The Flintstones (1994) User Reviews

I liked it, what can I say?

[on_the_can · 6/10 · 16 June 2008]

I was 8 years old when this movie came out and remember really liking it despite the lackluster reviews it received from not only critics but most of my friends as well. I don't remember anybody out and out hating it, it just kinda got one of those "meh" grunts whenever it was mentioned.

Now I'm twenty three and I just watched it again and I gotta say, I still think it's pretty damn good. And unless you just simply are not of a fan of the Flintstones cartoons I don't see how you can not like this film. It plays like an extended episode of the series, with a plot not unlike something we have seen in our Saturday morning reruns, but loaded with enough clever one liners and risqué humor to elevate it to a much more adult oriented comedy. It's also got tons of sight gags and background jokes that you will likely need some multiple viewings to appreciate. Not to mention the sheer scope and execution of the sets, costumes and animatronic and CG dinosaurs are really something to admire, especially for its day.

The actors all play their parts well too, John Goodman and Rick Moranis as Fred and Barney are the standouts but there's nobody here that I thought fell short. Yes, I would have liked to have seen Betty portrayed with somebody with more curves in the right places...I mean she was the hottie in the cartoon and Rosie O'Donnell's physique definitely doesn't live up, but you have to give credit where credit is due and while she may not look quite the same, she plays the part well and has the voice and trademark giggle down perfectly.

Is this a fantastic film no...but I enjoy it every time I watch it and I think the attention to detail and obvious care that went into making this movie alone should keep it entertaining for years to come and considering its unlikely anything quite like this will ever be done again outside of its sequels, I would not be surprised if this movie eventually earns its respect among film buffs in the future.

Far from the best movie I have ever seen, but it is far from awful.

[TheLittleSongbird · 6/10 · 11 May 2009]

I liked this movie. Yes, the plot is predictable and weak, and in some cases over-familiar. Yes, the script is a bit weak in places. Yes, it is a little lacklustre, and doesn't quite capture the feel good nature of the show. But it is far from the worst movie ever. I really don't know what people were thinking when they gave this film such a low rating. Some of the worst movies I've ever seen, are Home Alone 4, Thomas and the Magic Railroad, Cat in the Hat, Disaster Movie, Epic Movie, Pokemon the First Movie and Batman and Robin, but this film doesn't deserve to belong to this category. On the most part, due to the enthusiastic performances of the cast, it was quite entertaining. John Goodman was born to play Fred. He looks the part, and put a lot of much-needed enthusiasm into the role. Rick Moranis is fine as Barney, very like what I imagine him. The prequel is probably better, but Mark Addy and Stephen Baldwin don't quite fit the bill as Goodman and Moranis. I also liked Elizabeth Perkins and Rosie O'Donnell as Wilma and Betty. As the villains, Kyle McLachan and Halle Berry play their clichéd characters more than adequately. I do miss Elizabeth Taylor when she was pretty, but she was game as Wilma's mother, though not quite in the same league as Joan Collins in the prequel. The sets and costumes are spot on, and the design of Dino was superb. All in all, I liked this movie, it's not perfect, but it is far from the worst movie I have ever seen. 6/10 Bethany Cox.

A hearty attempt, but it just doesn't work...

[moonspinner55 · 5/10 · 6 October 2002]

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 ****

Great fun!

[chad478 · 6 March 2001]

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!

A miss except for the visuals

[lrldoit · 3/10 · 18 March 2002]

The visuals were perfect and fascinating. The story, with some rewriting could have been acceptable. What killed the movie for me was the total lack of understanding of the series as well as the lack of characterization. I know that John Goodman is no Alan Reed, but he could have watched episodes of the show and gotten the feel of it. Barney Rubble doesn't work in the quarry with Fred. No one knows what Barney does for a living. The sharp wit of Barney's dialogue was absent, to say nothing of Mel Blanc's characterization. Elizabeth Taylor was too thin to play Mrs. Pebble. (Wilma's maiden name was Pebble. The later episodes of the series forgot this.) Of course, no one could match the great Verna Felton as Fred's mother-in-law, but the writers and Miss Taylor should have tried. The pity is that with sufficient preparation and understanding of the series, this could have been wonderful. The only good touch was Rosie O' Donnell's imitation of Betty's laugh as originated by Bea Benaderet.

