The Three Bears cartoons are worthy of more praise than they get rather than the relative obscurity they garnered for some time, because they are well made with Papa and Junyer being very interesting and entertaining characters and some of the funniest material to come out of any cartoon from the late 40s.
Other than the waste of Mel Blanc, who has practically nothing to do here, 'Bear Feat' is an excellent cartoon and one of the better Three Bears cartoons (so far my personal favourite has been their final one 'A Bear for Punishment') to me.
As ever with early and mid-career Chuck Jones, considered one of the giants in animation for a reason, the animation is very good. Mama Bear's character design is more refined than in 'Bugs Bunny and the Three Bears' and 'What's Brewin' Bruin?', while the colours are bright and vibrant without being gaudy or flat, the backgrounds are never elaborate or simplistic instead very nicely detailed, the bears are crisply drawn and movements are smooth.
Carl Stalling does another outstanding job providing the music. Not even the very strong and almost as consistent Milt Franklyn wrote music as beautifully and cleverly orchestrated, as rhythmically energetic and characterful and uniquely action-enhancing (as well as fitting wonderfully) as Stalling did.
Papa Bear and Junyer are brilliantly depicted and wickedly funny, Junyer with his stupidity and Papa with his bad temper, Jones once again displaying great ability in packing in so many personality to his cartoons and characters in such a short running time. Mama Bear has more to do than before and while not as funny or as interesting she is not as bland thankfully.
'Bear Feat' is extremely funny, the best parts hilarious. The dialogue, especially Papa Bear's, is deliciously witty and there are some inspired gags and visuals like the somersault one. Bea Benaderet and Stan Freberg do stellar work as Mama and Junyer, but the biggest impression comes from Billy Bletcher who is spot-on as Papa.
Overall, excellent cartoon with very little wrong other than Blanc being wasted. 9/10 Bethany Cox
