A sweet, tender all-ages picture from DisneyNature, "Bears" is a fun, brisk journey frought with peril, triumph and beasts with attitude, all wrapped up in a nature pic.
John C. Reilly narrates the film, which sees a mother bear journeying from the Alaskan wilderness to a stream full of trout, which the mother needs to survive the winter hibernating with her progeny.
The trio meets danger and cuteness at every turn, fighting off rival bears, as well as a wolf that would eat the cubs.
"Bears" is a stunningly beautiful film, full of sweeping shots of Alaskan wilderness, time-lapse photography that shows the rise of currents and bubbling brooks and streams.
Narratively, "Bears" is similar to any number of other nature films. In many ways, they're true reality cinema, using (presumably) authentic wild bears to tell a story, which may or may not be 100% true (creative editing can do wonders when you're trying to tell a story).
The film's chief stumbling block is Reilly as the narrator. He often takes on the persona of one of the bears, speaking like them before lapsing back into the character of narrator. The effect is jarring and more than a little precious in a film that features bear cubs literally frolicking in meadows and swimming through streams.
I took my three kids to see "Bears," and while they loved it, a few of the scenes are mildly intense, especially scenes where the cubs are in danger. But overall, "Bears" is the sort of safe, disposable family entertainment that has just enough of an educational component to not fall into the category of live-action remake. Fun and entertaining, offering enough of the realities of life in the animal kingdom, but eminently forgettable. Your kids, if you have them, will enjoy it, perhaps retain one or two tidbits and otherwise forget it within an hour of seeing it. But you'll be glad they experienced it.