Yogi Bear's All-Star Comedy Christmas Caper

Yogi Bear's All-Star Comedy Christmas Caper (1982)

*** (out of 4)

Cute made-for-TV special has Yogi and Boo Boo sneaking away from the park to head off to the big city to see some friends. Once there they come across a rich little girl who gets everything from her father except his time and attention. Fans of the Hanna-Barbera characters aren't going to find a great story here but there are so many great characters on display that you can't help be entertained for the majority of the running time. For the most part the story itself isn't anything too original or interesting but it allows the filmmakers to get across a certain message. As you'd expect, the animation is quite good and I thought the film had a very good look that really managed to bring the scenes and characters to life. Not only do we get Yogi and Boo Boo but there's also Augie Doggie, Blabber Mouse, Dixie, Mr. Jinks, Wally Gator, Quick Draw McGraw, Snagglepuss and even Fred and Barney have a cameo.

Loved Yogi Bear as a child, and still have a soft spot for it now. It is a funny and charming show with appealing, funny and smart humour and likable characters, plus the characters are well voiced.

'Yogi Bear's All-Star Comedy Christmas Caper' was a very enjoyable way to spend 24 minutes or so. It is a big improvement over the bland disappointment that was 'Yogi's Great Escape' (made afterwards, but saw 'Yogi Bear's All-Star Comedy Christmas Caper' after that), and is a lot closer to what is appealing about Yogi Bear in the first place. 'Yogi Bear's All-Star Comedy Christmas Caper' may not be one of my favourite Christmas specials, or specials in general, but as far as specials from Warner Bros and Hanna-Barbera go it fares better than most.

The story may be standard and with a good deal of familiar elements (quickly in its defence however it is not as episodic or as strung together as 'Yogi's Great Escape'). The appearances of other Hanna-Barbera characters were an absolute delight, and they were memorable and true to character but some of them did deserve more screen time, a few of them are a little too on the brief side.

So much is done right however in 'Yogi Bear's All-Star Comedy Christmas Caper'. It is bright and breezy in pace without being rushed, while for made for TV animation the animation is more than serviceable with a lot of vibrant colours and smooth detail in the backgrounds. The music is luckily not cheap-sounding and isn't heavy in repetition.

Writing is good too, with some funny moments that is closer to the style of the original Yogi Bear show and some genuinely touching and never sentimental sentiment that are balanced well. The special is very heartfelt and sincere in its representation of Christmas, no mean-spiritedness here, while it adheres close to for example the humour what is appealing about Yogi Bear and Hanna-Barbera in general. The short length was much more ideal than struggling to find material to suit feature length.

Loved the characters, Yogi and Boo Boo are irresistible and the numerous cameos from other Hanna-Barbera characters are delightful though some appearances are too short. As to be expected from such enormously talented voice actors, the voice acting is terrific, people like Daws Butler and Mel Blanc never fail to amaze with their ability to voice multiple characters and give them wildly varied personalities.

Overall, very good special. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Huckleberry Hound, Snagglepuss, Quick Draw McGraw, Augie Doggie, Doggie Daddy, and more show up at Jellystone to spend Christmas with Yogi. But Yogi and Boo Boo have left Jellystone so the gang, along with Ranger Smith, sets out to find them. In the city, Yogi and Boo Boo find a little lonely rich girl. Her father is too busy for her. This is a pretty disturbing part of the story as her father even lets her out of the limo onto the streets of a big city by herself and seems to not have the slightest bit of doubt about his choice. Then, when she doesn't return to the limo on time, he shows some concern...in the form of bossing a security guard around to go look for her. Geez what a parent this girl has! So as Yogi and Boo are helping the little girl and getting into more trouble, their friends are busy looking for them. This results in a number of Hanna-Barbera cameos such as Wally Gator, Magilla Gorilla, and even Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble. Must've been some kind of time warp for that last one.

All in all, it's a pleasant cartoon. Most of the humor fell flat for me but I'm not the biggest Hanna-Barbera fan. Still, it's a watchable special and would probably be a bigger treat for HB fans to see all these characters interacting.

The usual gang of Snagglepuss, Huckleberry Hound, and Auggie Doggie & Doggie Daddy head to Jellystone park for Xmas to party with Yogi and Boo-Boo. But he's already headed into the city to party with them. Amid the confusion Yogi ends up hiding from zookeepers by dressing up as a department store Santa where he tries hard to make a little girl's dream come true.

The plot is hardly timeless, or even original, but it works well, and has plenty of cameos from Hanna-Barbera stars. If it had been a bit more focused instead of an ensemble effort then it would deserve the title of Xmas Classic, but it's worth a watch as is.