Los Picapiedra

1st watched 1/12/2003 - 7 out of 10(Dir-Brian Levant): Well-made live action imitation of the popular Hanna-Barbera cartoon series. Maybe it's because Hanna & Barbera were involved and were two of the executive producers of the movie as well as having small roles in the production. Besides this, this classic tale of life in the stone age had tremendous casting in the way of John Goodman(Fred Flintstone), Rick Moranis(Barney Rubbel) and the entire group for that matter. The movie starts with the Rubbel family adding a new member in the adopted Bam-Bam and then the rest of the movie matches pretty much the way the two families lived their lives & worked together as neighbors in the prehistoric town of Bedrock. Of course there is evil-a-foot within a demented man in a higher position in the stone quarry who tries to frame Fred and the rest of the movie is a culmination of all this. What is great about the movie & the series the Flintstones is that no matter what trouble they got in, the families always patched it up in the end showing us what true friends our made of. And besides all this the movie was funny & visually appealing too !!

It blows my mind that this movie is a 4.9. This is a fantastic live action adaptation of this classic cartoon

Live-action adaptation of Hanna-Barbera's TV cartoon brings prehistoric blue-collar family man Fred Flintstone to life with the help of John Goodman, exceptional in the role. The world of Bedrock is excitingly captured, all the surrounding details look right, but unfortunately the script is a pale, shapeless mess. Also, who cast Rosie O'Donnell as neighbor Betty Rubble, the Snow White of the Sabertooth set? O'Donnell is far too brash and distracting as Betty, who was mostly around in the TV show as a foil for Fred's wife Wilma (adequately played by Elizabeth Perkins). O'Donnell should have instead played Fred's mother-in-law, although Elizabeth Taylor is game for this loudmouthed harridan. There are some laughs here--although not big ones--while the "plot" is weaker than any of those written for television. ** from ****

This movie is a must for any fan of the great cartoon series from the 60's. The special effects and the sets are incredible, they have put a lot of work into making that. Every little detail, that can be seen in the cartoon, is also in this movie, for example a lizard like dinosaur running on a wheel to pull an elevator. However, less work has been done to write the plot, which is somewhat week and full of cliches. John Goodmann makes a great Fred, but Rick Moranis' Barney does not really resemble Mel Blanc's from the cartoon. I think his laugh is missing, also the general way Mel Blanc's Barney speaks is different. Rosie O'Donnel's Betty, on the other hand, is good. This movie is still a must for any Flinstones fan. The plot is not the most important part of this movie, the way Steven Spielberg made drawings come to live is.

"The Flintstones" is a film that tries hard to be likeable and succeeds for the most part, but with that said this is only a fair film at best. The cartoons come to real live and the nostalgia carries some of the film. However, the paper-thin plot destroys any chance that the film has to be a complete success. Naive Fred Flintstone (John Goodman) has been promoted and is now a big-time businessman. Of course the villains, Halle Berry and Kyle MacLachlan, are just using Fred to steal from Mr. Slate's company. Wilma (Elizabeth Perkins) quickly becomes jealous of Berry, but overlooks everything because Fred is raking in the cash. Barney Rubble (Rick Moranis) meanwhile is unemployed because he had the lowest score on an IQ test (he actually switched tests with Fred because Fred had lent him money to adopt Bamm-Bamm). Throughout his financial crisis, Betty (Rosie O'Donnell) stands beside him. Fred finally becomes wise to what is going on, but MacLachlan has a devious scheme up his sleeve. All in all "The Flintstones" is a good looking film with high production values, but ultimately the screenplay and direction cannot save this film. The characters play well on television, but are somewhat out of their element on the big screen. The cast is hard-working in spite of the fact the material is just not present. 2.5 out of 5 stars.