Review of Yogi Bear (2010) by Adrian B — 16 Jun 2011

I've never been much of a fan of Hanna Barbera cartoons. Outside of the older Tom and Jerry cartoons, I pretty much keep my distance from them. With the success of the Scooby Doo films though, you knew some more were bound to follow. Movies like Space Jam, Looney Tunes: Back in Action, and the Garfield movies probably triggered interest just to keep up with the competition. While it's interesting that we haven't seen the likes of Magilla Gorilla, Huckleberry Hound, or Snagglepuss jump from animation to live-action just yet, it does look like The Jetsons, Jonny Quest, and Hong Kong Phooey are on the cards and due for release by 2012. In the meantime though, we have Yogi Bear to deal with.

The movie starts off exactly how you'd expect it to; Yogi attempting to steal pic-a-nic baskets and Ranger Smith scolding him. But a threat presents itself in the mayor wanting to start logging Jellystone to turn a profit on a bankrupt town and also give him a running start for his campaign as governor. So of course Ranger Smith steps in to try and save the park himself with Yogi accidentally ruining his efforts. As a defeated Ranger Smith is transferred to another park, Yogi decides to stop being a smarter than average bear and just be average. With a little pep talk from Boo Boo, Yogi reunites with Ranger Smith to try and save Jellystone before it's leveled and gone forever before it can celebrate its 100th birthday.

I probably shouldn't have expected much from the story since it's based on a cartoon that initially only lasted seven minutes or so in its prime, but it still seems weak in its execution. The movie pushes you to the brink of tolerating such hokey tripe. As if drudging through the story that is incredibly unlikely and banks on a one in a million miracle to save the location of beloved cartoon characters isn't enough, their ridiculous inventions, scatterbrained ideas, and irritating dance routines will make you want to jump off a cliff and hopefully land on something jagged to bring you the sweet satisfaction and quieting comfort of serenity away from a horrid film. The dialogue isn't much better either: "Faster than the speed of sandwich." Ugh, seriously? It makes you want to kick a bear square in the nuts just to get some sort of retribution.

The voice cast for Yogi and Boo Boo is a bit out of left field. Dan Aykroyd and Justin Timberlake sound off at times, especially Timberlake. In shorter strings of dialogue between the two talking bears it isn't too bad, but it's incredibly noticeable when they talk for longer periods of time; Timberlake especially. It's like his voice fluctuated sporadically for no reason at all at times. While it's respectable to try and do your own take on a classic character, it didn't really feel like the Yogi Bear and Boo Boo that you know. It felt like a refurbished version of them, which may have been the point.

The special effects in this are vital to making the entire movie work. When the talking bears are just walking around the park talking to humans, they look fine and are as believable as two talking bears in the woods can be. But things get really terrible in the second half of the movie around the time they get on the raft in the rapids and go over the waterfall. Just picture this: CG characters in front of a green screen. It's truly awful; like a turd in motion as it swirls down the toilet bowl.

While it does partially feel like a seven minute cartoon storyline stretched to last an hour and twelve minutes, Yogi Bear still suffers from being highly predictable, incredibly corny, and downright simple. The movie is practically anything but funny and charming while the cast comes off as awkward and overbearing. At least the film has the decency to keep the pain and anguish short and sweet as the movie is only about as long as Cloverfield. If you must see this though do yourself a favor, run swiftly into a brick wall before it begins so you'll wake up from your unconscious state around the time the credits are rolling. Or just watch that fanmade alternate ending floating around that parodies The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. You'll be set either way.