The Flintstones 4K 1994 Ultra HD 2160p

Story Movie

Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble, two best friends, have been working at the Bedrock quarry for many years. One day, the quarry management decides to administer a test to the workers in order to identify those who are capable of a promotion, while the rest will simply be fired.

Fred is convinced he won’t pass the test and has completely lost hope, but his good friend Barney, eager to repay his buddy for all the help he’s given him, secretly swaps Fred’s test answers with his own. After that, Fred got a promotion at work, and Barney was fired. And the more luxurious the Flintstones’ life became over time, the weaker Fred and Barney’s friendship grew.

Review 4K Movie

Brian Levant is a decent director, but somewhat one-dimensional. His name pops up every now and then. Take “A Christmas Gift” with good old Arnie, or “The Spy Next Door” with Jackie Chan. Levant’s creative peaks go even further back, to the unforgettable “Beethoven,” which spawned several sequels, and the very popular American TV series “Married… with Children.”

All the films on his resume are comedies, but comedies with budgets in the tens of millions of dollars. In other words, movie executives trust him with big-budget projects.

This was also the case with the film adaptation of the famous animated series about the adventures of the Flintstones family from the civilized Stone Age. I remember the cartoon quite well. It was fun to watch the awkward characters, their ingenious contraptions—which essentially made them modern people—and the funny dinosaurs they herded and ran from. It was fun to listen to the simple-minded dialogue. And the movie promised something similar.

The first thing that catches your eye in *The Flintstones* is the set design. It, dear reader, is unrealistically cool. For an entire village has been built in the “stonepunk” style. All these stone documents, like Sumerian tablets, and pedal-powered cars, are crafted with great imagination and love. I kept asking myself: what will the dinosaurs be like? After all, the movie was released in 2021, for heaven’s sake. Technology was different back then. And lo and behold, friends, I was pleasantly surprised. Because here, too, everything was done with the same diligence and imagination. Of course, the mammoth whose trunk is used as a shower, the pig-saur that recycles waste, and the crab-lawnmower are just puppets. Just like the big dinosaurs. But they’re made so neatly that there’s nothing to complain about. Well, you can tell they’re puppets. So what?

But look how cool the dinosaur looks, serving as a house dog! There he is, running around the house with his tongue sticking out to the side. That’s not a puppet anymore. Now think about it. It was 1994. What was it like to make something like that?

Now let’s move on to the script. Overall, the trends of the animated series are evident in the movie as well. The plot seems simple enough, but we’re watching a comedy, right? And we know in advance that no matter what trouble the main characters get into, everything will turn out fine. Here’s the gist: one of the friends (Flintstone) really wanted to be the boss, and the other (Rabbits) gave him that opportunity. There’s also a main villain here—a bad guy who wants to launder a large sum of money (it’s like a puzzle here). And he wants to use the new boss so he can later pin everything on him. Once he becomes the boss, Flintstone first piles up a bunch of cases, and then he has to sort through them all. All in all, the plot isn’t mindless. Essentially, it’s a chain of events that unfolds after one friend sacrifices himself for the other.

John Goodman, who played Fred Flintstone, plays all his comedic roles exactly the same way. Check out *The Thieves*—it’s the exact same Goodman. I won’t say it’s bad. Just the same. I still liked Rick Moranis (Barney Rubble) a little more out of the duo. Kyle MacLachlan as the villainous boss… I swear, it’s Agent Cooper from “Twin Peaks”! And it’s not like MacLachlan is a one-role actor. Subjectively, for me, MacLachlan-Cooper is kind of like Livanov-Sherlock Holmes. For some reason, I just can’t see him any other way (but I can with Vasily Borisovich).

Halle Berry is very charming as the secretary. And Elizabeth Taylor was simply the highlight of the film. Her portrayal of the mother-in-law, patiently put up with by Fred Flintstone, wouldn’t have been nearly as vivid without Taylor.

To sum it up: for its time, it turned out to be a pretty decent movie. In terms of production design and sets, *The Flintstones* definitely makes an impression. And even if it doesn’t find a place in your video collection, it’s worth watching this whole spectacle at least once.