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Live-Action / CGI hybrids are a dime a dozen. While technically all movies these days use both live-action and CGI, this term is used to describe films in which main characters are played by both live actors and voice actors on CGI creatures. This kind of film is generally frowned upon, as they're most of the time a cheap way to release a known-franchise cash-in film for kids with very little work and lots of revenue. These films are generally based on old cartoons, in order to attract more people using the nostalgia factor.
Yogi Bear is one of those films, and it just might be the exception. Sure, it's a comitee-made film by executives who just want a quick buck by spending little, but there's no denying that at least part of the production and filming team intended to actually entertain their audience.
The film, based on the eponymous old Hanna-Barbera cartoon, follows the adventures of the eponymous antropomorphized bear, who spends his life in Jellystone Park with his friend the, um, height-challenged Boo Boo, stealing pic-a-nic baskets from unsuspecting visitors and generally making Park Ranger Smith's life a pandemonium, even as he tries to woo Rachel, a naturist who's studying the park. As the story progresses, the unnamed city's Mayor Brown has bankrupted the city and decides to sell the park to make a quick buck and help his campaign for Governor. So Yogi and Ranger Smith are forced to put aside their differences and work together in order to save the park, which you'll recognize as the plot you instantly thought of the moment a Yogi Bear movie was announced.
Yes, the plot is generic to the core, as these movies go, but this one has the bright idea of sidetracking the main plot in order to focus on the details, where it shines. Unlike, say, The Smurfs, this movie doesn't feel the need to unnecessarily change the locale to the big city, instead focusing most of its time in the park, so you'll be treated to beautiful visuals. Unlike Garfield, this film doesn't change the characters' personalities to fit cliches, so they have to work the plot in their favor and not the other way around. And, unlike other films of this style, this doesn't turn into a potty-humor-fest, despite having ample opportunity to do so (I'm still amazed that no one farts here, even the 2014 TMNT film did that). Also, the resolution doesn't rely on Deus Ex Machinas or "forgetting" previous problems. The film actually does a good job of correctly establishing everything.
Another important thing is that this film has genuinely funny moments. Sure, there's a lot of slapstick around, but for the most part is not forced or annoying, or simplistic (no crotch kicks, for instance). This is actually a very good adaptation of the original show. Granted, such a thing isn't HARD to do, but notice how pretty much every other film in this style completely fails at this simple task by unnecessarily introducing changes that do more harm than good.
This film manages to be funny without insulting the audience, and it does so in part because of the writing, and in part because of the cast. Dan Aykroyd plays Yogi and Justin Timberlake plays Boo Boo. Timberlake does a pretty impressive job, but Aykroyd sounds less like Yogi and more like, well, Dan Aykroyd doing a Yogi impression. You get used to it in the course of the film, but it's a bit off-putting at first. That being said, they both manage to give emotion to their characters. Ranger Smith is played by Tom Cavanagh (aka Dr. Harrison Wells in The Flash TV show), and he's definitely the best part of the film. Props to the filmmaking team for giving a big role to a character that actually had a big role in the source material and not just make "original" characters take the spotlight. His love interest Rachel is played by Anna Faris, who's her usual charming cutie. Mayor Brown is played by Andrew Daly (you know, that guy who looks like a somewhat squashed Christopher Reeve), and Ranger Smith's second in command, Ranger Jones, is played by TJ Miller, which, like every other character played by TJ Miller... is TJ Miller.
So yeah, the film is hardly original, but it's fun. It's not life-changing, but it's harmless. It's corny, but not insulting. So I recommend it.
Word of advice, though. If you're getting the Blu-Ray, find the two-disc version. I got the one-disc version, not realizing there were two, and the extras are a joke. There's two "Jellystone Park Jewels", which are short videos made as if they were instructional videos for park visitors. They're short but amusing (though I feel there should be more of these). The other extra is "Yogi Bear Mashup", which merges the cast talking about the characters while scenes of the film and show are compared, and you can see where they got their inspiration for many scenes. It's cute to see actors describing the characters in one short sentence each, and you have to realize if they had more time they wouldn't have anything else to do because, let's face it, those were pretty one-note characters. Again, short but fun. There's nothing actually wrong with these extras, but you will have seen everything in less than 10 minutes, maybe even 5. The two-disc version is the way to go, as it has many more extras, at least according to the box picture.
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Love it watched it over to see it in 3D
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that super awesome guy with abs
but its a good family friendly
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on February 17, 2016
Tracy Mansell
One to pic - Nic !
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on February 7, 2013
