SummaryA rock solid cast breathes comic life into Fred Flintstone and his friends' hilarious attempts to make it in a barely civilized world. (Universal Studios)
SummaryA rock solid cast breathes comic life into Fred Flintstone and his friends' hilarious attempts to make it in a barely civilized world. (Universal Studios)
And while more than 30 writers worked on the screenplay and untold numbers labored to re-create the ambiance and effects that the animators once tossed off with a few squiggles of their pencils, The Flintstones doesn't feel overcalculated, over-produced or overthought.
The greatest lost opportunity in The Flintstones is that its writers (more than 30) are so faithful to the 60's television series that they failed to add enough updated pop-culture references. The few included are among the film's best jokes.
You'll find it very hard to find a live-action movie rendition of an animated series that does a better job of capturing the feeling of the cartoon that this movie manages to contain! The set locations, props, special effects, and miscellaneous tools used within the movie all look like vintage stone age high tech, the plot is grade-A and is carried out magnificently by the actors and actresses picked to portray the Modern Stone Age Family. John Goodman is the heart of soul of all that Fred Flintstone is; Elizabeth Perkins is perfect as the red-haired hot wife Wilma who takes no nonsense no matter what Fred tries to tell her otherwise, Rick Moranis does a superb job of acting as the well-meaning, but often trouble-making neighbor that is Barney Rubble; Rosie O'Donnell is great as the warm and caring Betty Rubble who wants to be a loving mother to her adopted child; Elizabeth Taylor has rarely ever been better than in her last big-budget movie appearance ever, as Fred's insufferable Mother-In-Law, Pearl; Kyle Maclachlan plays the role of a scheming, greedy tycoon named Cliff Vandercave; while Halle Berry is the charming, seductive accomplice named Sharon Stone; Harvey Korman provides hilarious voice-work as the Dicta-bird who tries to provide advice to Fred Flintstone, Johnathan Winters has a surprising bit part as an out-of work Rock Quarry worker, and original cartoon series alums William Hanna, Jean Vanderpyl, and Joseph Barbera (sometimes omitted) even make cameo appearances! If you want to have a Yabba-Dabba-Doo time watching a big, live-action movie version of a cartoon series, than this is the movie to watch! Fun for children and adults of all ages! :D Enough said, true believers! ;)
don't listen to the critics. I had a yabba yabba doo time watching this awesome compared movie to the animated TV series. the four actors who played the Flintstones and the Rubbles were great!
After lightly going through the motions of a plot, it all ends up in the quarry, where assorted machinery provides the excuse for a parade of slapstick gags and amusement park-like predicaments that seem mostly lumbering.
They're admirable attempts to update the old cartoon's broad social satire and add some depth to these characters, but they're played too gravely (gravelly?) to work in this wild world, and they don't prompt the same silly satisfaction that the show did.
The "stone"-shtick gets mighty old after about 15 minutes. More than 30 screenwriters worked on the Flintstones script, and the result just proves the ancient saying about too many cooks.
Considering the 32 writers (including Tom S. Parker, Jim Jennewein, and Steven E. de Souza) who worked on this live-action adaptation of the 60s Hanna-Barbera cartoon series about a Stone Age family, one might have expected a few funny lines here and there, but this is mirthless (and worthless) from top to bottom.
This was a very enjoyable film and a good parody of the TV series, very similar to what the Brady Bunch films did. All four actors chosen for Fred, Wilma, Barney & Betty were spot on and portray them perfectly! It's corny with cheese on top but in the right way as this is exactly what the film needed. The film set also looked just amazing! A little predictable, sure, but fans of the series will be right at home here as they stay very true to them to give us a very enjoyable movie
I liked this movie. Yes, the plot is predictable and weak, and in some cases over-familiar. Yes, the script is a bit weak in places. Yes, it is a little lacklustre, and doesn't quite capture the feel good nature of the show. But it is far from the worst movie ever. I really don't know what people were thinking when they gave this film such a low rating. Some of the worst movies I've ever seen, are Home Alone 4, Thomas and the Magic Railroad, Cat in the Hat, Disaster Movie, Epic Movie, Pokemon the First Movie and Batman and Robin, but this film doesn't deserve to belong to this category. On the most part, due to the enthusiastic performances of the cast, it was quite entertaining. John Goodman was born to play Fred. He looks the part, and put a lot of much-needed enthusiasm into the role. Rick Moranis is fine as Barney, very like what I imagine him. The prequel is probably better, but Mark Addy and Stephen Baldwin don't quite fit the bill as Goodman and Moranis. I also liked Elizabeth Perkins and Rosie O'Donnell as Wilma and Betty. As the villains, Kyle McLachan and Halle Berry play their clichéd characters more than adequately. I do miss Elizabeth Taylor when she was pretty, but she was game as Wilma's mother, though not quite in the same league as Joan Collins in the prequel. The sets and costumes are spot on, and the design of Dino was superb. All in all, I liked this movie, it's not perfect, but it is far from the worst movie I have ever seen. 6/10 Bethany Cox.
This one was one of the hardest movies we had to talk about. Every time we tried to break down the plot of this movie we found ourselves derailing into completely unrelated nonsense. Got some great jokes out of it though. Listen to our podcast here to find out how we made The Flintstones Better: ****/opinionatethis/ep-59-make-it-better-the-flintstones-1994