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It's not every movie that's compared, by its own producer, to both "The Passion of the Christ" and "The Rocky Horror Picture Show."
But to listen to producer Kenn Viselman, "The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure" isn't your average movie. It's an effort to get Hollywood to change how it handles its youngest audience: preschoolers.
To spread that message before the movie's Aug. 29 national opening, Viselman and his team are barnstorming the country, showing the film to "mommy bloggers" in the hopes that they will tout the film to their readers — who are also mommies, most of them with small children.
Viselman's tour hit Utah on Tuesday, meeting about a dozen local bloggers at Sandy's Megaplex 17 at Jordan Commons before screening the movie for them, their mom friends and a whole mess of kids.
Reaching out to moms and other caregivers is key, Viselman said. He's a big believer in "the power of Mom," particularly when it comes to picking children's entertainment.
"Caregivers use TV as a treat, as an educator and as a babysitter," Viselman told the bloggers, acknowledging the simple truth that sometimes parents plop their youngsters in front of the set just to get a break. "Our role," he said, " is to provide good choices when you make that choice."
The Oogieloves follow in the felt-covered footsteps of such characters as Barney and the Teletubbies — and that's not a coincidence. As founder of the Itsy Bitsy Entertainment Company, Viselman is the man largely responsible for bringing "Teletubbies" and "Thomas the Tank Engine" from Britain to America.
Years ago, Viselman said, he worked to get a "Teletubbies" movie made, but couldn't get it off the ground. He spent 10 years "brewing and steaming that we didn't get that gosh-darned movie made," Viselman said (adding that he cleaned up his usual salty language for his audience of moms).
The Oogieloves — Goobie, Zoozie and Toofie — are Crayola-colored puppetlike creatures who live in the town of LovelyLovelyville. They live in a cottage with their friends Schluufy (a pillow) and Ruffy (a goldfish), overseen by their mentors, a window named Windy and a worrywort vacuum cleaner named J. Edgar.
The movie is an interactive experience, with cues for kids to get up to dance or move in sync with the characters (including stars Cloris Leachman, Cary Elwes, Chazz Palminteri, Toni Braxton, Christopher Lloyd and Jamie Pressly).
"It's like 'Rocky Horror Picture Show' meets 'Pee-Wee's Big Adventure,' " Viselman said. "In this movie, if your child doesn't scream and yell, you're going to ask what's wrong."
Scott Stabile, the movie's screenwriter, also stresses the Oogieloves' positive outlook. The aim was "to create something loving and positive, absolutely nonviolent and with no sexual innuendo," he said. "Love is the guiding force, and you don't have to tear down evil to get to that."
That's different from how Hollywood approaches younger audiences, Stabile said. "Hollywood's not interested in making G-rated movies," he said, adding that instead studios try to market PG-rated films downward to younger audiences. (He cited Disney/Pixar's "Brave," whose occasional bear attacks may have scared little kids.)
Viselman has big dreams for the Oogieloves' debut — he's aiming to put it in 3,200 theaters, an average number for a Hollywood release but quite a feat for an independently distributed movie. Whether he succeeds will depend heavily on those bloggers and their ability to spread the word to the moms who read them.
The choice to market the Oogieloves to moms, Viselman said, follows the example set by Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ," which was promoted heavily through churches and ministers.
"They used Jesus to sell tickets," Viselman said. "Who's more powerful than Jesus? Mommy."
Sean P. Means writes the Culture Vulture in daily blog form at blogs.sltrib.com/vulture