Post by Brie-Larson-Fan on Jun 29, 2006 18:23:32 GMT
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The New Kid in Town Fights to Save an Endangered Species in 'Hoot'
By DANA STEVENS
Published: May 5, 2006
Roy Eberhardt (Logan Lerman, who played Bobby on the WB series "Jack and Bobby") is the only child in a family that's constantly relocating for his father's work. At 14 he's once again the new kid, this time in the tiny Florida beach town of Coconut Cove. While ducking the school bully (Eric Phillips), Roy spots a mysterious barefoot boy (Cody Linley) who appears to be living on his own in the woods. With the reluctant help of the school's soccer star, Beatrice (Brie Larson), Roy makes the acquaintance of this wild child.
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When the three of them discover that a construction site is threatening the habitat of an endangered species of owls, they set out to sabotage the building project, incurring the wrath of a national restaurant chain and baffling a clueless local cop named Officer Delinko (Luke Wilson).
This sweet-natured but plodding adaptation of a young-adult novel by Carl Hiaasen could have used a little less broad satire of corporate greed and a few more, well, owls. The critters peep from their burrows for only a few brief moments, whetting the young audience's appetite for a nature film that never emerges.
What "Hoot" does get right is locale. The director Wil Shriner, a Florida native, captures the laid-back mood of a Gulf Coast beach town, the kind of place where a middle-school science teacher (the musician Jimmy Buffett, who also produced the film) wears shorts so he can go surfing after school, and dismisses class with the word "mañana."
"Hoot" is rated PG for what the press notes call "mild bullying and brief language." This objectionable content must be mild and brief indeed, because it passed this reviewer by entirely.
Hoot
Opens today nationwide.
Directed by Wil Shriner; written by Mr. Shriner, based on the book by Carl Hiaasen; director of photography, Michael Chapman; edited by Alan Edward Bell; music by Jimmy Buffett, Phil Marshall, Michael Utley and Mac McAnally; production designer, Stephen J. Lineweaver; produced by Frank Marshall and Mr. Buffett; released by New Line Cinema. Running time: 90 minutes.
WITH: Luke Wilson (Officer David Delinko), Logan Lerman (Roy Eberhardt), Brie Larson (Beatrice Leep), Tim Blake Nelson (Curly Branitt), Cody Linley (Mullet Fingers), Neil Flynn (Mr. Eberhardt), Clark Gregg (Chuck Muckle), Kiersten Warren (Mrs. Eberhardt), Jessica Cauffiel (Mother Paula/Kimberly), Dean Collins (Garrett), Eric Phillips (Dana Matherson), Jimmy Buffett (Mr. Ryan) and Robert Wagner (Mayor Grandy).
