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FeedMovie Review: Yogi Bear
Films opening this week:
Black Swan - Amherst Dipson; Eastern Hills Dipson; Galleria, Quaker, Hollywood Regals
The Fighter - Amherst Dipson; Market Arcade; Maple Ridge; Transit, Elmwood, Galleria, Quaker, Hollywood Regals; Flix
How Do You Know - Market Arcade; Maple Ridge; McKinley Mall Dipson; Transit, Elmwood, Galleria, Hollywood Regals; Flix
Tiny Furniture - North Park Dipson
Tron: Legacy - Market Arcade; Maple Ridge; Transit, Elmwood, Galleria, Quaker, Hollywood Regals; Flix
Yogi Bear - Market Arcade; Maple Ridge; McKinley Mall Dipson; Transit, Elmwood, Galleria, Hollywood Regals; Flix
I’m pretty sure I watched the old “Yogi Bear Show” cartoon from Hanna Barbera growing up, but I can’t recollect anything besides the titular character’s goofy voice and the park ranger constantly screaming his name in defeated angst. What I want to remember, however, is that it was good. Granted, I was young and probably didn't need much to keep me entertained and interested, but if the new live action/animated hybrid from visual effects superstar Eric Brevig gives any indication, the show must not have been as good as my nostalgic feelings wish. Not only does Yogi Bear have major motion blur in its 3D, distorting on angles and confusing when foreground and background move at different speeds, it is ploddingly boring, and devoid of any real action. Hollywood needs to figure out a way for this tripe to go straight into DVD release so children can enjoy it—as the gleefully annoying shrieks at my screening indicated they do—and families can avoid a $100-plus matinee pricetag.
Narrator Josh Robert Thompson opens the film, ushering in Dan Aykroyd's hammy-voiced Yogi and Justin Timberlake's screeching Boo Boo. The talking, upright bears are engaged in their favorite pastime—the snatching of 'pic-a-nic' baskets. Then we're whisked off to the ranger station where we meet Tom Cavanagh’s nature-educated Ranger Smith and T.J. Miller’s ambitious boob, Ranger Jones. Miller is fine but Cavanagh is too wooden—you want to empathize with the role, but his awkward delivery just won’t allow it.
The major conflict needed for a feature-length cartoon comes in the form of a municipal budget deficit and a power-hungry mayor (played by a campy Andrew Daly) who, with his yes-man Chief of Staff (Nathan Corddry), is looking to turn the park into a lucrative logging enterprise. It’s an obvious and simple conceit meant to satisfy viewers who actually care about a plot—but if you’re over the age of seven, good luck.
There is even romance for Cavanagh in the guise of Anna Faris’s documentary filmmaker Rachel, but the relationship stays uselessly chaste so as not to gross-out the intended demographic. Yogi and Boo Boo run the show—as they should—with the appropriate measures of goofy fun and bumbling disaster.
While Yogi Bear can only be tragic for an adult audience—and way too expensive given its silliness—it will most likely bank enough to warrant an even more unnecessary sequel. More popcorn, more soda, more candy, and more goofy smiles from beautifully animated icons of the past, refurbished for today’s generation. Save your money and rent the classics for your kids. You can Jiffy-Pop the corn, uncap a two-liter, and reminisce. But be sure to watch Edmund Earle’s depressingly awesome alternate ending to this movie. At least something good came out of it.
Yogi Bear 2/10
photography:
[1] (L-r) Boo Boo, as voiced by JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE, and Yogi Bear, as voiced by DAN AYKROYD, in Warner Bros. Pictures' live-action/computer-animated adventure in 3D, "YOGI BEAR," a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
[2] (L-r) TOM CAVANAGH as Ranger Smith and ANNA FARIS as Rachel in Warner Bros. Pictures' live-action/computer-animated adventure in 3D, "YOGI BEAR," a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo by Phil Bray
