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So-so
Avg. Critic Score: 46 out of 100 Mixed or average reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
8 OK for kids 8+
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 75
    Boston Globe | Ty Burr

    The movie balances cardboard comic bad-guys with believable teenagers, has the courage to avoid romance, and unlike most Hollywood films suggests parents can be helpful and loving as well as clueless. Read full review

  • 75
    San Francisco Chronicle | Ruthe Stein

    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. Read full review

  • 63
    USA Today | Claudia Puig

    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. Read full review

  • 50
    Washington Post | Desson Thomson

    Hoot may be warm and fuzzy with its adorable owls, triumphant kids and inviting Florida groves. But its forced, innocuous humor is unlikely to amuse anyone but the very young -- and the extremely forgiving. Read full review

  • 50
    The Hollywood Reporter | Michael Rechtshaffen

    A blandly generic family film. Read full review

  • 50
    The New York Times | Lawrence Van Gelder

    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. Read full review

  • 50
    Variety | Joe Leydon

    Squeaky-clean, family-friendly opus. Read full review

  • 50
    Los Angeles Times | Jan Stuart

    Any charm and character ascribed to Carl Hiaasen's bestselling book have been homogenized in Wil Shriner's flat screenplay and direction. Read full review

  • 38
    Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert

    Hoot has its heart in the right place, but I have been unable to locate its brain. Read full review

  • 25
    Entertainment Weekly | Owen Gleiberman

    Don't let the Carl Hiaasen pedigree fool you: Hoot is an Afterschool Special too crummy to give a hoot about. Read full review

View more reviews for Hoot on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says OK for kids 8+ Sweet, clumsy family film about saving owls.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know the film concerns a corporation's illegal effort to build a restaurant on protected land. To stop a saboteur, the local corporate employee sets mousetraps and sends out trained attack dogs. The kids who are trying to stop the building also engage in illegal activities, such as setting loose alligators and cottonmouth snakes, deflating tires, spray-painting a police cruiser, organizing a town meeting under false pretenses, and tying up the villain in a closet. The company boss lies, cheats, and treats his girlfriend callously. Kids and adults use mildly obnoxious language ("dork," "sucks"). A chaste flirtation develops between the boy and girl protagonists.
  • Families can talk about what tactics might effectively stop corporate cheating. How does the film parallel the middle school bully with the corporate bully? How do Roy's lies to his parents lead to their distress and what lesson does he learn from the experience? They could also compare the movie to the book upon which it's based.
The good stuff
  • message true0 Positive messages: The kids who are trying to stop the building engage in illegal activities.
What to watch for
  • violence false3 Violence and scariness: Bully picks on boy repeatedly; face mashed into a window; dog bite leaves bloody wound; villain sprays owl holes with fire extinguisher in an effort to kill them; villain tied and gagged in a closet.
  • sex false0 Sexy stuff: Very minor: cleavage shots as teenaged Beatrice wears bikini tops; bully appears in underwear.
  • language false0 Language: Mildly obnoxious language ("screwing up," "psycho bully," "darn," "dork," "sucks," "jerk," "dang," "nitwit," "idiot").
  • consumerism false0 Consumerism: Not an issue
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false0 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Not an issue
An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.

Looking for more reviews? Movies.com Critics Say:

Dave White

3.5

Dave White Profile See Dave White's Profile

… a got-it-on-the-first-take quality. Read full review See Dave White's on MOVIENAME on Movies.com

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