The
Flintstones and WWE: Stone Age Smackdown (2014 Original
Movie/Warner Blu-ray w/DVD)
Picture:
B+/B- Sound: B+/B- Extras: B Film: C
Let's
Yabba-Dabba Do This!
The
Flintstones meet WWE modern day Wrestling Superstars in this new
feature length cartoon movie The Flintstones and WWE: Stone Age
Smackdown (2014). The animation is pretty remnant of the classic
Hanna Barbera series with some interestingly drawn backgrounds and
environments, but nothing really fancy or over the top. The
interesting factor about this film is that this is the first
Flintstones cartoon in over 14 years! 55 years after the original
1960 series and also the first Flintstones animated film without
original creators, Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera. This is also the
first time in nearly 50 years that Mr. Slate is voiced by someone
other than John Stephenson!
The
cartoon stars John Cena, The Undertaker, Nikki Bella, CM Punk, Brie
Bella, Vince McMahon, Daniel Bryan, Jeff Bergman, Kevin Michael
Richardson, Tress MacNeille, and Grey Griffin. Its directed by Spike
Bandit and Tony Cervone.
When
Fred Flintstone loses his family's vacation money, he hatches a plan
to get it back. He convinces his longtime best friend Barney Rubble
to become a professional wrestler and he proceeds to wrestle the
likes of John Cenastone (John Cena), Rey Mysteriopal (Rey Mysterio)
and even The Undertaker, with Fred himself as event promoter.
Numerous other WWE wrestlers and personalities (including
owner/chairman/CEO Vince McMahon) also provide their voices for
characters in the movie.
It's
hard to believe how long it has been since The Flintstones have
graced the screen and its nice to have them back. For a Wrestling
fan, this would be an added bonus and a good way to get kids
interested in it. Personally, I'm not very wise to the Wrestling
scene so it didn't hold as much bearing to me. This is the second
time that Warner and WWE have teamed up - the first time being the
Scooby-Doo! WrestleMania Mystery.
The
picture and sound on the Blu-ray disc are pretty solid with a 1080p
high definition transfer with a 1.78:1 widescreen aspect ratio and a
DTS HD-MA 5.1 audio track. There are also lossy Dolby Digital audio
tracks in French and Spanish, as weak as the DVD, which includes
English, of course. The 1.78 X 1 anamorphically enhanced DVD is
good, but no match for the color and depth of the Blu-ray.
Extras
include the Superstars of (FFE) Fred Flintstone Entertainment, How to
Be a Stone Age Superstar, and Two Bonus Cartoons.
If
you are a Flintstones fan and are clamoring for more or a fan of WWE
then this is worth watching. Otherwise its just a standard cartoon
that didn't really knock my socks off or disappoint me. Met me
somewhere in the middle. Yabba-Dabba Do!
-
James Harland Lockhart V
www.facebook.com/jhl5films
