Die Country Bears - Hier tobt der Bär

We saw this sort of by accident: there weren't any good seats left for SIGNS and we were determined we were going to see a movie. This was on at 5:15. this is what we saw.

It's funny, it doesn't take itself too seriously, and it's fun for the whole family. It's nice to see a movie where the writer and director make entertainment their top priority. It doesn't happen a lot these days.

As I watched this movie, I couldn't help but think it must have been taken from the Disney Channel. Look at all the Disney standards: taken straight from, and in order to promote, their theme park division; hero feels out of place and quests for self-fulfillment; and random musical numbers totally out-of-place with the film (unlike animated musicals, the music in this movie is, in many cases, supposed to be spontaneously created from whatever's around, but is really overdone; it's hard to willfully suspend that much disbelief.).

One GOOD thing about the movie is that most of the cast is well-known (household names like Walken and Osment join veteran voice talents Huss and Root, alongside the familiar faces of Mitchell and Bader); yet even such a strong cast (which also features Brad Garrett from Everybody Loves Raymond) can't rescue a script (and premise) that was doomed from the start. The cops and mom are stereotypes, the dad is an exaggeration, and Dex, who SHOULD be the sanest family member, can't help but fall into Disney's "everyone loves everyone" mode despite his efforts not to. While most of this is allowable to some extent in a movie aimed to kids... this is excessive. I watched it with a group of kids, and most were bored. Seems to me that to really enjoy this movie, one must combine a child's tolerance for saccharine moments with an adult's attention span. Otherwise, it's a below-average movie propped up by strong acting talent and slick animatronics.

I personally do not think The Country Bears is that great, but I also don't think it is that bad either. I can think of worse movies that have a higher rating, but I can also think of better movies too. The Country Bears may have a lot of faults, that I agree, it does have its good points.

Let's start with the good points shall we? First and foremost, Christopher Walken seems to be really enjoying himself as the villain of the piece, he is deliciously theatrical and really breathes life into any shortcomings the film has. The soundtrack is also great, country-and-western music I can take or leave but it was used and performed very well here. Most of the cameos are pretty entertaining, it was nice to see Elton John, Willie Nelson and Queen Latifah, while the production values are good, Haley Joel Osment is appealing and the country bears of the title are convincingly played.

However, the film does have its shortcomings, starting with the length. The film is too short, and could have been longer with a little more detail to plot. I didn't mind the plot was simple, some of my favourite films have simple stories, but it is a predictable and rushed one with an ending you can smell a mile off. The script is also rather weak likewise with the jokes some of which were embarrassing(1812 Overture played with the arm-pits, what next?), the film is rushed I think and the direction is sloppy.

So overall, The Country Bears had its moments, and it is much better than the trailer which was embarrassing, but it wasn't enough to sustain into a good enough film. 5/10 Bethany Cox

I seen the previews of this movie before it came out, I just never had the chance to see it. I was channel surfing one day and it had just started. My 2 and half yr old grandson wouldn't let me turn it over. We now have the movie and we watch it alot. I love the music (as well as my grandson). I didn't hear one swear word in it, and it is very entertaining. It was very enjoyable to watch, and with the filth on TV these days, it was good change. It is really for all ages. It is not stupid at all. It was funny and well written.

This is kind of a first for me as a reviewer here at this Internet Movie Database, because I am weighing in on the inaugural film in an ambitious experiment at Disney: the first in a series of feature films based on the popular attractions at Disneyland and Walt Disney World. And frankly, they could not have picked a better bunch o' folks to take on this first test than the Country Bears. Peter Hastings, one of the creative forces behind "Pinky and the Brain," makes his directorial debut with the story of Beary Barrington (voiced by Haley Joel Osment), who is the #1 fan of the popular musical group the Country Bears. The story has Beary seeking to reunite the foursome --- Zeb Zoober, Ted and Fred Bedderhead and Tennessee O'Neal --- and at the same time, questioning his perception about what family is. The Country Bears themselves broke up many years before, due to the usual personal squabbles that one may associate with a popular music group, ego being not the least among them. Meanwhile, Christopher Walken costars as the villain of the piece, a real estate developer who lost out to the group in a talent show 30 years before. He hasn't forgotten the loss, and he seeks to avenge it by destroying the Bears' base of operations, Country Bear Hall. Now young Beary must battle to reunite his favorite singing group despite their years of animosity, and stop the developer before he tears the Bears' Hall down. That Disney finally has given in to the requests of several thousands of theme park fans and dared to step up to the challenge of making a movie based on its own theme park characters speaks volumes about why they should have used their theme park characters on the silver screen years ago! After I had visited Epcot in October of 1985, I had so fallen in love with Dreamfinder and Figment from the Imagination Pavillion that I soon ended up wishing that Disney would give them their own movie. So in more than a larger sense, the Country Bears' movie brings back a whole mess of memories. Disney has done much with its theme park attractions for over 25 years, but until now, they never dared to put one of their park attractions on the big screen. Before anybody dares throw any brickbats at this film, I think the Mouse House needs to be thanked for finally listening to its fans for once. What's more this is just the beginning. Feature-length adaptations of two other Disney theme park attractions --- Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion --- are being planned even now; and of course, there was the Disney TV-movie from a few years back, based on the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. So if you're willing to suspend disbelief, and listen to a bunch of bears make music that makes bears (and humans) happy, go see this one. Besides, you'll be doing the ghost of my mom a big favor. She always had this fondness for the Country Bears, though I never truly understood it until now. Maybe, I suppose, this movie was made for good folks like her.