstone finds himself at the centre of a scheme to steal all of his bosses money and has to find away out of it and catch the culprit before he ends up in jail. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt tat the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad. The films plot is one that whilst it is cinematic enough to be the plot of a feature film it's also not really something that you'd want to be the plot of a feature film version of The Flintstones as while yes the show did indeed start out as an adult cartoon with slightly mature plots this film is clearly an adaptation of the show after the kids were introduced and that era of the show was typically more child friendly and kids aren't going to be interested in a plot that involves Fred's work place rather there going to be interested in a plot that might see the characters take on a threat that they couldn't do in the show whilst also retaining the feeling that this is still a Flintstones movie. This is not to say that this films plot is bad of course because it's not however tho it is a plot that would have bee better suited or being the plot of another movie or this movie if the makers of this film got rid of the kids and had it be more based on the era where the show was targeted more towards the family with the plot of this film also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Starring in this film is John Goodman as Fred Flintstone , Rick Moranis as Barney Rubble and Elizabeth Perkins as Wilma Flintstone. Also starring in this film is Rosie O'Donnell as Betty Rubble , Kyle MacLachlan as Cliff Vandercave , Halle Berry as Miss Sharon Stone , Elizabeth Taylor as Pearl Slaghoople , Mel Blanc as The Voice Of Dino , Elaine Silver as Pebbles Flintstone , Melanie Silver as Pebbles Flintstone , Hlynur Sigurðsson as Bamm-Bamm Rubble , Marinó Sigurðsson as Bamm-Bamm Rubble , Dann Florek as Mr. Slate , Richard Moll as Hoagie , Irwin Keyes as Joe Rockhead , Jim Doughan as The Maitre d' , Harvey Korman as The Voice Of Dictabird , Jonathan Winters as The Grizzled Man , Jack O'Halloran as The Yeti , The B-52's as The BC-52's , Jean Vander Pyl as Mrs. Feldspar , Laraine Newman as Susan Rock , Sheryl Lee Ralph as Mrs. Pyrite , Jay Leno as The Host Of Bedrock's Most Wanted , one of this films executive producers William Hanna as A Boardroom Executive , one of this films executive producers Joseph Barbera as A Man Driving A Mersandes , Sam Raimi as Cliff Vandercave Look-alike , Alan Blumenfeld as Fred Flintstone Look-alike , Messiri Freeman as Miss Stone Look-alike and voice acting legend Elizabeth Daily as The Voice Of Bamm-Bamm Rubble.

Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt tat the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty very mixed. With the acting from some actors like for example John Goodman being really good and from others like for example the actors playing both Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm being understandably pretty bad as you can't expect a kid actor to be good and yet this film has two of them yet the one thing this films does have going for it is that all but one of the characters feel perfectly cast with of course that one exception being Rosie O'Donnell as she looks nothing like Betty with her only getting the role because of the fact that she could do Betty's famous laugh and that's it that is not to say that she's bad in the role because she's not but she's also not who you think of when you think of Betty Rubble either. With the best actor in the whole entire film being John Goodman as he is not only perfectly cast as Fred Flintstone so much so that when he refused to do a sequel film they had to change plans and turn it into a prequel heck even tho Mark Addy made for a passable Fred in The Flintstones In Viva Rock Vegas no one is going to top what John Goodman did with the character when it comes to live action versions as he made what could have been a really unlikable character in the third act seem human just by showing him crying. With the acting that's in this film not really being helped by the fact that this films script is just so bad as it gives none of this films anything to work with interms of what it is that there actual characters personalities are even meant to be in the first place which is something that really does harm the overall quality of the acting that's in this very film.

