Review Monday: The Flintstones

Since I’ve been blabbing about the Stone Age most of last week, I decided to start looking for a film that would depict the Stone Age well. Disappointing enough, all Amazon came up with were Sesame Street DVDs. Either their search algorithm is broken, or there really are no good films about the Stone Age in English (which would be hard to believe). At least, the result made me remember a film I watched on TV quite a while ago, The Flintstones. I’m not talking about the cartoon-series but about the film with John Goodman and Rick Moranis as Fred and Barney.

About the film:
The overambitious superior of Fred Flintstone promotes him despite Fred’s lack of intelligence. With his pockets full of money and a boosted ego, Fred enjoys life to the fullest, completely forgetting his old friends. Of course this has to lead to problems, especially when Barney gets in the way of Fred’s superior’s ugly plans.

My thoughts:
Since I had been looking for a film that would show how people really lived in the Stone Age, finding nothing but the Flintstones was a disappointment. At least, even the smallest kid will understand that the way of life in the real Stone Age was much different from what this film shows. If you’re not expecting an accurate retelling of Stone Age customs, this film is great. The story is fast paced and intelligent, and the way Fred puts his foot in is hilarious. Still, the film manages to take its characters seriously. At the end, when Fred and Barney accidentally invent concrete, my sides hurt from laughing. Hey, sometimes you’ve got to put learning aside and have some fun (says someone who couldn’t stop learning if her life depended on it), and this is just the film for it.

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4 thoughts on “Review Monday: The Flintstones”

  1. Will Hahn says:

    Hi Cat, spot-on about Clan of the Cave Bear. And I heard the movie version was nothing to write home about either. You might like to check out the Disney movie “Brother Bear” though. Another animated feature but it does get to the mysticism of Native Americans during the late Ice Age. I thought it was better than alright.

    1. Cat says:

      It was wonderful. My kids and I loved it soooo much. 😉

  2. Sally says:

    Hi Katharina, have you read the Earth’s Children series by Jean M. Auel starting with Clan of the Cave Bears – if you haven’t I think you may find them interesting.

    1. Cat says:

      Yes, I’ve read this and I found the main character irritatingly too modern. She was thinking in terms that didn’t sound Stone Age for me. She wondered about gender issues and stuff like that. I have to admit that the two books I read were very well researched though. I just had a problem with the voice.

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