The Flintstones (1994)

This pleasant, lightweight live-action version of the popular cartoon is about as good as you might expect. The kids should love the broad humor and the Henson Studios creatures, but like The Addams Family movies, the look and the cast are the best things going for it. Considering that the nature of the material is so sparse, the thinly plotted story works better than other TV-to-movie fare. Our fabulous Stone Age man is promoted per a calculated move by a scheming exec (Kyle MacLachlan, whose casting ensured at least one cute guy). As a comedy, the humor is one-note and flat for anyone older than 12. The special-effects creatures look wondrous, though not as seamless as in other movies, such as in Roger Rabbit. The most joyous moments come during the full-scale re-creations of the famous credits. The Flinstones provided a major launching pad for Halle Berry as a vamping secretary. --Doug Thomas Amazon.com

Yabba Dabb doooooo

A decently recreated cartoon comes to life with Elizabeth Perkins and John Goodman. The rest of the actors were great in their parts too. I didn't care for Halle Barry's seductive character as who thinks of Fred cheating on Wilma? Other than that the story is cute and even brings a moral point in the end.....Family and Friends before fame and fortune!

Fred is set up to take the fall for the quarry's embezzlement. May 7, 2008

The stone age family of the 1990's

Flintstones! Meet the Flintstones! They're the modern stone-age family. From the town of Bedrock,they're a place right out of history! Many people remember the 1960-66 ABC animated sitcom created by the late William Hanna and the late Joseph Barbera. It was an all-color series,despite its 1960 premiere. Well,back then color was already common for animation but not yet for live action. Director Brian Levant(PROBLEM CHILD 2,BEETHOVEN) brings Flintstones fans live action of the stone-age family. John Goodman("Roseanne",KING RALPH,THE BABE) is Fred Flintstone,the family patriarch who is employed by Quarry Construction. Elizabeth Perkins(ABOUT LAST NIGHT,BIG,HE SAID SHE SAID) is Fred's homemaker wife Wilma. Fred and Wilma are best friends of their neighbors Barney(Rick Moranis,GHOSTBUSTERS 1 & 2,MY BLUE HEAVEN,BIG BULLY) and Betty(Rosie O'Donnell,"The View",A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN) Rubble. Like on the sitcom,the characters are dressed in long tops,dresses and are at least often,barefoot. Saturday Night Live veteran Laraine Newman has a cameo as news reporter Susan Rock. Levant remembered Newman from their working together in PC2,which is a Univeral property as are BEETHOVEN and this film. Levant even worked as a director for the FOX sitcom MARRIED...WITH CHILDREN. None of the cast returned for the 2000 sequel THE FLINTSTONES IN VIVA ROCK VEGAS. Different actors were elected to portray the four principal characters. The Flintstones were so immensely popular that they were incorporated into childrens' chewable vitamins and Post breakfast cereals(Fruity and Cocoa Pebbles,equivalent,in texture,to Kellogg's Rice Krispies). The Flintstones were even spun off on a Saturday morning cartoon show for a few years(Fred Flintstone and Friends). I remember over two decades ago,the Pizza Hut chain gave away Flintstones drinking glasses with any purchase of their menu items. Each glass featured one of the four principal characters. January 16, 2008

Don't be fooled by this .....

Okay, this was an okay. John Goodman and Elizbeth Perkins are great as Fred and Wilma. The producers couldn't of picked a choice. Rick Moranis was terrific as Barney Rubble. He hasn't lost his comedic touch. Even Hally Berry was good as the seductive, Ms. Rosetta Stone. However, once again Rosie O'Donnell just didn't cut it as Betty Rubble. Her preformance in this film was just not as good, as it could be. Which is a shame, cause this could of been a great film. April 24, 2007

Love Rosie O'Donnell

Rosie O'Donnell is Great in this movie. I Love her character in the movie.
February 9, 2007

Yabba Dabba DON'T!

I recently watched The Flintstones, a stone-studded masterpiece from 1994 and, though I can't say I was necessarily surprised by the execution, (I choose my words carefully) of the film, I was interested in the decision to even make such an ill-fated concept of a live action feature.

I mean are we, as the audience, truly to believe that John Goodman (no chiseled features here), Rick Moranis, Elizabeth Perkins and Rosie O'Donnell, are actually Fred, Barney, Wilma and Betty? Apparently the makers of Hollyrock's latest White Mastodon would have you suspend your disbelief in this regard. Goodman plays Fred more like Jackie Gleason's Ralph Kramden, on which the character of Fred Flintstone was obviously based. How's that for convoluted logic? Elizabeth Perkins walks through the role of Wilma with less affect than one of the animals in their animated appliances, ("It's a living"). Lost in her interpretation is the familiar read headed, alabaster skinned beauty with "eyes as black.........as frying pans?". And what about Betty? No offense to Ms. O'Donnell, who does an admirable job as Mrs. Rubble, (giggle and all) but is a far cry from the delightful "Betty Jean McBricker" we all love and who Wayne and Garth rated one of the top 10 babes of all time, ("Schwing!"). Rick Moranis mugs the camera shamelessly, cocking his mouth to one side in a desperate attempt to echo the graphic overbite of the original Barney Rubble, and to no avail. Alas, try as he might, Moranis never overcame the fact that his own human eyes have pupils. I won't even go into the supporting characters but, as I watched I felt somewhat embarrassed for the entire cast. I don't blame them. I just don't think that human beings should ever be required to emulate cartoon characters. It's not fair. Cartoons can convincingly do what live action can not.

And incidentally, if you're looking for a plot line, this one is a little on the boney side. Basically the gags are all hung on the very simple story structure of Fred being promoted to executive stature at the gravel pit, presumably because of his ineptitude, (sometimes art really does imitate life). He is then framed in an embezzlement scheme and somehow invents concrete which changes the course of human history. The end.

As far as the The Flintstones goes, those who loved the '60s T.V. program will probably be left stone cold by the movie. Gone is any of the character and warmth of the original series, (though, personally I feel it's been gone in the animation for many years). Alan Reed, Jean VanderPyl, Mel Blanc and Bea Benaderet were "The Flintstones". There was a natural quality in their early performances that made the characters believable. This, combined with the design, timing, writing, music and style of the show is what made "The Flintstones" so immensely popular in it's first run. There was a comfortable unself-consciousness about the program that made it a genuine piece of Americana and a joy to watch over and over again. The movie , however, is about as self conscious as you can get with it's forced performances, cloying gags and practically extinct stone-age puns relentlessly coming at you like hurled boulders that hit you right between the eyes and then just lay there.

Sigh, Hollyrock. They just don't get it, do they? August 14, 2006

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