Sure, it LOOKS like the Flintstones..but that's all

[JokerSwan · 3/10 · 27 July 2001]

The Flintstones with real actors - hey, that sounds cool. Great special effects, good casting(John is SO much like Fred), and Steven Spielberg - how could it go wrong? Well, somehow, it did. Probably because of the script, this movie that starts off nicely, soon turns into a bore for grown ups and hardly a blast for the kids. The story is dull, and all the cliches are there - nagging mother-in-law, sexy secretary, rich ppl becoming arrogant, you name it! The question is, why did they bring these "grown up" elements into the movie? This is marketed as a kiddies' film, and I doubt they understand the story very much; for grown ups, it's simply boring to see the old cliches used once again, just in a funny setting. There are few truly funny moments, and though the actors do their best, they can't save the movie from being dull, silly, and in parts very sappy. It's a disgrace, as the original cartoon was funny, cool, and the family scenes were simply endearing.

One of the things I liked was Rosie O'Donnell doing Betty's role. In the original cartoon, Betty is as slender as Wilma. It was nice to see a big girl cast in a positive role, her weight never being an issue. And Rosie does it so great - listen to her laugh. Go Rosie!

All in all, I give this movie a 3 out of 10. That's for the special effects and casting. Too bad they didn't bother to write an actual storyline.

A mockery of the original cartoon

[MartianOctocretr5 · 2/10 · 13 June 2006]

Movie remakes of TV shows have been notoriously failing miserably for some time (but they keep getting made anyway, for whatever reason), so it was inevitable that somebody would start churning out these remakes based on classic cartoons. An early victim was "The Flintstones," a failed experiment that should have told them not to do any more of these.

Quite simply, this movie stinks like a pile of dinosaur droppings.

The original cartoon poked innocent fun at mainstream America, creatively clothing it with prehistoric costumes and primitive "technology," focusing on an everyday family and putting them in wild situations. Fred, Wilma, Barney, and Betty were all likable, and we laughed at Fred's ridiculous schemes and the chaotic outcomes.

The spirit of the cartoon is non-existent here. The characters just argue, screw up, argue some more, screw up some more. People lie, cheat, and back stab. Everyone is boorish and mean; and just make you angry. The script goes nowhere, in story or comedy. Jokes don't work--come to think of it, were there any jokes even in this thing? Or any comedy at all? Wait: One (and only one) thing was funny--Rosie O'Donnell had the Betty Rubble snicker down. That's it.

John Goodman, Rick Moranis, and Elizabeth Perkins (all normally good comic actors) seem lost in this primeval slop. As for some other actors in the cast, they were so obnoxious I was hoping a pterodactyl would sweep them up and toss them into a tar pit somewhere.

If Early Man was like this, no wonder Neanderthals went extinct.

Well-made live action imitation...

[dwpollar · 7/10 · 12 January 2003]

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 had fun, enjoy this for what it is, we don't get many family films like this any more

[Smells_Like_Cheese · 7/10 · 3 April 2004]

The Flinstones, next to The Simpsons, it's one of the best known animated shows of all time, we all know the name Fred Flinstone. It's such a great series, I grew up watching it, I still will catch an episode or two on the Cartoon Network and I'm sure it's something that my children will watch too one day. So in 1994, we had the live action version of The Flinstones come into theaters, my family took me to see it, I was 9 years old, it was either this or Pulp Fiction, I'm sure my parents didn't struggle much with that decision. But still as a kid I absolutely loved this movie, I think I wore out the VHS quite a bit. So I grew up and of course caught the movie on HBO, I figured that I would just give the movie another shot to see if it was still as fun as I remembered and actually I still love it.

