Les Country Bears

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.

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 don't know what people found wrong with this film. When I first saw the trailer, I didn't think much of it, but then I saw the DVD of it, and I loved it.

The music was good, and the story made sense (for a movie with talking bears) and considering it's based on a Disney Attractions that's been there since the beginning of Disney (or close) it's suprisingly fresh. Certain parts of the plot remind me of Blues Brothers (One of my Fav. movies) And that just added to it.

Don't listen to the people that bash this movie. Go see it and make ur own choice on it's worth.

If your a musician your going to love this film.

Why? Because musically they have perfected every detail.

Every instrument, except the one string slide guitar are top of the line instruments a true musician would love to play.

Some I could pick out are as follows: Fender Stratocaster, Fender Precision Bass, Gibson J-200, and a resonator guitar, just to name a few.

And the stage sound setup is perfect with three wedge stage monitors in the front, not to mention an all star cameo line up.

First of all, you should have a certain appreciation for the original bears to like the Country Bears Movie. I thought what made this movie good was mostly the music. It was great. I loved the duel with Brian Setzer and Zeb Zoober(one of the bears). It rocks. Second of all, sure, it may be considered a kids movie, but the cameos that are in the movie are most likely not going to be recognized by the average child. There's also some good one liners in there. I just bought the DVD and have seen it already about 3 times. There is also a Mockumentary of the Country Bears that is just a crackup. I just hope that if Disney makes a sequel, it won't suck. Overall, it was a rousing, footstopping good time.