Disney has been putting out a nature documentary on Earth Day for the past several years in order to raise awareness and funds for wildlife conservation. It's an extremely noble ambition, creating docs that are appropriate for children to help raise a generation of environmentally conscious people. Unfortunately in their latest, what we get is the Disney-fication of natural science. Instead of just giving us stunning visuals and fascinating facts, we're force fed a personified, half-hearted narrative, leaving Bears to be neither entertaining nor informative. Bears follows a mother and her two newborn cubs as they live out their first year, looking for food and trying to survive the dangers of the world. This mostly amounts to walking around. Animals strolling along beautiful scenery can be nice for a 30 minute TV episode or short doc, but not for a full length movie. The movie is somewhat aware of this and tries to construct a story to fill the space, but it's syrupy in its sweetness. While Reilly does a decent and mildly funny job with the voice-over, the script is too on-the-nose and corny. Worst of all, I'm not sure it's wise to personify animals by making them heroes (bears) or villains (wolves/bad bears) when their natural state is engaging enough. As a fan of Earth and Oceans, I think I expected more from Bears. Our world is a wondrous and complex place, and we get that in Bears with some awe-inspiring cinematography and some engaging natural moments. Nonetheless, while Bears is undeniably gorgeous, unfortunately it's also undeniably dull.
Review of Bears