Cliff Vandercave, the Executive Vice President of Industrial Procurement at Slate & Co., plans to appoint a Vice President of his division to frame for a crime. To find one, he makes an exam to give to the quarry operators, among whom are Barney Rubble and Fred Flintstone. Fred loans Barney money so he and his wife, Betty can adopt a child. They adopt a caveboy named Bamm-Bamm. Barney appreciates what Fred did for him and is determined to pay him back. While taking the exams, Fred fails it, and is disappointed since he will not be able to give his wife, Wilma the wealthy life she used to have. Barney takes Fred's exam up for him and notices how poorly he did. To pay him back for giving him the money to adopt Bamm-Bamm, he swaps his exam with Fred's and Fred is promoted to Vice President. Cliff orders Fred to fire Barney because of his exam score, and he fires Barney at the Rubbles' surprise party, but does his best to help Barney afterwards with financial problems. But Cliff still has big plans to set Fred up for a big fall and the Rubbles are starting to get sick of the Flinstone's over the top extravagances.

Honestly, I really did enjoy The Flinstones as much as I did when I was a kid, I know the main reason a lot of people complain about this movie is because of the casting, but even with Rosie O'Donnell in it I thought she was adorable, we had a great cast, everyone has their own ideas, but just deal with it and understand who this movie was made for. Granted as an adult I'm not going to go out of my way to watch this movie by myself, but I still wouldn't mind at all showing this to my younger cousins and watching it with them. It has cute jokes, a fun cast, and a good story with tons of fun sets and props. I would recommend this movie to watch with your family if you get the chance, it's a rockin' good time.

7/10

Tune in on TV reruns instead...

[Mitch-38 · 3/10 · 14 May 2000]

Insipid and listless remake of the Saturday morning cartoon show of the 1960's. Obviously made to cash in on Baby Boomer sentiments. Lacks all the fun and humor of the cartoon, and goes on way too long. This sitcom format is rarely sustainable for more than standard 30 or 60 minutes shows. THE FLINSTONES wears out its welcome after the beginning musical score. The script is unfunny, predictable and dull. John Goodman is an exceptional actor, yet he can't save this turkey. Kids will be bored, and those who remember the original with any fondness, will likely get depressed.

A Wonderful family friendly movie to enjoy!!!

[dockerykelli · 10/10 · 16 July 2019]

The Flintstones was/still is a great movie!!! The overall cast made the movie even better!!! It portrays the cartoon series identically! So much laughter throughout the movie, True Friendships, love, heartache and a wonderful outcome for the end of the movie. A+++ Film!!!

GREAT PURE 90'S MAGICAL INNOCENT FUN. Big Nostalgia Love For This Fun Family Flick.

[lukem-52760 · 7/10 · 30 June 2019]

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) & 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.

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!!!

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.

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.

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 piece.

I'm sure someone worked hard...

[cjrock55 · 1/10 · 4 August 2002]

I know that it takes a lot of people and a lot of work to make a film, but this film is absolutely horrendous. Only thing good is the costumes. This is the only film to date where I have actually walked out of the theatre in the middle of it.

Bottom line...big pile o' pooey. PLEASE don't waste your time.

Pre-Historic Fun That Is As Good As It Can Be

[tfrizzell · 26 July 2000]

"The Flintstones" is a film that tries hard to be likeable and succeeds for the most part, but with that said this is only a fair film at best. The cartoons come to real live and the nostalgia carries some of the film. However, the paper-thin plot destroys any chance that the film has to be a complete success. Naive Fred Flintstone (John Goodman) has been promoted and is now a big-time businessman. Of course the villains, Halle Berry and Kyle MacLachlan, are just using Fred to steal from Mr. Slate's company. Wilma (Elizabeth Perkins) quickly becomes jealous of Berry, but overlooks everything because Fred is raking in the cash. Barney Rubble (Rick Moranis) meanwhile is unemployed because he had the lowest score on an IQ test (he actually switched tests with Fred because Fred had lent him money to adopt Bamm-Bamm). Throughout his financial crisis, Betty (Rosie O'Donnell) stands beside him. Fred finally becomes wise to what is going on, but MacLachlan has a devious scheme up his sleeve. All in all "The Flintstones" is a good looking film with high production values, but ultimately the screenplay and direction cannot save this film. The characters play well on television, but are somewhat out of their element on the big screen. The cast is hard-working in spite of the fact the material is just not present. 2.5 out of 5 stars.

