PLOT: Three kids in smalltown Florida use guerrilla tactics to save burrowing owls that are about to be bulldozed by a pancake house construction project. Taken from the children's book by Carl Hiaasen and produced by Jimmy Buffett.
Hoot -- the Jimmy Buffett-produced adaptation of Carl Hiaasen's Florida eco-kids novel -- is an example of a movie that's faithful to a book and still does it a disservice.
Dumbed-down, unimaginatively directed, and inappropriately pleasant, it takes a theme best played dark (kids turn to minor-league eco-terrorism to save an endangered animal), loses the edge and turns up the "cute."
But then, career sitcom director Wil Shriner admits he's never even heard of Roald Dahl, so he might not get that dark, ironic and/or sarcastic tones (like the ones Hiaasen adopts in his book) might be a way to go in children's entertainment.
Add a soundtrack including some of the worst Jimmy Buffett covers imaginable (I love the guy, but c'mon Werewolves Of London??!! Wonderin' Where The Lions Are?).
In Hoot, Roy (Logan Lerman) is a kid whose dad (Neil Flynn) travels a lot. Consequently, Roy is on familiar ground having to cope with being the new kid, this time in smalltown Florida. Between being pummeled on the bus repeatedly by the school bully (Dana Matherson), he notices a barefoot boy (cue Buffett and Alan Jackson's tepid version of Robert Parker's Barefootin') racing down the street and into the bush.
Roy becomes obsessed with the barefoot boy (Cody Linley), and his snooping draws the attention of yet another tough, soccer-playing girl named Beatrice (tween pop star Brie Larson). Seems Beatrice has a vested interest in keeping secret the existence of "Mullet Fingers" (as the barefoot boy is named).
MF lives on his own in a dilapidated boat in the swamp. And he's been carrying on a secret war with developers trying to construct a pancake house franchise on a plot of land that's home to burrowing owls. Outwitting the project boss Curly (Tim Blake Nelson) is easy, since he's a dolt. And staying one step ahead of the law is easy, since the officer in charge, Officer Delinko (Luke Wilson) is equally stupid.
But with a nasty multinational corporation involved, all things must come to a head.
While children do appreciate movies where all the adults are uniformly stupid, there is a kind of cleverness that needs to be applied for this to work. And there's nothing in the denouement that couldn't have happened at the very beginning, saving the kids from having to resort to vandalism and property destruction in the first place.
While Buffett isn't the world's greatest actor (he plays a tree-hugging teacher), his performance is more forgettable than egregious, consisting of one good-natured note. Meanwhile, a pained-looking Luke Wilson displays no talent for buffoonery.
The owls are adorable though.
BOTTOM LINE: Rookie director, rookie producer and a novelist's first kids book -- it's a first for everybody in a bad way. Badly acted, unimaginatively shot, dumbed down and set against some of the worst Jimmy Buffett covers imaginable (Werewolves Of London??!!), Hoot is faithful to the book plotwise, but utterly misses its edge and spirit.
(This film is rated G)
