This is a Greenpeace tale told by the Brothers Grimm ! Frightening, nearly gore sometimes, and yet targeting children. There is nearly no rest along, nearly no cheerful moments and a constant oppressive atmosphere. Computer graphics are disputable ; the bear is acceptable but humans are sub-standards. Environment is OK but dark as the rest and lacking details. Story is nothing to remember of ; it has been told again and again, following the Disney rules, linear and predictable. Music - but is there any music at all ? Any tune to remember ? Ugly, frightening, dark, sub-quality. Definitively not for children under 10, and, IMHO, probably of low interest to the rest of us.
11 Reviews
beautiful
dantonstl1 October 2019
Warning: Spoilers
This film is great.i really liked the crows.their sound were unique and memorable. in a world where almost every cartoon has talking animals. this one left that to the humans.
there is plenty that i dont like however.like jonathan is pretty ugly and looks like a cancer patient.him and his sister never get along...and she is never ever in real fear.when jonathan shows up to save her from a kidnapping...well.. that was bad...and for her to pout and not be grateful...very weird scenario.
some scenes had me on edge..i almost cried near the end when the big bear was falling into a trap with big sharp sticks meant to kill him...
these kids had gone missing for what seemed like three days to a week. possibly...im sure police and the parents would have had a search party...but that wasnt implemented...but again..the train..the birds...even the hunting dogs..all set a tone as to what was likeable n what wasnt...for sure this was a good movie..but there were situations that were scary.weird and uncool.
like the mini moose? and the hunter had a collection on his wall...that was interesting...i thought the cgi was near perfect...watching the hunter run in some scenes was the best...too bad folks are bad mouthing the cgi....stuff from zootopia is too fake!this almost resembles a painting ...
Son was Glued to tv
tgihades-177004 October 2021
It my not be the greatest piece of animation... but my son who's almost 6 loved it! He doesn't watch anything from start to finish, but he did this. It had a few rough areas in term of what a child should watch(it is PG) but nothing too too intense.
the Great Bear was /great,
erlebird24 September 2015
My 27 month old granddaughter does not sit quietly for many movies but this is one she sits and watches the whole movie without moving. She loves it. Every time she asks to play a movie, she wants the Great Bear. She does not find it scary. She views this through Jonathans and Sophies eyes, very innocent and trusting. The parts where the bear got shot did not upset her because Jonathan and Sophie were there to help. There was a positive outcome in the movie. It also I believe portrayed the hunter as not so much mean but not fully understanding because all he thought he was doing was protecting his home and Sophie understood that when she asked the bear to fix the hunters home. I do recommend this movie. Wish I could find another movie that held her attention like this one.
Children love it, I'm not so sure
emilydowan9 October 2019
My children love this but having sat and watched it with them, I'm not sure how suitable it is. There is something very eerie about it and the characters are quite menacing. I'm sure the boy says "oh s**t" at one point when the grandpa comes looking for him. It's certainly what my daughter repeated anyway! I know kids like things like this but I feel a bit worried that I've let my children watch this. They are young
Could have been a much better family film
Rectangular_businessman10 September 2017
Warning: Spoilers
When I saw the first trailer of "The Great Bear", I thought that the plot seemed interesting and way more original than the usual premises of many other CGI flicks from the recent years.
Now that I finally saw it, I think that this movie was a missed opportunity to create a more interesting kind of family film. The premise was good and had a lot of potential to be something much better but the final result isn't particularly good nor memorable. From a technical standpoint, "The Great Bear" has some glaring flaws: Most of the time it looks more like a low-budget video game cutscene rather than a proper film. On the positive side, the characters designs, despite being quite unremarkable, at least are not hideously unappealing (A very common recurrence in many low- budget CGI movies)
The only character with a horrible design was the villain, and I know this is going to sound like a petty nitpick, but his ridiculously hairy arms managed to be distracting at certain points of the movie, killing the mood of some serious scenes Imagine a human character with orangutan arms and the face of the Rasputin version from Don Bluth's Anastasia, and you will have an idea of how grotesque and unappealing his design was.
With all that being said, I have to admit that the movie had a neat atmosphere which would have been perfect for a more mature kind of adventure film. I also like the fact that the movie (despite being aimed at kids) didn't shy away to include a certain level of violence and isn't afraid to mention death in the same condescending manner of many other mainstream animated movies.
I guess the noticeable lack of gags is one of the reasons some viewers may consider this movie to be "joyless", but I personally think that "The Great Bear" would have been much worse if it tried to shoehorn some forced gags to the story. There are, however, a couple of awkward "cutesy" moments that didn't add very much to the plot but weren't particularly annoying either.
The main two kids character were okay. The girl had a somewhat generic "girly" personality, but the boy, despite not being very likable, behaved in a more realistic manner than the stereotypical portrayal of children that is so common to see in media. His characterization wasn't entirely perfect, but it had potential. On the other hand, I found the villain to be generic and forgettable, despite the cruelty and unpleasantness of his actions. Not only his design was awful, his personality was also totally flat, without any interesting element that could differentiate him from the bunch, besides of his horribly hairy arms. And the titular great bear All I can say that maybe the first trailers gave me the wrong impression, but I was expecting a completely different kind of character. Something a bit less generic, instead of the average "friendly-bear" archetype so common in cartoons. Well, at least he didn't talk and wasn't voiced by some over-hyped celebrity.
The whole movie feels like a missed opportunity. Even when the CGI wasn't great, this aspect could have been compensated with a better story and a more solid characterization. Also a better villain without awful orangutan arms would have helped a lot.