Doing the CGI for this film is the legends and the greats that are currently over at Industrial Light & Magic and Available Light Productions. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt tat the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad. The fact that this films CGI is as passable as it is something that's not really the fault of the makers of this film as they can only work with what's available to them at the time and the fact is the technology that we have interms of of CGI today just wasn't there in 1993 therefor the makers of this film did have to make the best use that they possibly could have done given the technology that was available at the time of production. This does leave with a background in the Bedrock establishing shot that does look both good and also a little bit to fake as well as it looks just like any other place which fair enough is always the joke with the show but at the same time tho there should have been some more realism added to that affect to make it bend in more with the foreground as that is something that would make us the audience buy into this world alot more. With Dino the makers of this film went with the best possible approach that they could have done as for alot of the shots that the character appears in he's a practical effect that was done by Jim Henson's Creature Shop which is something that looks really good as it was there on on the day however there are some shots where the character is forced to go full on CGI and that is something that can be very hit and miss as there are some shots where the character does look good like for example the film does do this sweet shot where we see Dino go from a puppet to full CGI and that effect does work but then there are shots later on in the film where it felt like they were running out of time and therefor they just turned out the first pass of the character. 

This film does actually give us a pretty good representation of what the latter era of the show was like as while the show did indeed start of as being alot more adult as it was targeted towards the whole family. By the time season 4 had rolled around not only had the show ditched it's original intro and theme song for the more well known "Meet The Flintstones" in season 3 they had introduced Pebbles and in season 4 they introduce Bamm-Bamm with the show becoming more geared towards kids and while it is understandable that this film would adapt more things from that era of the show as that is where we got the more iconic elements of the show it still would have been nice to see them take on a more family friendly tone. With this being something that would have helped with the films plot as kids don't care about what Fred gets up to at work but the adults will and to the films credit it does know when to give us a nudge and wink towards the show and when to be it's thing and heck even the first scene with Fred and Barney has them dancing to "The Bedrock Twitch" which was a song from an episode of the show and it is a deep cut thing as not alot of people would have picked up on that and heck several times in the films score you can hear the original shows intro theme "Rise And Shine" which again is not something that kids are going to notice but it is something that the fans would have noticed and that is this films director Brian Levant was the right person to make this film as he is a big Flintstones fan and therefor he would know what things the fans of this show would want to see in this film with him giving the truest Flintstones expirence that you possibly could do in a live action film format.

While this film is not a good movie by any means that doesn't mean that it's a bad film as it does get alot of things right. With one of those thing being the fact that the film oddly enough has alot of heart and that is something that alot of the people who talk about this movie fail to mention as we do get scenes all throughout the film where Fred does show us that he is a kind hearted person deep down and while those scenes early on in the film are of course there to contrast with the fact that he acts selfish in the films third act there is one thing that even in the films third act makes him likable and that's the fact that during the big blow up with Wilma and the Rubbles when Betty and Barney leave the camera cuts to Fred lifting up his newspaper and we can see in his eyes that he is deeply sorry for how he's been acting but he either doesn't now how to make it up to them or due to the fact that Wilma does come back in pretty much right he can't make it up to them. With the other part of that scene also showing us that he still does love Wilma as when she then leaves he then almost tearfully but quietly begs her to come back these are things that wouldn't be in this part of the film if the makers of this film really wanted us to hate this character and yet it's because of the fact that they are in the film that the film does have a lot of heart as we the audience know that it's not Fred's fault for him acting like this as he's had all of this money quite literally thrown at him. There are more examples of this as well like with Barney's subplot as the film has a subplot with him just wanting Bamm-Bamm to call him Dada which yes is played for laughs but how it pays of does make it sweet moment between the two just to be clear these moments don't make the film great as it's far from that but they are things that should be discussed when talking about this film.

