The Playful Polar Bears

I don't understand folks and their love of polar bears. They are, without a doubt, one of the meanest creatures on the planet. They regularly eat people if they get a chance. I remember years ago when one of these adorable creatures ripped the arm off one of their keepers at the Cincinnati Zoo!! I also saw a documentary where a cameraman inside a cage with steel bars was shocked when one of the animals squished the bars like they were made out of aluminum foil and it tried to eat him! And, in another film, they tried to bottle feed an orphan polar bear but it became unmanageably violent very, very quickly (much, much more than grizzly bear cubs). Yet, oddly, folks think they are cuddly and sweet.

In "The Playful Polar Bear" there really isn't a huge amount of plot and it's the sort of film PETA would adore and Ted Nugent would hate. The bears are all scampering about and having a wonderful time. However, evil hunters show up and begin shooting. Soon the mama bear thinks her awkward offspring has been killed. But can the film manage to STILL have a happy ending?!

In the film, dozens of bears play alongside each other. In the wild, of course, they'd kill each other as polar bears get along worse than democrats and republicans! Now if I put aside facts and the biologist stirring within me and look at the cartoon without being THAT critical, I can at least say it has nice animation. Otherwise, it's a bland little cartoon with little going for it. Too cutesy for my taste--I would have preferred if these animals acted like REAL polar bears.

"The Playful Polar Bears" (1938) is a Technicolor cartoon from the Color Classic series, the Fleischer Bros.' counterpart to Disney's Silly Symphonies and Warner Bros.' Merrie Melodies. This one's among the more serious cartoons of the era and focuses on a family of polar bears cavorting on icy terrain in the Arctic and a near-tragedy that strikes. The early focus is on the antics of a curious younger cub and his efforts to break away from his mom and siblings to explore a nearby ice hole and the leaping fish inside. When a ship lands and humans with guns start firing, the young cub is left behind after the bears flee en masse. The mother bear goes back to search for him only to find him motionless after being hit by a bullet. The hunters are driven off by a snow storm and the bears begin an elaborate grieving ritual, having given up the cub for dead.

The model for this is clearly the Fleischers' earlier Color Classic, "Song of the Birds" (1935), in which a little boy shoots a bird with his BB gun and watches in anguish as the birds all gather to mourn over the unmoving little bird, adding to his burgeoning guilty conscience, until the bird's unexpected revival and a happy ending for all. "The Playful Polar Bears" is a bit more understated, but also a little harsher in the lack of any remorse by the hunters.

The bears are anthropomorphized in time-honored cartoon fashion, especially when they cry over the cub, but in general they look a heck of a lot more like real polar bears than you'd find in any similarly-themed Warner or Disney cartoon of the time. It's strictly an animal world here, in a natural setting without the little houses with picket fences that constituted animal homes in other cartoons. The closest thing to a human-style accoutrement is found in the cartoon's only real gag: a bit where the mother bear fashions a bed out of snow, complete with rolled-back covers, and then tucks her three cubs in it.

The artwork is quite vivid in its depiction of the arctic setting, the design and animation of the polar bears, and the scenes of the ship landing and then setting sail. Some shots boast the quality of adventure story picture book illustration.

The sex of the single bear parent may be in question. The IMDb cast list identifies the parent as "Papa Polar Bear," voiced by Jack "Popeye" Mercer. While the voice used to make the bear sounds certainly has male inflections, I had assumed from its role in caring for the cubs that the character was a mother bear. I'm sure there's a National Geographic documentary out there that could clear this up for us.

That is not meant as a bad thing just to say, just in case anybody gets confused. It is just me trying to think of a review summary that is somewhat catchy and doesn't resort to just one word or being a summary/title that is used in review titles constantly. That's that out of the way. Have made it clear frequently what my stance on animation is and like to love quite a lot of Fleischer Studios' work, though their 40s output generally wasn't my cup of tea.

A late-30s effort from the "Color Classics" series, 'The Playful Polar Bears' has enough of what makes me like Fleischer. It is not one of their best and it is not one of the best "Color Classics" cartoons. It is also not one of the worst in either regard, much better than the rating here suggests in my view and better than some of the higher rated ones in the series. If anybody wants non-stop laughter or gags every 20 seconds or so and less of the more sweet and charm with emotional impact approach may find themselves disappointed. 'The Playful Polar Bears' is not a humour-filled cartoon and is more the latter, but it is very pleasant and well made and one of the better-faring "cute" "Color Classics" cartoons. That it isn't high on gags is more forgivable than other cartoons in the series as it was clear early on it was not that kind of cartoon.

Sure, the story is thin as ice (sorry) and takes a little too long to get going, but in fairness the story never was a strength in Fleischer Studios' output (very much evident in all the "Color Classics") even in their better work.

Did think that more could have been done with the hatred of ice-cold water, established but not explored enough. And that the hunters' defeat was too easy and rushed.

However, 'The Playful Polar Bears' is beautifully animated. Especially the backgrounds, the best of which scenic wonders with the Arctic being rendered remarkably vividly. The music has the right amount of lushness, energy, atmosphere and pathos without having too much of either, not sounding too jaunty or too sentimental. The story may not be exceptional, but it is still very heartfelt and charming, not resorting to preaching while not sugar-coating things. The crueller aspects, like with the hunters, are suitably harsh without being too dark or heavy-handed.

From the title, one may think that 'The Playful Polar Bears' is playful and potentially too cute. That's not the case, it is the complete opposite of playful and it just about avoids over-cutesiness. The ending is poignant, without being pat, and the polar bears are adorable contrasted well with the formidable adversity of the hunters. Did feel sympathy for the protagonist, something that was not always the case for the "Color Classics" cartoons, and the portrayal of maternal instinct was genuinely poignant and sets it apart in a way from some of the other cartoons in the series.

On the whole, a pleasant watch. 7/10