Review: Tenacious D: The Pick of Destiny

UK release date: 24th November

Jack Black’s twin careers as actor and rock musician merge in this fantastical tale of his band’s humble beginnings and the search for the demonic guitar pick that will turn them into rock gods. He’s joined in the quest by fellow Tenacious D band member Kyle Gass, and ropes in cameos from real-life rock gods Meat Loaf (as his dad), Ronnie James Dio (as his heavy metal muse) and Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters (as Satan!).

If those names mean nothing to you, then this is probably a movie to miss. But if they do, or if you’re a Jack Black fan, then this may well float your boat. It’s an over-the-top and endearingly self-indulgent slice of Spinal Tap-style self-mythologising that sadly, after a wildly funny start, rather runs out of comic steam.

Radio Times rating:

***

UK cinema certificate 15
Running time 94mins

Review by David Aldridge

Review: Open Season

UK Release: 13th October 2006

This boisterous inaugural feature from Sony Pictures Animation won’t give Pixar any sleepless nights, but it does have a simplistic appeal.

Co-directed by The Lion King film-maker Roger Allers, it’s a familiar, computer-generated eco fable in which domesticated grizzly bear Boog (voiced by Martin Lawrence) sees his pampered existence as a mountain-town tourist attraction cut short when he befriends a mischief-making deer (a fantastic Ashton Kutcher). In a hilarious set piece, the duo cause so much mess in a convenience store that Boog eventually ends up released back into the wilderness — three days before hunting season begins.

What follows is a predictable lesson about man’s destructive effects on nature, boosted by quick-fire banter, brightly coloured visuals and plenty of kiddie-pleasing scatological humour. The pace slackens in the second third, hampered by narrative clichés and some weakly stereotypical supporting characters, though it picks up with gusto for a final imaginative animal/hunter showdown.

Radio Times rating:

***

UK cinema certificate PG
Running time 86mins

Review by Sloan Freer