EnvironMENTALism is a Hoot

A new movie is set to debut next month called Hoot. Hoot is about a Montana boy who relocates to South Florida, and proceeds to get picked on at school. He then befriends a homeless and perpetually shirtless kid who shows the Montana boy that there are owls living on a vacant lot that is scheduled to be turned into “Mother Paula’s All American Pancake House.”

Watch the trailer for this movie here:

This movie appears to be an environmental zealot’s dream. You have all of the elements- a homely, big-boned unattractive tomboy, a cute adorable homeless boy who is so tanned, he never wears a shirt, a crusade against corporate expansionism, bully cops who are also stupid, cute little fuzzy owls and greedy land developers. Yeah! DOWN WITH THE MAN!!

The premise of the movie is that only the homeless boy knows that the owls, which happen to be endangered, are on the empty lot. Rather than getting adults involved and following the proscribed process of getting a court injunction, the homeless boy urges his friends to break all the rules and think like an outlaw, because “There is nothing to stop them from bulldozing one coast to another.” Although it does not show it, I can presume that there is much vandalism involved in the youthful eco-terroristic antics.

Including the part about standing in front of a bulldozer. Hmm… Funny that the site is intended to be a Pancake House. I wonder if the restaurant will serve Rachel Corrie pancakes? For those that don’t know, Rachel is considered a martyr among the extreme left for throwing herself under an Israeli bulldozer to protect a Palestinian terrorist’s hideout.

And what is with this scrawny sunken-chested boy? Are the movie’s makers trying to stir the yearnings of underaged girls with a mixture of lust and eco-terrorism? I wonder if they will sit in a drum circle and sing Kumbaya?

The movie is based on a book by Carl Hiassen, whom I enjoy as an author. Many of his books highlight dangers to the Florida ecosystem, and the stories come off without being so preachy. I really enjoyed Skinny Dip, for instance. But this trailer makes it seem that environmental message is the theme of the movie, and the leftist stereotyping of business, police, and government play equally large roles as well.