Martin Lawrence provides the voice to Boog, the bear, who meets up with Ashton Kutcher's deer named Elliot. Boog has trouble holding his sugar, and when the two break into a convenience store for all the sugar they can consume, Boog is brought “home” to his female caretaker, Beth (voiced by Debra Messing), in the back of the sheriff's caged vehicle as if he were drunk.

Elliot returns to visit Boog during a stage show, however, the curtain is backlit and the audience sees what it believes is Boog tearing Elliot to shreds in a vicious attack, which isn't the case. After this mistaken incident, Boog is labeled dangerous; he is drugged and flown to the top ridge where Beth believes he will be safe. After all, she does this to him three days before “open season” starts.

What ensues is a very comical plot in which a bear who's only known the comforts of a garage, a giant doggie bed, his stuffed bear (that has a pull string that plays “Teddy bear picnic”) and a commode, has to try and navigate his way through the forest for the first time. After what seems to be a few hours, Boog finally gives in and agrees to take along Elliot, who claims to know the way back to the city, and back to Beth. The truth is, Elliot wouldn't know his way out of a paper bag, which makes the movie quite funny.

Boog is made fun of by the other animals in the forest at every turn. He takes on the tree squirrels, lead by McSquizzy (Billy Connolly), and loses horribly. He is laughed at as the dancing bear by the dam building beavers. And he loses two very comical battles with a porcupine and a pair of skunks. He is also left having to deal with a new problem: when you're used to a commode, where do you go in the woods?

Although the animals are mostly hiding on high ground, a misstep by Boog and Elliot end up destroying a dam, and flooding all the animals back down to the hunting ground with not enough time to climb back up to safety. Boog ends up rallying the forest to come together, and they gather as much material as they can to fight back against the throngs of hunters coming their way. What takes place are some of the most creative and entertaining scenes of the entire movie.

To be honest, I think the adults were laughing harder than the children they had taken! This movie is a definite thumbs up and very family friendly. It's well worth the ticket price. In a day and age of raunchy comedy, it's nice to see a script with lots of clean humor that everyone can enjoy.

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