Winnie, un ourson de légende

It all starts in a world war environment, guys ready to serve their country, kill and be killed. Then as he is taking a walk in the local town, this soldier comes across a bear killer's shop, with bear skins everywhere. Then that little cub makes herself heard, and the soldier can't bear (haha!) the idea of the little one being skinned so buys it and tells his soldier unit this should be their mascot, their buddy, the little thing that could guide them and give them some warmth in the eve of a potential big fight. All fall in love with the cub, now named Winnie, and as weeks go by, all protect her and look after her. The key-soldier and his new best friend share a tent with Winnie at night. She is so cute and full of surprises, everybody falls in love with her. Difficult times and events follow, both for the army guys and Winnie, and then her destiny wraps up, as well as theirs. Not a blockbuster, but a very nice movie to watch on a Sunday afternoon, and one that makes you think again, in a nice way, about how animals can affect our lives. I recommend this film, if you are emotional, get some tissue. :-)

Here's a quote from the CBC website along with my personal comments at the very end:

"It is August 1914 and World War I has just begun.Lieutenant Harry Colebourn (Michael Fassbender), a veterinarian with the 34th Fort Garry Horse Division, is traveling by train with other soldiers when he buys a bear cub at a rest stop. He names her Winnie, after his home town of Winnipeg and, in spite of all common sense warnings from his fellow soldiers, takes her with him to the camp in Valcartier, Quebec where the Canadian expeditionary force is gathering.

Winnie is a breath of fresh air for the young soldiers faced with the prospect of war, and she travels with them all the way to Salisbury Plain in England.

When Harry's regiment is sent to fight in France, the young vet knows Winnie cannot go. He finds a home for her at the London Zoo, promising to return as soon as the war is over and take her back to Canada.

While Harry and his friends fight in France, Winnie becomes the star attraction at the zoo. For the children of London, living in the shadow of a frightening war, she becomes a symbol of friendship and hope."

What a good way to spend 2 hours. The acting was great, well directed, the sets were appropriate and I did get choked up! (This doesn't happen often, except in Zombie movies).

However, there were some VERY annoying slow-motion shots that looked terrible. Lots of flickering during the slow-motion scenes and bad timing. It should have been omitted.

Final verdict...A very entertaining and educational story about a beloved bear for the whole family.

I have to say that as the Foley Artist on this film, I didn't spend a day when I wasn't attempting to conceal my tears from my co-workers! I LOVE this story! I'm a great animal lover and so I felt an enormous degree of empathy for the little bear in being "abandoned" by her adopted dad, "Harry". The way the story plays out, I don't know HOW anyone could have left "someone he loves so much" to go to war. But in the end, this is the reality of anyone who is called to war.

It really hits me hard in the end when Harry decides to leave Winnie at the zoo, instead of taking her home to Canada, as he promised.

If it were "my bear"...I would have brought her home with me...BUT...I'm only in the Sound Department. LOL

All in all, I wish I would see more of this type of quality story-telling being produced in Canada. It was a great pleasure to work on Winnie. I loved it. Thanks CBC for a WONDERFUL PRODUCTION!

Virginia (who has just left her very first comment out of all the productions she's worked on!)

I've already nitpicked about a few minor errors. But on the whole this is a pretty accurate, well produced and heart tugging movie that explores a little known tidbit of Canadian history. CBC hopes it will become an annual Christmas favourite. Interesting they cast David Suchet and Christopher Fry rather than Canadian actors. Do they perhaps want star names to help foreign sales? Okay, the ending is a little drippy. But again, this isn't a documentary but a fuzzy feel good animal movie and in that genre, it works well. Again hats off to CBC for fulfilling its mandate to produce original Canadian drama. (FYI-I meant to vote 8 but accidentally hit 9. It's very good but not that good.)

I have to say I just finished watching this movie and loved it. It was very well done and very touching the bear was great as well as the actors in this. I didn't realize it was started here in Canada so I learned something new! It is a heart warming movie and I would tell everyone to watch it!. It can bring on a few tears as well. Great for all ages. It is two hours of great entertainment and the time passes very fast without even knowing. The cast is also great as I said they did a great job the filming was not to bad either I would say I give this movie a 10/10 and again I'm a sucker for animal movies to normally I don't watch them cause they tug on the heart strings but this one I do give thumbs up ! Merry Christmas Everyone and have a great New Year and good movie watching to all!