By MOSES LEVICH
Hoot is a fun new movie about three kids who are trying to save a colony of burrowing owls from being bulldozed by developers. It is based on the book by Carl Hiaasen, which is one of my favorite books. The movie is only moderately faithful to the book. Most of the time the movie isn’t what I imagined when I read the book, and l liked what I imagined better.
The story is set in Florida, and one of the best things about the movie is its scenes of local wildlife, which include a white ibis, a great cormorant, several alligators, cottonmouth water moccasins, common snipe and, of course, the burrowing owls. The owls looked real (I think they were), but they did not have the right call. The call we hear in the movie is actually that of a Great Horned Owl!
The movie wants us to know that we shouldn’t let developers kill or disturb wildlife just because they want to make money. I like the fact that Hoot explains how people are destroying wildlife and polluting the environment. Maybe if enough kids read the book or see the movie they will try to save what is left of undisturbed nature.
Moses Levich, 9, is an urban birder and a third grader at The Renaissance Charter School in Jackson Heights, Queens.
