Promoting environmental conservation, this bland family film never generates much interest in either its human or animal participants.

Full Review | Jul 23, 2008

Parents may role their eyes more than once at this flightless film.

| Original Score: 2/5 | May 13, 2006

This sweet-natured but plodding adaptation of a young-adult novel by Carl Hiaasen could have used a little less broad satire of corporate greed and a few more, well, owls. The critters peep from their burrows for only a few brief moments.

Full Review | May 13, 2006

Younger kids will find the pranks and schemes funny, while the enviro-activist theme is an important message to which they may just latch on. The eco-responsibility part, not the venomous snake part, one hopes.

| Original Score: 3/4 | May 13, 2006

It would be a nice little family film if not for the fact that the young heroes commit felonies in the name of saving the environment.

Full Review | May 8, 2006

Endangered as they are, burrowing owls will be disappointed to learn that their cause has been hitched to a movie with little entertainment value, let alone credible strategies to save their environment.

| Original Score: 2/4 | May 5, 2006

There is nothing objectionable in this family film, but it doesn't seem to appreciate the intelligence and savvy of its youthful audience. Kids can spot a silly stereotypical character as fast as the rest of us.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | May 5, 2006

But while Hoot's pro-environment message to kids is certainly worthy, the unquestioning, pro-vigilante angle doesn't sit entirely well.

| Original Score: 2/4 | May 5, 2006

Fun to watch although falling short of a real hoot, this latest in a barrage of family movies largely succeeds at keeping the kiddies entertained and their parents from nodding off.

| Original Score: 3/4 | May 5, 2006

One wishes that a film about the fight against a bland restaurant chain were more piquant. But movies for tweens, like burrowing owls, are an endangered species that need preservation.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | May 5, 2006

The movie pretends to take a kids' point of view, but it treats kids like idiots.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/4 | May 5, 2006

I question the message of Hoot, a family movie that tacitly encourages kids to vandalize property and behave like little ecoterrorists.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | May 5, 2006

Hiaasen's sense of humor loses something in the translation. What's side-splitting on the page becomes silly on the screen.

| Original Score: 2/4 | May 5, 2006

The movie is unessential at best. But the Everglades -- and the owls that live nearby -- are irresistible.

| Original Score: 2/4 | May 5, 2006

The goal is apparently a double exercise in heartfelt lessons and deep hilarity, but it's hard to tell because the pace feels so lethargic.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | May 5, 2006

Hoot is safe enough to take your kids to, but you might want to have a talk with them afterward about continuing to go to school and shying away from major felonies.

| Original Score: C- | May 5, 2006

Its makers will tell you that Hoot is an educational film, but aside from showing that some owls live underground rather than in trees, little knowledge is actually imparted.

| Original Score: 2/4 | May 5, 2006

There has to have been a way for Hoot to have preached the gospel of wildness preservation, grabbed a PG rating and still maintained Hiaasen's delirious nastiness.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | May 5, 2006

While Hoot has heart -- subtlety turns out to be endangered.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | May 5, 2006

This is a story about kids and nature, with strong messages about standing up to bullies, facing conflicts and why it is important to stand up for both the people and creatures that need protection.

| Original Score: B+ | May 5, 2006