Open Season Set

Movies That Make the Grade

• What: Open Season Triple Feature DVD set
• When: Two years and up
• Why: Entertaining, affordable, appeals to wide age range
• Where: Amazon

We received a three DVD pack of Open Season cartoon movies almost two years ago as a gift. My kids still love it, and ask for it regularly. The cartoon animation and antics result in peals of laughter for all three of my kids, despite their four year age range and varied interests.

The bumbling bear by the name of Boog delights them no end, as does his companion Elliot, a mule deer who just can’t seem to hold onto his antlers. As with most trilogies, I like the first movie best, but my kids enjoy the later editions just as much, if not more.

In the first movie from 2006, Boog, a pet bear, gets stranded in the woods just before the start of hunting season. He teams up with Elliot and the other forest animals to survive. In the 2008 sequel, Elliot prepares to marry the fabulous Giselle only to have one of the wedding guests get kidnapped and returned to his domesticated life. The gang puts the wedding on hiatus to hunt for their buddy before time runs out. Finally, in 2010, in the aptly named Open Season 3, Boog ends up part of a traveling circus, and the animals conspire to bring him home again.

All three movies feature the same cartoon characters for the kids, with occasional quips for the adults stuck watching the movies on repeat. We’ve watched each one countless times, and it never fails to enthrall them.