- This article is about the film. For the titular character it stars, see Yogi Bear (character). For other uses, see Yogi Bear.
Yogi Bear is a 2010 American 3D live-action/computer-animated comedy film adaption of Hanna-Barbera's Yogi Bear franchise. It was directed by Eric Brevig and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures.
Synopsis[]
Yogi Bear teams up with Ranger Smith to save Jellystone Park after the former's dangerous stunt causes it to be shut down by a power-hungry, villainous and corrupt mayor, who wants nothing better to do than get rid of it, believing it into bleeding the city dry of funds.
Plot[]
Yogi and Boo-Boo are two bears who have a penchant for stealing picnic baskets from visitors to Jellystone Park, while park rangers Smith and Jones are preventing them to do so. Meanwhile, Mayor Brown realizes that Franklin City is facing bankruptcy due to profligate spending on his part. To solve it and fund his election campaign to be the next governor, the mayor decides to select Jellystone as a logging site, and Jellystone is prepared to be shut down.
To save the park, Ranger Smith holds a Centennial festival where he hopes to make a profit selling Season Passes. To sabotage the effort, Mayor Brown plays on Ranger Jones's desire to be head ranger and promises him the position if the funds are not raised. Yogi and Boo-Boo had promised Smith to stay out of sight during the festival, but Jones convinces them otherwise. They try to please the crowd with a waterskiing performance, but Yogi inadvertently sets his cape on fire, causing the fireworks Smith set up to be knocked over and ignited prematurely, launching them into the crowd, who flee in a panic. After Jellystone is shut down, Ranger Smith is forced to stay in Evergreen Park, a small urban enclave choked with litter and pollution, but not after he tells Yogi that he is not as smart as he thinks he is. Now seeing that their home is in danger of being destroyed, Yogi and Boo-Boo travel to Evergreen Park and tell Smith about this, where he places the clues that Mayor Brown had given him, that Brown and his chief of staff are planning to cut down Jellystone and its trees to make money. They return to Jellystone, and along with Rachel plan to stop the sale of the park. They learn that Boo Boo's pet turtle is a rare and endangered species, which means that, by law, the Park cannot be destroyed if the turtle is residing there. Ranger Jones then turns over Mayor Brown and teams up with Smith, Rachel, and the bears, after learning that he has been manipulated. Mayor Brown then learns about this and has his guards steal the turtle and confronts the group, stating that power is more convincing than the law.
After Mayor Brown leaves for his conference, Rachel reveals that she had installed a camera in Boo Boo's bow tie, which recorded Mayor Brown's confession. The turtle manages to escape from Brown's Chief of Staff by using his frog-like tongue to pull itself through the car window and out into the park. Yogi and Boo-Boo keep the guards distracted so Ranger Smith can upload the confession in the Jumbotron. When the confession is played, the crowd riots, and Brown attempts to tell them that the turtle does not exist, but the turtle manages to get into the conference. The people then learn about the park having an endangered species. Police officers arrest Mayor Brown and his guards for his crime; his chief of staff attempts to escape but is pinned down by Rachel and he's arrested as well. The park then becomes a great success. Jones loses his position as head ranger and Smith takes it back. But Jones still works there, handing out flyers about how Jellystone Park has a rare and endangered turtle, while Rachel and Ranger Smith admit their feelings for each other. However, after they kiss, they start chasing after Yogi and Boo-Boo, who are back to stealing picnic baskets once again.
Characters[]
Main[]
Supporting[]
- Rachel Johnson (only live-action appearance)
Villains[]
- Mayor Brown (only live-action appearance)
- Chief of Staff (only live-action appearance)
- Ranger Jones (only live-action appearance, reformed)
Locations[]
Jellystone Park[]
- Ranger Station
- Yogi's Cave
- Lookout Mountain (only live-action appearance)
- Jellystone Station (only live-action appearance)
- Jelly Jarring Rapids (only live-action appearance)
Other[]
- Alaska (only mentioned)
- Montana (only mentioned)
- Asia (only and indirectly mentioned)
- Indonesia (only mentioned)
- Himalayas (only mentioned)
- Finland (only mentioned)
Objects[]
- Picnic baskets
- Pretzy Bites (only live-action appearance)
Animals[]
- Bears
- Frog-Mouthed Turtle (only live-action appearance, no lines)
Vehicles[]
- The Armadillo (only live-action appearance)
- Rachel's truck (only live-action appearance)
- Baskit Nabber 2000 (only live-action appearance)
- Mayor Brown's limousine (only live-action appearance)
- Ranger Smith's truck
Cast[]
| Dan Aykroyd | Yogi Bear (voice) |
|---|---|
| Justin Timberlake | Boo-Boo Bear (voice) |
| Tom Cavanagh | Ranger Smith |
| Anna Faris | Rachel Johnson |
| T.J. Miller | Ranger Jones |
| Andrew Daly | Mayor Brown |
| Nate Corddry | Chief of Staff |
| Josh Robert Thompson | Narrator (voice) |
| Barry Duffield Dean Knowsley Michael Morris Hayden Vernon Will Wallace |
Security Guards |
| Tim McLachlan | Purse Snatcher |
| David Stott | Mayor's Tailor |
| Tom Kay | Park Visitor |
| Christy Quiliam | Stylist |
| Suzana Srpek | Picnic Table Mom |
| Greg Johnson | Dirty Shopper |
| Patricia Aldersley | Elderly Purse Lady |
Production[]
In October 2008, it was announced that a live-action/computer-animated Yogi Bear film was in the works. Ash Brannon was originally hired to direct the film, but was replaced by Eric Brevig (Journey to the Center of the Earth 3-D) when it was decided that the film would be produced in 3D. Principal photography took place on the Lake Whakamaru Reserve, Waikato, New Zealand as it was winter in the northern hemisphere, and to wait for summer would put the production end time to be six months longer than if in southern hemisphere.
