Review of Bears (2014) by Jason M — 28 Apr 2014

Bears April 18.

Initial Reaction: Gee, I wonder what this film's about.

Main Characters.

John C. Reilly: He's the narrator.

Plot Summary.

It is the end of winter and a mother bear has given birth to two cubs. Now the three of them have to take a trek to a river to find food (namely salmon). And she has to keep her cubs safe from other predators and other bears.

SCORING.

Main Characters.

John does a good job of not being overly sweet with his narration. He has a bit of fun when one of the cubs gets his claw stuck in a clam. But he isn't afraid to show the hardships these bears have to face in their trek for food. SCORE: 9.

Supporting Cast.

The three bears are really cute and easy to root for - but the other animals in the film - not so much. I really didn't go for the male bears or any other creature that mama bear and her cubs come across. SCORE: 6.

Plot.

This is one short film - about 72 minutes long. And it's probably a good idea to keep it short and simple because there really isn't that much to the journey. SCORE: 8.

Originality.

Unfortunately, this film feels a lot like most nature documentaries that you can find on the small screen (in PBS, Animal Planet, and Discover Network) SCORE: 3.

Violence Factor.

There's a few fights between bears as mama bear keeps her young safe from several male bears, and there's shots of fish being torn apart by the bears as they eat them (but how else can bears eat fish?) SCORE: 8.

Other Moral Issues.

I've been ignoring the elephant in the room until now: if this film is shown to kids, they're probably wondering why father bear isn't helping raise his young (I know I am wondering that). This film needed to say why that is the case, but doesn't. SCORE: 3.

Final Score (out of 60): 37 % Score: 61.67%.

It's a good nature documentary best seen on a computer to TV screen.