Publication Date: 07-20-2026

The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas (2000) review

Dir. Brian Levant

By: Steve Pulaski

Rating: ★★½

I caught The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas on HBO when I was middle school, and I recall being marginally amused. In so many words, I was amused enough not to be tempted to flirt with the other 400+ channels in my family’s DirecTV cable package for 90 minutes. A couple years later, when I doubled-back to watch The Flintstones (1994), I found that one to be unmoving and lackluster by comparison. At age 30, I finally found time to watch the second live-action feature-length adaptation of The Flintstones, and I contend this is the superior film of its ilk.

For one, the plot is much cleaner and more sensible than a story revolving around office politics and embezzlement that turned the first film into a jumbled, pun-ridden slog early into its runtime. The story here is much more streamlined, and each of the characters is given more valuable screentime. The casting may not be as sharp — John Goodman and Rick Moranis as Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble was just too perfect — but the players get the job done, in particular Kristen Johnston, who nails Wilma, and Jane Krakowski, whose naïve effervescence captures Betty beautifully.

Viva Rock Vegas isn’t a sequel to the 1994 movie. Due to casting issues, it was reworked into a prequel, chronicling when Fred first met Wilma and Barney first shacked up with Betty. Replacing Goodman as Fred is Mark Addy, of Full Monty fame (and later Still Standing), with Stephen Baldwin as Barney, carrying over the dopiness he honed so well in Bio-Dome. The film opens with Fred and Barney landing jobs at the local rock quarry, and while it’s a major life accomplishment in the prehistoric land of Bedrock, Fred wishes he could share the experience with a special (female) someone.

Enter Wilma Slaghoople (Johnson), who rejects the wishes of her mother (Joan Collins), who tries to get her to marry a millionaire mogul named Chip Rockefeller (Thomas Gibson). Wilma flees her affluent, gated neighborhood in the hilltops and gets a job at a car-hop restaurant alongside Betty (Krakowski), which leads the two ladies to meeting Fred and Barney. Feeling stiffed by Wilma but knowing it can’t be that hard to get rid of a lowly quarry-worker like Fred, Chip invites the foursome to a weekend at his casino in Rock Vegas. Chip believes he can get Fred and Barney out of the picture rather quickly, win over Wilma, and then be the heir to the Slaghoople fortune.

There’s also a needless story involving a floating alien named Gazoo (voiced by Alan Cumming), who is sent down to Bedrock to study the mating and courtship rituals of humans, or, in this case prehistoric beings. It’s a useless frame-story, and Gazoo inexplicably can’t be seen by anybody but Fred and Barney, which leads one to wonder what would’ve happened if he were sent literally anywhere else in the universe. Would he effectively be invisible to all? There are four credited writers on Viva Rock Vegas, but despite this, the extent of information on Gazoo is what I’ve provided.

The movie entertains with its bright colors and the dynamic between Fred and Barney. The set design isn’t as sharp as the first film, however. The doubled budget ostensibly went to CGI and computer animation, which looks worse than a lot of the practical sets utilized in The Flintstones. The early scenes set in space recall that of a lousy Nintendo 64 game. As stupid as the Gazoo subplot is, the writers ostensibly recognize this by employing him more conservatively as the film goes on. When the crew heads for Rock Vegas, stone-structures, primitive casino machines, and a lot of other colorful marvels work their way into the foreground. In the spirit of the punny title, Ann-Margret loans herself to a rendition of “Viva Rock Vegas.” Being that the soundtrack was one of the best parts of the 1994 film, the same can’t be said for this sequel, but that song stands out. The fact that Ann-Margret (or “Ann-Margrock, as she’s credited here) received a Razzie nomination for it is downright cruel.

I can’t pretend The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas is a good movie, but parts of it recall A Very Brady Sequel in a way that presents it as knowingly silly and “in” on the sendup of its own dated material. If you combined the practical set design and soundtrack of the 1994 movie with the inspired female casting choices here in conjunction with the plot, you might get one decent live-action Flintstones movie.

My review of The Flintstones (1994)

Starring: Mark Addy, Stephen Baldwin, Kristen Johnston, Jane Krakowski, Thomas Gibson, and Joan Collins. Voiced by: Alan Cumming. Directed by: Brian Levant.