For one reason the makers of this film thought that this is the kind of film that really needed a villain which is something we got in Cliff Vandercave. As while the character is a decent character the film makes it far to obvious that he's a villain with the first scene of the film being with him and his side kick Miss Sharon Stone telling us the audience just what there main plan is for the film which OK fair enough is a solid enough way to get that information across to kids it does also rob us the audience the chance to find out if he is a villain or not as this film would have been that much if until the third act we were constantly questioning if Cliff was a villain or not or if he was just a good guy only to then have it be revealed that yes both of them aren't good guys. Heck Cliff's plan doesn't even make sense as it requires them to get the smartest person at the quarry when that same person would also be able to catch on to what there doing therefor wouldn't make more sense for them to go looking for the dumbest person as then they can control what it is there doing alot more better with the best part being either way you wouldn't need to change the fact that it's Fred that gets picked as one way Barney doesn't switch the results and Fred still gets picked because he's the dumbest person here and yet with the way that they go with in the film Fred still gets picked therefor nothing would need to be changed plot wise and be going with the dumbest person instead of the smartest Cliff could then pretend to Fred and Barney was the dumbest person there and still have him be fired. However that is the least of that characters issues as while The Man From Flintstone did have a main villain there was really no need for this film to have one as this was being presented pretty much as another episode of the show and therefor a villain wasn't really needed in this film.

Now then this film has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly one hour and thirty minuets and thirty nine seconds. Which to be fair to this film is pretty much the exact grad total running time that anyone would expect a film like this one to have in the first place as this is a film that really doesn't need that long of a running time in order to tell it's story and given the fact that this film is a family comedy film it does make sense that this film would be as long as it is with the film itself even having just about the right amount of plot there to cover that amount of running time in the first place and yet even with all of this mind this film still doesn't use it's running time all that wisely as the film doesn't take the time that it needed to in order to fully develop it's plot with the film instead being more focused on giving us scenes that feel like they would be right at home in a TV show then in feature film with alot of those like for example the Rubbles and Bamm-Bamm not really being needed or at the very least they shouldn't have been in the the film for as long as they were as that eats up screen time that could have been better spent on developing the films plot. This is also something that does kind of effect the films characters as well as it does stop them from getting any kind of character development and while it could be argued that Fred does get some small amount of character development as he has clearly changed by the end of the film he's also still in the same place that he was when we first started the film and therefor hasn't grown all that much as a character with the same thing being true for all of the films characters and heck both Betty and Wilma get absolutely nothing interms of character development and there main characters in the show but I really will admit that this film really does have some really good pacing to it tho.

So now then as this is comedy that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual comedy that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual comedy that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad. While the film does have the typical rock and stone puns all over the place those are the kinds of jokes that you expect to see in anything that's do with The Flintstones therefor you do have to move past that but at the same time outside of the opening Steven SpeilRock joke which the film was so proud of that they used it in it's marketing alot of them just aren't that funny or even creative to begin with with alot of the ouns in this film just feeling forced at best and just down right unfunny at worst. With the films best joke being when Fred drunkenly comes home from a bowling night and gets into an argument with Wilma's snobbish mother with the two of them trading bars and going back and forth on giving each other insults all of which are really funny as it is something that is true to the show infact one could argue that that's when this film is not only at it's best but also when it's at it's funniest as we do get to see things from the show done in live action with alot of those things still being as funny in the film then they were in animation and while yes granted this film could have done with a few less unfunny rock and stone puns and more jokes that are actually funny that doesn't mean that this film is devoid of unfunny jokes it just means that you have to sit around lot longer to hear them but when this film does tell a funny joke it is is something that's really funny in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Overall out of this movie and it's prequel Viva Rock Vegas this is easily the better of the two movies as it is a film that does try to recapture the spirit of the show whilst also being it's own unique thing however out of this film and Scooby-Doo that it's that film is the better of the two is it is the better made film but not be much in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very film in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very film really does ern itself a grand old score of exactly a 5 out of 10 from me.

Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from IMP Awards . Com and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get images really from this very film being the really great Google Images this is really because of the fact that really all of the images that I really indeed got and really used from Google Images are all really high quality really with all of the images that really are all and of course really currently up and on the really great and the really solid Google Images really are all being really fairly high in quality and as well as them all really being fairly high in definition.