When both Flintstone movies came out, my daughter wanted to see them, so we did. I was not especially impressed by the films...but I thought they weren't bad. Well, apparently I am not the typical viewer, as both films (especially "Viva Rock Vegas") have very low scores on IMDB...and "Viva Rock Vegas" now made the Bottom 100 list following the recent changes to this list (increasing the minimum number of votes greatly impacted the list....and about 2/3 of the films are new to the list). Because of this change, I decided to try seeing the film again....and perhaps I was mistaken the first time.
The first thing you'll notice is that although the look of the film is great (much like the first film), all the principal actors are different. Apparently, the studio had a hard time getting the old actors to commit to the film...so to try to get around this, the movie is supposed to be a prequel which occurred long before the Spielberg film.
When the story begins, Gazoo is being punished for some unknown mistakes. His punishment is to be banished to Earth to observe human mating rituals. Not surprisingly, he picks Fred and Barney to follow...as the boys have not yet met Betty and Wilma. Once they do, they all fall in love but it doesn't go THAT smoothly. First, Wilma comes from a rich and snooty family...and they have no interest in low-brow Fred. Second, Wilma's old boyfriend invites the four of them to Rock Vegas....and he obviously has some underhanded scheme in mind for them. Third, once in Rock Vegas, Betty mistakenly thinks Barney is chasing another woman and she ends up being one of Mick Jagged's entourage.
So was I wrong the first time? I don't think so. While the film isn't exactly brilliant, it is what it is supposed to be...a live action version of a cartoon...no more, no less. And, despite me not seeing it with my daughter this time, I had a fine time watching the film. Pleasant and adequate...and not at all deserving all the hate it's received. Believe me...there are many, many, many worse kids films, such as "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians", "Baby Geniuses" (1 and 2), "Son of the Mask" and most of the "Land Before Time" films (they made 14 of them!!!). Don't be afraid to buck conventional wisdom, as I think this film is enjoyable and a decent story to watch with your kids.
