TV Guy
11-04-2001, 09:51 PM
Anyone watch this new movie on Cartoon Network? It was a highly stylized approach to "The Flintstones", done by the same guy who does "Dexter's Laboratory". I liked how they paid tribute to the early "Flintstones" episodes, with the music, the sound effects, and the more minimalist artwork than done in the later spinoffs. Various versions of the original theme, "Rise and Shine" were snuck in throughout the movie.
There was obviously an effort to take the voices in a different direction. Although the original cast has passed on, some of their replacements have been doing the voices for as long as twenty years. Wilma was played by Tress MacNeille of "The Simpsons". She did an OK job, probably a little too nasal. The new voice for Betty tried to imitate the original Betty, Bea Benederet, more than any of her many replacements. I don't remember Betty having a Brooklyn accent before, though. The actor doing Barney was clearly trying to imitate the way Barney sounded in the first-season episodes of the original series.
The real standout was Jeff Bergman as Fred. He did a flawless recreation of the original Fred, Alan Reed. Much better than Henry Corden, who played Fred in the many sequels and spinoffs (and Fruity Pebbles commercials). Doesn't surprise me, though. Bergman was the first successor to Mel Blanc as the Looney Tunes voices, and nailed pretty much all of them (with the notable exception of Bugs). It was so great to hear Fred sound like himself again.
The plot seemed a little too simple to be sustained for 90 minutes. But I think the plot was supposed to take backseat to the characterizations. I didn't care for how extreme the characters of Fred and Wilma were here -- Fred was more boorish, and Wilma more shrewish, than usual. Once again, this seemed intentional in the stylized environment.
Altogether, I thought it was an interesting experiment, certainly more creative than some of the specials done in the 90s.
There was obviously an effort to take the voices in a different direction. Although the original cast has passed on, some of their replacements have been doing the voices for as long as twenty years. Wilma was played by Tress MacNeille of "The Simpsons". She did an OK job, probably a little too nasal. The new voice for Betty tried to imitate the original Betty, Bea Benederet, more than any of her many replacements. I don't remember Betty having a Brooklyn accent before, though. The actor doing Barney was clearly trying to imitate the way Barney sounded in the first-season episodes of the original series.
The real standout was Jeff Bergman as Fred. He did a flawless recreation of the original Fred, Alan Reed. Much better than Henry Corden, who played Fred in the many sequels and spinoffs (and Fruity Pebbles commercials). Doesn't surprise me, though. Bergman was the first successor to Mel Blanc as the Looney Tunes voices, and nailed pretty much all of them (with the notable exception of Bugs). It was so great to hear Fred sound like himself again.
The plot seemed a little too simple to be sustained for 90 minutes. But I think the plot was supposed to take backseat to the characterizations. I didn't care for how extreme the characters of Fred and Wilma were here -- Fred was more boorish, and Wilma more shrewish, than usual. Once again, this seemed intentional in the stylized environment.
Altogether, I thought it was an interesting experiment, certainly more creative than some of the specials done in the 90s.