The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas
Movie Review

Flintstones. Meet the Flintstones. A mixed-up movie family. While The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas exudes energy and features humorous sight gags, it begs the questions: are the movie Flintstones two-dimensional cartoon characters portrayed by flesh and blood actors? Or should the Flintstones, when portrayed by live actors, have more depth than cartoon characters? This tricky balance, which nagged the original Flintstones movie, drags down this one. As it stands, clever gags and prehistoric puns can't carry an entire movie.

Viva Rock Vegas is a prequel to the original Flintstones movie. It shows how bumbling Fred Flintstone (Mark Addy) and Barney Rubble (Stephen Baldwin) meet up with Wilma (Kristen Johnston) and Betty (Jane Krakowski). In the story, Wilma is a down-to-Earth high-society girl who wants to experience life as a commoner. Betty is a roller skating waitress at the local Bronto King, a burger joint that looks like a prehistoric Burger King, and Fred and Barney are getting new jobs as Brontosaurus operators at the local rock quarry.

It's practically love at first site for our stone age couples, but conflict comes in the form of Chip Rockefeller (Thomas Gibson), a slick and charismatic guy who wants to marry Wilma so he can use her family fortune to get himself out of the considerable debt that he's incurred while opening his new Rock Vegas casino. He invites Fred and Wilma to his casino for some R&R, but intends to financially break Fred and win Wilma's hand. Meanwhile, Betty and Barney have a misunderstanding that causes Betty to fall into the arms of Mick Jagged (Alan Cumming), a prehistoric rocker.

While the first Flintstones movie tried to bring some depth to its characters with an inappropriate plot about corporate greed, the second movie's plot is a bit more in line with the spirit of the original television show. As directed by Brian Levant, who also directed the first Flintstone movie, the film is visual and energetic. The new cast does a credible job of depicting the well-known characters, but the characters are completely secondary to the sight gags and prehistoric puns. By the way, there is an early sexual reference that's in rather poor taste, but is way over the heads of most youngsters.

As it stands, The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas will engage the kids and entertain families. But don't go in expecting much more than a visual gag fest. Even after a second outing, this movie premise is not standing on solid bedrock.

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