I guess it's fair

[Quinoa1984 · 5/10 · 30 September 2000]

I saw this film again on TV one night, and while it looks entertaining for kids, adults will want to reckon back to the days of the TV show (or maybe just the Honeymooners). The actors are somewhat credible here, with Rick Moranis always getting some laughs as Barney, but hey, that might be it here. Not great, but it is a whole lot better than the sequel at least. C

Sideways Thumb

[view_and_review · 5/10 · 9 August 2020]

Monetarily "The Flintstones" can't be called anything but a success, but truthfully it is floptastic. We're 26 years removed from the release of "The Flintstones" so I wonder how many seeing this review even watched the cartoon the movie is based upon. I had my daughter watch "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" and she didn't recognize any of the Looney Tunes characters.

"The Flintstones" movie just fell flat. The jokes, the plot, the attempts at cartoonizing a live action movie. Today we have the benefit of excellent CGI to cartoonize live action movies, but the best course of action would have been to leave off the cartoonish actions.

The plot was a simplistic one. Cliff Vandercave (Kyle MacLachlan) and the sexy Sharon Stone (Halle Berry) were plotting to steal millions of clams (dollars) from Slate Co. and they needed a patsy to blame. Who better than the dimwitted Fred Flintstone (John Goodman). After a company-wide aptitude test in which Barney Rubble (Rick Moranis) switched his test with Fred, Fred was offered a VP position. Patsy acquired.

It was clear that the movie tried to appeal to both kids and adults alike. I'd say that it failed at both. It wasn't storm-out-of-the-theater bad, but it certainly got some eye rolls. I wouldn't put both thumbs down--maybe one down and one sideways.

It's not a real"Yabba-Dabba-Doo" Time.

[win-3 · 2/10 · 25 February 2000]

I was not barely able to sit and watch this version.I tried to find something good till the end of the film and I didn't get it,but something upset.The production should be better than of what I had seen.Liz Taylor was a special cast but the weak script and production pulled everything down.Watch the original has been enough! The episodes were good stories.Some of them couldn't be forgotten with tears in my eyes during watching a friendship between Fred and Barney,,,,Great!!!

Real life cartoon

[brunovanael · 7/10 · 10 April 2021]

A 10 out of 10 for making an exact real live copy of a cartoon. At first I was thinking, why bother? It's like a life action version of the Simpsons. But there were enough good jokes and cheeky little winks to make it acceptable. Kudos for the actors and director to make me forget I was not watching the cartoon.

Tacky and dimwitted.

[brower8 · 3/10 · 16 July 2003]

The Flintstones cartoon series is in essence a dumbing-down of the Honeymooners TV series of the 1950s. Change suburbia to caves, add dinosaurs and sabertooth cats, and cut the IQs of every character from the 90's to the 80's and you have the Flintstones. Fred and Barney can dream big, but they are too dumb to realize the folly of their dreams.

So here's the big story -- Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble compete to become executives. They are the only ones to not know that they are being set up. Duh-uh!

Costumes and scenery are tacky. The plot is weak (white-collar crime isn't good for a plot). Characters are stereotypes. Technically this live-action film qualifies as science fiction due to anachronisms, but it's the fiction of pseudo-science.

The dinosaurs-and-humans stuff is utter nonsense. Large mammals (anything larger than Yorkshire Terriers) could never have survived around T. Rex. If your children like dinosaurs, then stick to Barney (the dinosaur, not Barney Rubble) or the animated Land Before Time series. When they get older, then introduce them to the documentary (animated, but as realistic as it can be) Walking With Dinosaurs. Don't let your children get any idea that Man and dinosaurs ever coexisted!

Family friendly fun comedy

[davispittman · 7/10 · 3 August 2017]

This live action version of the classic animated TV show is fun and family friendly overall. It's kind of like Scooby Doo (2002) in the way that it's not G rated, it's got some adult references, especially involving Berry's character. But the references really aren't explicit and I still think that all families will really enjoy this film. The casting for all the roles is just perfect. John Goodman is a great choice for Fred. Rosie O'Donnell is great as Betty. I loved Elizabeth Perkins in the role of Wilma. And Rick Moranis is a very good Barney. And of course we can't leave out the great late Elizabeth Taylor who plays Wilma's mother. The script is very much like other live action versions of TV shows, it involves a greedy villain who's after nothing but money. I really like Halle Berry in her seductive secretary/bad guy role. The visuals are done well, the shots are all very true to the original show. Adults may enjoy this and I still enjoy watching it, but a family setting is probably the best audience for this movie. It's just good fun, nothing that great or Oscar winning, but it'll make a fairly fun movie night. 7/10.

