Winnie, un ourson de légende

My children were very much entertained by this movie. Historical and semi-factual movies are not really their thing at ALL. It was nice to get them to discuss WWI, bears, relationships, zoo history.. you name it. The bear was really charming. I've never been a huge Pooh fan, but I am a bear fan. I love bear movies. This made me set aside a little love in my heart for Winnie the Pooh. It did bring some tears to my eyes when the bear is in the hospital visiting...

I think it's better than average as kids' animal movies go. I don't think my husband would want to watch it again, however. I personally think this movie is rated a little high on this site. Perhaps it doesn't have enough votes yet to get a good measurement. It's a good movie, but by no means is it high cinema. It's a made for TV movie, for sure.

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.)

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.

'A Bear Named Winnie' is a movie made for TV - and it pretty much shows on its production values and the treatments of its story. Still, the film turns out to be a tender, cute, charming, and warm family movie with splendid performance from Michael Fassbender.

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. :-)