The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas

Based on the popular cartoon series, this film takes a look at the lives of our favorite Bedrock residents before they got married and had their own TV show. Fred and Barney just graduating from school and applying for jobs at the quarry. Wilma and Betty meeting for the first time. We even get to see where Gazoo and Dino came from. So will love bloom? Will Fred bowl once again? Stay tuned to find out.

Not bad, not bad at all. Definitely a crowd-pleaser with all the kids bellowing at my premiere, this film manages to balance a throwaway plot with some great special effects, a very cool and funny Gazoo and a quick, colorful pace. Of course, you don’t go into a movie like the Flintstones expecting an Oscar-worthy script, but suspicious curiosity always abounds whenever I see the names of more than two people on a screenplay (this film credits four screenwriters). Some jokes work in this film, others don’t, but for me, the only thing that really kept me going was the oh-so cool production values. I mean, there it is on the big screen, a whole prehistoric world filled with cool animal gadgets, oversized hamburgers and martini glasses, and yup…dinosaurs. I don’t remember the original film impressing me as much with its extras (it also tried to tie a story in there as well…brrrrr), but this movie is chockfull of fun eye-candy, starting with an excellent representation of Gazoo.

Give this little green bastard his own movie, dammit! He ruled! Having said that, Gazoo seems to disappear about halfway through this film, coinciding with the movie’s lame attempt at creating some tension between the characters (note: bring in a “bad guy”), and the manufactured Vegas story-line could only take you so far. I swore that if I saw one more scene with Wilma staring wistfully into the night, I would shit myself. Thankfully for all involved…no soiling took place. Performance-wise, I definitely appreciated the new casting choices much more than those in the original (Rosie O’Donnell as babelicious Betty…what were they thinking?!?), with the Rubbles scoring even higher points for getting their laughs down pat. And Stephen Baldwin even managed to go the entire film without shooting Nic Cage down once! Not bad, dude.

In a nutshell, I would say that this film delivers on various fronts including its authentic and exaggerated look, its nifty special effects (Dino is darn cute), and its quick pace. Plot-wise, things run pretty thin, as do some of the jokes, which hit and miss all around the campfire, but this movie isn’t really targeted to lovers of classic cinema or to all those messy teens sweaty-palmed over GLADIATOR (8/10) coming out next weekend. This movie is made by kids…for the kids! Huh?!? Well okay, it wasn’t made by kids, but it will certainly be those very kids who will most likely appreciate the mindless frivolity of this movie, as well as certain “child-like” adults. And yes…guilty as charged.

(c) 2021 Berge Garabedian