The Flintstones

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 ****

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 !!

I grew up in the 90's & it was a great time & so much better than today 2019, it seemed such a fun, innocent & happier time & a great time for feelgood family films such as Casper (1995), SpaceJam (1997), Jumanji (1995), Flubber (1998), Small Soldiers (1998), ConeHeads (1993), Arachnophobia (1990), Hook (1991) & many, many more that came out during that Awesome time.

The Flintstones was a huge summertime blockbuster that's full of fun & Happy times mixed into a colourful live-action version of the classic cartoon. There's fun & good-hearted humour all around in this silly, slapstick family buddy comedy.

I loved this movie when it came (i still do) & i remember so much merchandise & promotion for this, it was everywhere. I had action figures & fridge magnets & cups & all sorts from the movie!!! The Flintstones was huge in 1994!!!

Also the Legendary Steven Spielberg was producer, so you knew the effort & budget that went into this project was huge along with the nice Spielberg feel of family & sense of wonder. Most films i grew up watching on video nearly always had Spielberg's name attached as a producer!!! I always sensed, even when very young, that if Spielberg is mentioned then it's gonna be something special. That legendary Director & Producer created so much movie magic.

John Goodman was PERFECT as Fred Flintstone, he gave a fully fun & often touching performance & is a joy to watch. He really brought the character to life but kept the silly funny feel of fred.

Legendary comic great Rick Moranis was also perfect as freds best buddy Barney Rubble & also plays his role with fun & Heart.

The whole cast is great & seemed to all be having so much fun!!! Rosie O'Donnell was good fun as Betty Rubble & Elizabeth Perkins is great as Wilma Flintstone. Great casting.

The music is lovely & full of Nostalgia, the production design & sets are absolutely beautiful,they created such a stunningly beautiful world for the Flintstones & it's gorgeous!!!

The Flintstones is harmless, Happy & feelgood fun for the whole family & is a great film from my childhood growing up, so i hold a special little spot in my heart for this lovely little comedy.

The Flintstones movie was definitely made in a better time, way better times & it shows in the production of this era.

A nice rags to riches story about friendship & family all wrapped up in the beautiful innocence of 90's Family adventure comedies.

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.

Making a live-action, feature film out of a cartoon show is definitely not an easy task, but the creators of this film pulled it off. THE FLINTSTONES is one of the most entertaining family films to come along in a good while. The great cast has a ball, particularly Elizabeth Taylor as Fred Flintstone's mother-in-law. Highly recommended!