Dan Aykroyd, the voice of Yogi Bear in the film, explained that he was trying to evoke the influences that shaped Daws Butler's original Yogi Bear voice: "It's about hitting certain notes, going back to those old Lower East Side rhythms, the Catskills, Jersey, Upstate New York. It's the Yiddish language, essentially, being spoken in English. It's the 'setup, delivery, punch' that sitcoms live on today. That's where the origin of American humor is." Aykroyd also stated that he grew up watching Yogi Bear on the long, cold and dark afternoons in his native Ottawa: "As a kid growing up in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, where the sky turns dark in the winter at about 3:30, Yogi Bear was my fire, my hearth, when I would come home. I would immediately turn on the TV while I thawed out."
Justin Timberlake came in the film with a prepared Boo-Boo Bear voice; when he was learning to sing when he was younger, he imitated various cartoon characters. Regarding the film, Brevig stated that he didn't want parents who remembered watching Yogi Bear cartoons in their youth to feel marginalized and displaced by the film's contemporary depiction of Yogi Bear.
Rhythm and Hues Studios provided the CGI character animation for Yogi and Boo-Boo Bear and the frog-mouthed turtle in the film; the company had also worked on previous films based on Hanna-Barbera productions, such as The Flintstones (1994) and its prequel Viva Rock Vegas (2000); Scooby-Doo (2002) and its sequel Monsters Unleashed (2004).
Release[]
The film was originally scheduled for release on June 25, 2010, but was pushed back to December 17, 2010, in order to avoid competition with Grown Ups. In theaters, the film was accompanied by a CGI Looney Tunes short titled Rabid Rider, starring Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner.
Marketing[]
The film's first trailer was released online on July 28, 2010. It was also attached with Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore and Alpha and Omega. A second trailer premiered with Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole, and a third trailer premiered with DreamWorks' Megamind, Disney's Tangled and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1. One of the trailers was also attached with showings of Disney's Tron Legacy in the United Kingdom.
Reception[]
Yogi Bear debuted at the American box office at #2 behind Tron: Legacy, with an under-performing $16,411,322 compared to Tron Legacy's $44,026,211. The opening weekend was lower than Warner Bros. expected, but executives believed that the film would hold well throughout the holiday season. The film grossed $103.3 million in the United States a worldwide total of $203.5 million against an $80 million budget.
Critical Reception[]
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 13% based on 105 reviews and an average rating of 3.7/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Yogi Bear's 3D effects and all-star voice cast are cold comfort for its aggressively mediocre screenplay." On Metacritic the film has a score of 35 out of 100 based on 23 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.
Common Sense Media gave the film one star, saying "Dumber-than-average family comedy won't even impress kids." IGN gave the film 4.0/10, and summed up their review by saying "Of course, Yogi Bear is meant as a kid's' movie. And one supposes that it works on that level (the little ones at the press screening I attended seemed mildly amused). But we learned long ago that kid's movies can operate on more than one level, and that's not something that director Eric Brevig (Journey to the Center of the Earth 3-D) or his screenwriters are interested in. The result is a movie that's dumber than the average bear. Though at least it has a pee joke in it."
Spill.com appreciated the film for staying true to its original source material and not trying to "hip it up", comparing it to Alvin and the Chipmunks (2007), another live-action/CGI hybrid film that was also poorly received.
Gallery[]
Notes/Trivia[]
- This is the first and only live-action adaptation of the Yogi Bear franchise to be made without the assistance of William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, who passed away in 2001 and 2006, respectively.
- This Ranger Smith isn't remotely close to how the one in the cartoon acts, who's infuriated almost all the time with Yogi's antics. This Ranger Smith is a lot calm, presumably for realism, but does show signs of anger as the film ends.
Cultural References[]
- When a pinecone falls out of a tree and hits Yogi in the eye, he does a Wilhelm scream.