In my recent review for Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2, I wrote about how Disney direct-to-video sequels are notoriously bad. With these comments, I didn't mean to imply that all family-friendly DTV sequels are bad. On the contrary, some are quite enjoyable, as they seem to grasp a very simple formula which, for some reason, consistently eludes the folks at Disney. Open Season 3 isn't a great movie, but it's a good example of one way to do a sequel.

Open Season 3 once again takes us inside the wild world of Boog the Bear (now voiced by Matthew J. Munn) and Elliot the Deer (now voiced by Matt Taylor). Boog had planned a guy's trip, but everyone, including Elliot backs out. (Elliot has to help care for his children.) Feeling rejected, Boog decides to go off on his own. After raiding a convenience store, Boog finds a circus and is delighted to see a fellow grizzly bear, named Doug (also voiced by Munn) there. Doug is bored with his life in the circus, so he tricks Boog into trading places with him. Boog falls for this plan because he wants to meet Ursa (voiced by Melissa Sturm), a female bear. Doug decides that he will try to take Boog's place in the wild. However, Boog's friends soon see through this charade and go to rescue their old friend. Meanwhile, Mr. Weene (voiced by Cody Cameron), the dog who is forced to travel the country in an RV with his owners, is in the area with his friends Fifi (voiced by Crispin Glover), Roberto (voiced by Steve Schirripa), Stanley (voiced by Fred Stoller) and Roger (voiced by Sean P. Mullen), and they decide to visit the circus as well.

Again, Open Season 3 isn't a great movie, it's far too light-weight to even get near that category, but it's a fun and entertaining movie. You see, the people behind this project understand why we would want to watch something like this. It's not because we were blown away by the stories in the first two movies; it's because we want to see the familiar characters doing what they do best. In my review for Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2, I came across as accusing the movie of being lazy due to his hackneyed story. However, what I should have said is that the movie is misguided. Instead of focusing on the story (which the movie did, for better or for worse), it should have been giving us more of the characters. Open Season 3 understands that we are there to see Elliot be stupid and insane and Boog be the reluctant voice of reason.

Well, it sort of understands that. The movie makes the monumental mistake of separating Boog and Elliot for nearly the entire movie. I've never been that enamored with Boog, but the two characters play well off of one another, and that is sorely missing here. Yes, it's good to see an animated sequel try something different, but this is a misfire. In addition, the Doug character is annoying. Yes, I know that he's sort of the villain, but he's more petulant than fearsome.

I usually don't give much credence to how stars are used as part of the promotion for animated films, but I did miss more recognizable actors voicing the two main characters. The two animators turned vocal actors who do Boog and Elliot here are OK, but Joel McHale certainly brought panache to Elliot in the second film, but he's clearly gotten too big for his antlers to appear in something like this. Open Season 3 is a certainly a step-down from the second film, which was very impressive for a direct-to-video animated sequel, but this is still a fun movie with some humorous moments. It's short and sweet and it will satisfy your craving to re-visit the forest.

Open Season 3 shows a lot of rabbits begin thrown on Blu-ray Disc courtesy of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. The film has been letterboxed at 1.78:1 and the Disc contains an AVC 1080p HD transfer which runs at an average of 25 Mbps. The image is very sharp and clear, showing no grain and no defects from the source material. The colors look excellent and the image is never overly dark or bright. The image has a nice faux-3D look, which provides good depth. The animation isn't feature-film quality, but it looks good. The Disc carries a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track which runs at 48 kHz and an average of 4.0 Mbps. The track provides clear dialogue and sound effects. The stereo effects are pretty good, most notably those which highlight sounds coming from off-screen. The runaway RV provides nice surround and subwoofer effects.

The Open Season 3 Blu-ray Disc is a bit light on extras. "Progression Reel" (1 minute) shows how a scene goes from storyboards to layouts to animation to lighting, while we hear how voices are layered in on top of this. "Rabbit Splat Mode", where the viewer can throw rabbits at the screen, is just a variation of the food-throwing option seen on the Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs Blu-ray Disc. Why? Finally, we have "Boog's Cannon Blast Game".