Barney's Great Adventure

Word of a Barney film first arose in November 1992 when Debbie Ries, sales director for The Lyons Group said plans for a movie was in the works.[1] In 1993, it was later announced by creator Sheryl Leach at The National Press Club in Washington, D.C. that a movie is coming. Later in 1994, a Barney Magazine article had stated that Barney the Dinosaur would star in his first ever film entitled Barney: The Movie.

It was originally going to be distributed worldwide by Geffen Pictures through Warner Bros. and produced by Sheryl Leach and Dennis DeShazer. According to Sheryl Leach, it had a release date for summer 1995. Warner Bros. and Lyons had disagreements over marketing, leading the latter to bring the film (with help from now former producer Geffen) to Polygram.[2]

On June 20, 1997, Barney himself announced the film at a news conference at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Later in 1997, teaser trailers for the film, now entitled Barney's Great Adventure: The Movie, arose on VHS cassettes of some Barney Home Videos. To Sheryl Leach, it was a joy of filming as she stated:

It was a joy to do the film because it took me back to the early days in Barney's development. Just like the beginning days of Barney, this movie takes him to places children have never experienced with him before. The film was a great opportunity to open new storylines and environments so that children travel to new places with their friend Barney. The film goes to some incredible places that we hope will appeal not only for children but to adults as well.

Leach adds that the film allowed them to "take the familiar Barney and put him outdoors and in other very different settings from his traditional environments."

The film was shot on locations outside Montreal, Canada, including the renowned Ste. AnnedeBellevue's Morgan Arboretum, a popular wildlife sanctuary. The veteran film crew was initially a bit skeptical of the large purple star.[3]

According to writer Stephen White, in the original script, the egg was going to hatch a giant bird who misses its mother, Baby Bop and BJ were expected to make a lot more screen time, appearing in the farmhouse attic, but those scenes were soon scrapped, as director Steve Gomer claimed the scenes to be "unaffordable", Miss. Goldfinch was originally planned to be a comedic character, as opposed to the more subdued character of the final film, the circus scenes and the "Collector" character were not in the original drafts, as well as rather than using a log, Barney and the gang would have built a plane out of cardboard boxes.[4]

The film received mixed to negative reviews from film critics, owing to it being based on the aforementioned television program which is aimed for young children aged 1–5, the growing popularity of "anti-Barney humor", and the general unpopularity of the Barney series outside of its target audience of preschoolers. John Petrakis wrote in the Chicago Tribune, "If my 21-month-old son had any inkling that I was giving a less than stellar review to [this film,] he would no doubt shoot me that look he tends to give when his milk is warm or his Cheerios a bit stale."[5] The New York Times' Anita Gates wrote that it was a film "his young, undemanding fans are likely to enjoy."[6]

Another review, from the Los Angeles Times, read: "The creators of the great purple scourge, Barney the Dinosaur, have an unspoken contract with parents palatable for all involved: We buy their videos and an occasional plush toy for our 3- and 4-year-olds and make Barney's brain trust obscenely wealthy; they in turn create benignly lobotomized entertainment that holds our non-demanding kids in thrall; our kids watch TV and allow us a few precious minutes of peace. The most important element is parental trust in Barney to be blandly wholesome, so that we have to endure only a few seconds of it while we cue up the VCR for our tykes. Family movies, on the other hand, imply a rather different contract: Parents buy tickets and popcorn for the whole family; filmmakers deliver light entertainment that kowtows to kids yet is not so brain-dead as to alienate sentient adults. 'Barney's Great Adventure: The Movie,' the first theatrical film featuring the green-bellied beast, takes that big old fat foot of Barney's and stomps that contract beyond recognition. [. . .] The flat lighting and two-dimensional sets of the TV screen serve Barney far better than a modestly expanded budget and a director insistent on using locations, romantic lighting and mildly adventurous camera angles. Barney looks both more real and more magical on video; on film, he's clearly a doofus in a felt outfit."[7]

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 32% with an average score of 5.00/10, based on 25 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "Barney's friends are big and small / They come from lots of places / But after this film, their parents / Will be left with pained faces".[8]

It was nominated for two awards at the 19th Golden Raspberry Awards: Barney himself was nominated "Worst New Star" and won in a tie with Jerry Springer in Ringmaster. The Jerry Herman-penned "Barney, the Song" was nominated for "Worst Original Song", but lost to "I Wanna Be Mike Ovitz!" from An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn. It also received three nominations at the 1998 Stinkers Bad Movie Awards.

In its limited release weekend, the film grossed $2,203,865 from 540 theaters and ranked number 11.[9] A week later, in wide release, it grossed $1,382,373 from 809 theaters and ranked number 15.[10] By the end of its run, the film grossed $12,218,638 in the domestic box office, falling short of its $15 million budget.[11]