What an insult!

[enrisin · 1/10 · 7 March 2000]

Ok John Goodman does a good job playing Fred and the rest of the cast maybe weren't born to be some of their characters but maybe those persons haven't even been born so they do a good job. Bedrock looks OK you can easily see that they've spent a lot of time working on it trying to make it look just like the cartoon but the story compared to the one the cartoon has is a definite insult just look at the ratings that this movie has here at IMDB 4.4 right now (March 7th 2000) those guys at Universal should have back in 1993 (when they were writing the script) well the story is really bad let's make a movie combining 4 of the most popular episodes in one story that would have been a very good idea I'm sure that it would have had made much more money than the 358.5 million it made worldwide even though that is a lot I know that if they had a better story it would have like 500M or more. Maybe lots of those 358.5M are because people couldn't believe that they had made a bad movie about a family that generations have grown with. I expect something better with the prequel that is coming out this summer even though I don't think the people they chose to be the new Flintstones look like them as the first cast did.

The TV series brought to "life"

[rlcsljo · 6/10 · 8 April 2001]

Unlike many other "live action" cartoons, the "Flintstones, The (1994)" did not try to "update" or "modernize" the original from the TV series. (Except for the use of obviously modern actors and rock bands). This movie was the "Flintstones" circa 1966(B.C) down to the detailing of the dinosaurs.

The characterizations were pretty much on, except Barney (he worked in a rock quarry and probably should have been stockier), and Betty (she was a babe in the TV series, but for some reason was played by a more rotund Rosie O'Donnell--though she was slimmer then than she is now).

The plot was a bit weak, but it was still great fun for fans of the TV series.

Look for some inside jokes, like Fred being called "Flagstone"-- supposedly the original title of the series.

I believe, overall, the sequel to this was better.

An Older Audience That Grew Up With The Flintstones Wont Be Impressed,

[lesleyharris30 · 5/10 · 24 April 2013]

The Flintstones is a decent movie with a surprisingly clever story line,but only a alright cast,and most of them don't really relate to the characters their playing.If you grew up with the Flintstones,like myself,you will definitely be disappointed with this movie.I felt the only member of the cast who stayed true to his character was John Goodman,he sounded and behaved just like Fred Flintstone from the classic animated series.I didn't appreciate Rick Moranis,who sounded nothing like the original Barney Rubble,and I especially disliked Rosie O'Donnel,Betty Rubble is one of the most attractive cartoon characters ever,and then they get one of the ugliest characters in Hollywood to play her,that was a bad casting decision.I also didn't like Halle Berry,she was just thrown in to amuse the dads watching this with their kids,and her name literally being Sharon Stone was not at all funny.

When Fred Flintstone (John Goodman) gives Barney (Rick Moranis) money so he can adopt a child,Barney gives Fred the opportunity of getting the job he has always wanted.

Great special effects

[Peter Rasmussen Denmark · 27 March 2002]

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.

What else can you say.... it was awful

[lnpsolutions · 1/10 · 27 November 2010]

I don't think they could have done a worse job with the casting for this movie. Rick Moranis as Barney Rubble? Seriously? Other than "Honey I shrunk the Kids", Rick Moranis has done nothing worthwhile in his entire acting career. This is another blunder on Moranis' resume. I didn't like John Goodman as Fred Flintstone either. Other than being overweight and slightly resembling Fred, Goodman just didn't deliver in this role. Now things get even more comical.... Rosie O'Donnell, a fat, unattractive woman, playing Betty Rubble?!? Truly amazing. Elizabeth Perkins as Wilma was the best choice out of the 4 main roles, but it still wasn't good.

When you do such a horrible job of casting, it pretty much sets the stage for a disaster of a movie. The 4.6 star rating currently on here is a bit generous in my opinion.