Hoot

The most important thing to know about this adaptation of Carl Hiaasen's children's book is that it's co-produced by Jimmy Buffett, who also appears in a small role and provides a few soundtrack tunes. As one might expect from the king of the Parrotheads, Hoot is essentially a paean to hanging out on the beach in Florida. But because the target audience is well under 21, there aren't any margaritas or babes shedding bikinis—though the teen female lead (charismatic Brie Larson) is an all-purpose youth fantasy: a blond bombshell in nerd glasses who's also strong enough to terrify the school bully. She and two pals (Logan Lerman and Cody Linley) fight a low-key eco-guerrilla battle against evil developers in order to save some endangered owls. It's a bland affair, not helped by the comic antics of Luke Wilson as a doofus cop and Tim Blake Nelson as a redneck. Both play to our lowest expectations.