Review of Yogi Bear (2010) by Nathan C — 11 Apr 2011

A silly yet fun reworking of the old cartoon show. Parents, it just may be a memory trip worth taking.

Based on that cartoon, it centers around Yogi and Boo-Boo in Jellystone Park stealing pic-a-nic baskets and bothering the head ranger. The movie expands upon that basis to include a plot by the evil mayor to close Jellystone Park and chop its trees down. A filmmaker, as the ranger's love interest, shows up to make a documentary, and the park is turning 100 years old. But when things go awry at a celebration, Yogi must set things right to stop the mayor from getting his way and to keep the park safe.

The acting is decent for a family film, and Dan Akyroyd makes a good impression. Hell, even Justin Timberlake managed to sound like Boo-Boo just fine. I expected a disaster as it sounded very stupid to make a live-action Yogi Bear movie, but this here isn't half-bad to tell the truth. The visual wizardry used to transfer the bears to the big screen is nice. A couple of good songs used, a few humorous parts, and hardly any crude humor involving pee or poo-poo is present. This is what Furry Vengeance [too mean-spirited and gross for anyone to bear] and Alvin and the Chipmunks [too obnoxious and poseur-ish for one's good values] should've been: a goofy, good-natured animal comedy which doesn't alienate its target audience.

Alas, the jokes used are hit-and-miss (and some aren't beary funny). Despite the villians' fun scenery-chewing, they are not even slightly evil, but just money-hungry. And the instant it ends, it begins to disappear from memory faster than you can say, "YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOGI!!!!" I could say it's dumb and corny (which it is), but why complain?

This may not be smarter than "the average bear", but this is 80 enjoyable minutes for the whole family. The 87% of critics and the 61% of people... I question thee, is it really that godawful? More so than that Alvin movie? Doesn't seem like it to me as this has exceeded my expectations, turning into (huzzah) a surprisingly good time. "Pic-a-nic" is the word.