`Open Season' tentatively follows in familiar footsteps

Sony Pictures Animation cribs bits and pieces from other studios’ hits in Open Season, a likable, loony ‘toon despite its derivative nature. In the process, the movie gives second-tier celebrities a chance to talk their ways into a moneymaker.

Martin Lawrence proves he can be amusing without the Big Momma costume, growling the lines for Boog, a grizzly bear trained by forest ranger Beth (Debra Messing) to perform for tourists.

Boog is a sweetheart despite his intimidating size, a not-too-distant cousin of Shrek or Sulley from Monsters, Inc. Domestication has its benefits — snack foods and a comfy garage where he sleeps with a teddy bear after lullabies — but leaves him unprepared for banishment to the wilderness.

That’s the fault of Elliot (Ashton Kutcher), a scrawny mule deer with the hyperactive stupidity of Donkey from Shrek. Even tourists notice that resemblance when Elliot disrupts one of Boog’s appearances. There’s nothing really offensive about making these heroes in the image of previous ones since Lawrence and Kutcher have so much fun playing with their lines. But it is evidence that either animators are running out of ideas or Sony is hedging its bets by imitating success.

Elliot gets Boog into trouble after tempting him to burglarize a convenience store and sampling shelves of treats. Beth is urged by the sheriff (Gordon Tootoosis) to return Boog to the wild before someone gets hurt. She airlifts the bear and Elliot to a spot where they’ll be safe from hunters like the sinister Shaw (Gary Sinise), but not for long.

Boog wants to return home but must survive a gantlet of angry Scottish squirrels, smelly skunks, bullying moose and hunters raring to kill something when the season begins. The story and execution are simple enough for the Nickelodeon set. Grownups escorting those children won’t find as many jokes aimed at their sensibilities as Disney and DreamWorks have perfected.

A trio of first-time directors keeps the movie frisky. A couple of sequences — the store invasion and a silhouetted confrontation making it seem that Boog is eviscerating Elliot — are quite clever.

The scene-stealer is McSquishy, the squirrel gang leader voiced with hooligan gusto by Billy Connolly. The funniest animated character last summer was a squirrel, too, in Over the Hedge.

Whatever its inspiration, or lack thereof, Open Season is a pleasant time waster suitable for families while Hollywood is focused on mature entertainment for awards consideration. This movie and Monster House put Sony neck-and-neck with Fox Animation Studios (the Ice Ag flicks) at the back of the pack in animation superiority, way behind Disney and DreamWorks. But imitation keeps Sony and Fox somewhere in the race.