IF it were not for the amiable presence of York actor Mark Addy in his first American lead role, it would be tempting to say The Flintstones had hit rock-bottom.

Perhaps I'm being sentimental for a local boy made Hollywood, but Addy's combination of dark Fred Trueman locks and hammer-head jaw and his newly acquired Fred Flintstone voice hit the mark better than John Goodman in the original 1994 turkey.

With the approval of Steven Spielberg, Mark was picked for his humanity and his soul, somewhat ironic qualities you might think when he's playing a cartoon hero but they do make him loveable. Alas for Addy, there is little else to save Viva Rock Vegas from the stoning dished out to The Flintstones six years ago.

Maybe Levant is seeking to erase that 1994 film from the memory bank, because Viva Rock Vegas is a prequel, with a slither-thin plot in which Bedrock quarry workers Fred and Barney down tools to find themselves some girlfriends.

Their every bumbling move towards heiress Wilma (Kristen Johnston) and waitress friend Betty (Jane Krakowski) is being watched by The Great Gazoo (Alan Cumming), a persistent alien pest on a mission to learn about primitive wooing techniques. The Stone Age path to love does not run smoothly thanks to a three-pronged attack: the dastardly intervention of Wilma's old flame, businessman Chip Rockefeller (Thomas Gibson) and his duplicitous invitation to Rock Vegas; the flirting with Betty of rock star Mick Jagged of The Stones (Alan Cumming again) and the snobbish disdain of Wilma's mother (Joan Collins, in a mock-horror parody of her soap days).

While the computer-generated special effects once more give a cartoon look to Bedrock, director Brian Levant has not solved the problem of Hanna-Barbera's cartoon humour having a different rhythm to live action.

By forcing Addy and colleagues into comic-book timing, jokes become laboured. Addy's natural comic skills and bonhomie bail him out but Stephen Baldwin grimaces his way through his embarrassing role as Fred's best mate, Barney Rubble. Maybe the South Park film's mission to destroy the Baldwin film dynasty really is working!