I have just come back from seeing the trailers shown before The Chronicles of Narnia, the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe(as well as the movie itself, of course). Before I go on with this I simply must encourage you all to go see this movie at the theater. Don't wait for the DVD release. The richness and excitement of this film must be seen on the big screen. I took my nine year-old and he says go, go, go.

Now... on with the show. Boy, what a cliché. And this won't be the only one.

Of course we are all familiar with the wonderful world of movie trailers, those snippets, those commercials for upcoming films we are treated to for at least one half hour before we get to see the film we really came to see. It has been my experience that the trailer is unfortunately often far better than the full film.

Anyway, that aside, I saw a few trailers tonight, but few that made me interested enough to watch for the release dates of the full film. We saw the trailers for a few comedies that seemed boringly familiar and cliched. A few action pictures that seemed, well, boringly familiar and cliched. A few cartoon films that ... well, I think you see a pattern here.

But one trailer caught my attention. The film is a kiddie pic named Hoot. It is an adaptation of the Book by the same name by best selling author, Carl Hiaasen. Hoot follows a typical "new boy at school" as the main character, teen Roy Eberhardt, who moves to Florida from Montana.

Cue more cliches: Roy finds himself a fish out of water in his new school. Surprised? Don't know how you could be since it is the same story we've seen a million times (see, it's cliché city with this thing). Naturally he reluctantly makes a few friends though the friends he makes here is an original touch; the new friends are a homeless boy and his stepsister.

Also in cliched fashion the adults in the film are either incompetent and helpless, stupid, mean, or crooked. And, more surprises, the kids are all smarter, more grown up, and more caring than any of the adults. How can all our poor kids grow up with such stupid oafs as the adults we see in films constantly around them, anyway?

Somebody wrote this book and movie in their sleep.

OK, standard stuff really. Now here we get to the enviro-wacko alert.

The mean, stupid and crooked adults in this film are trying to destroy the forest with an evil development plan. And, the helpless Mom is going to lose her Pancake House business because of the conniving of the evil businessmen. To add to all that evil capitalism, in the forest are some poor, bedraggled, endangered owls. And - why don't 'cha know - these evil adults are gonna kill all them poor widdle owls! The nerve!

Cliched, no?

Why, yes!

Hoot is billed as writer Hiaason's first novel for "young adults". You might be familiar with some of his other enviro-wacko themed novels such as Native Tongue or his first big hit, Tourist Season. And you might also remember one of his other novels turned to film, Strip Tease, though not a very successful attempt at that.

But, all his previous works (well received by many, admittedly) were for older readers. Adults that can, perhaps, distance themselves from the enviro-wacko message to enjoy the comedic touch for which Hiaasen is so well known. Kids are not as able to discern the propaganda from the story, however.

Now, I must admit that I have not seen the movie, of course. Only the trailers are out at this time and I do not think any reviewer has seen it yet either. And since a Michael Medved I am not, I'll have to wait until this cliched bomb hits the theaters like everyone else will. Perhaps it will be a surprise and overcome all the many, boring cliches that we can already see in the trailer?

We can hope, of course. But, I won't hold my breath.

But, as parents, we also must be aware of the anti-capitalist and enviro-wacko message that this movie will dole out in boringly cliched doses. Forewarned is forearmed, as the cliché goes.

So, while I urge you to see Narnia, I would imagine that Hoot is not only one you can wait to see until it hits its DVD release, but one you can probably skip even then.

By Warner Todd Huston



Warner Todd Huston's thoughtful commentary, sometimes irreverent often historically based, is featured on many websites such as townhall.com, therant.us, opinioneditorials.com and americandaily.com among many others. He has also written for several history magazines and appears in the new book "Americans on Politics, Policy and Pop Culture" which can be purchased on amazon.com. Feel free to contact him with any comments or questions : EMAIL Warner Todd Huston

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