Now that I finally saw it, I think that this movie was a missed opportunity to create a more interesting kind of family film. The premise was good and had a lot of potential to be something much better but the final result isn't particularly good nor memorable. From a technical standpoint, "The Great Bear" has some glaring flaws: Most of the time it looks more like a low-budget video game cutscene rather than a proper film. On the positive side, the characters designs, despite being quite unremarkable, at least are not hideously unappealing (A very common recurrence in many low- budget CGI movies)
The only character with a horrible design was the villain, and I know this is going to sound like a petty nitpick, but his ridiculously hairy arms managed to be distracting at certain points of the movie, killing the mood of some serious scenes Imagine a human character with orangutan arms and the face of the Rasputin version from Don Bluth's Anastasia, and you will have an idea of how grotesque and unappealing his design was.
With all that being said, I have to admit that the movie had a neat atmosphere which would have been perfect for a more mature kind of adventure film. I also like the fact that the movie (despite being aimed at kids) didn't shy away to include a certain level of violence and isn't afraid to mention death in the same condescending manner of many other mainstream animated movies.
I guess the noticeable lack of gags is one of the reasons some viewers may consider this movie to be "joyless", but I personally think that "The Great Bear" would have been much worse if it tried to shoehorn some forced gags to the story. There are, however, a couple of awkward "cutesy" moments that didn't add very much to the plot but weren't particularly annoying either.
The main two kids character were okay. The girl had a somewhat generic "girly" personality, but the boy, despite not being very likable, behaved in a more realistic manner than the stereotypical portrayal of children that is so common to see in media. His characterization wasn't entirely perfect, but it had potential. On the other hand, I found the villain to be generic and forgettable, despite the cruelty and unpleasantness of his actions. Not only his design was awful, his personality was also totally flat, without any interesting element that could differentiate him from the bunch, besides of his horribly hairy arms. And the titular great bear All I can say that maybe the first trailers gave me the wrong impression, but I was expecting a completely different kind of character. Something a bit less generic, instead of the average "friendly-bear" archetype so common in cartoons. Well, at least he didn't talk and wasn't voiced by some over-hyped celebrity.
The whole movie feels like a missed opportunity. Even when the CGI wasn't great, this aspect could have been compensated with a better story and a more solid characterization. Also a better villain without awful orangutan arms would have helped a lot.
Not particularly fun to watch.
planktonrules28 June 2014
When The Great Bear begins, you'll think that this film is at least a decade old if not much older. This is because the computer generated graphics are quite blocky and unattractive. However, when you realize that the film just came out in 2011, you realize just how poor the film is graphically compared to the products coming from mainstream studios today. The films by Universal, Fox, Dreamworks and Pixar are so far beyond The Great Bear in quality that kids will no doubt also notice the difference. However, if the film has an excellent story, it can surely overcome the primitive graphics. Unfortunately, the graphics aren't the only problem with this tale.
The story involves an 11 year-old named Jonathan and his 6 year-old sister, Sophie. She is like most little sisters--a bit of a pain and he's a lot like older brothers--he just wants her to leave him alone. However, the pair end up having a big adventure when they go to stay at Grandpa's house out in the country. There, they wander into the great forest--a scary and foreboding place. Soon, the sister disappears and when Jonathan finally locates her he realizes this is an odd place indeed! She's discovered a nice bear and it's her friend--and it's also larger than a dinosaur. Jonathan thinks she's been kidnapped and enlists the help of a completely insane hunter. However, eventually Jonathan realizes the bear is friendly and he now has to stop the hunter from trying to kill this nice creature--even if this means his life.
In some ways, this film reminds me of My Neighbor Totoro, as the bear is very much like this magical Japanese creature. But this is where the similarity ends. Otherwise, the film seems very much like a heavy-handed and joyless film that has a very small audience. The film is too scary and violent for young kids and older audiences will probably feel it's too much of a kids' film. Its heavy-handed message that hunters are evil will probably annoy quite a few parents and delight the PETA-lovers out there. I was more upset at how one-dimensional and poorly written the guy was--regardless of whatever statement the filmmakers were trying to make. The bottom line is that the writing is broad and not particularly good. Combine that with the ugly graphics and it's a film you'd probably want to skip. Now I am not saying you necessarily should completely avoid the film--I just cannot see paying anything to rent or buy it. If it ever appears on a pay channel that you subscribe to and you have nothing better to do, then by all means see The Great Bear. Otherwise, you certainly could do better.
The story involves an 11 year-old named Jonathan and his 6 year-old sister, Sophie. She is like most little sisters--a bit of a pain and he's a lot like older brothers--he just wants her to leave him alone. However, the pair end up having a big adventure when they go to stay at Grandpa's house out in the country. There, they wander into the great forest--a scary and foreboding place. Soon, the sister disappears and when Jonathan finally locates her he realizes this is an odd place indeed! She's discovered a nice bear and it's her friend--and it's also larger than a dinosaur. Jonathan thinks she's been kidnapped and enlists the help of a completely insane hunter. However, eventually Jonathan realizes the bear is friendly and he now has to stop the hunter from trying to kill this nice creature--even if this means his life.
In some ways, this film reminds me of My Neighbor Totoro, as the bear is very much like this magical Japanese creature. But this is where the similarity ends. Otherwise, the film seems very much like a heavy-handed and joyless film that has a very small audience. The film is too scary and violent for young kids and older audiences will probably feel it's too much of a kids' film. Its heavy-handed message that hunters are evil will probably annoy quite a few parents and delight the PETA-lovers out there. I was more upset at how one-dimensional and poorly written the guy was--regardless of whatever statement the filmmakers were trying to make. The bottom line is that the writing is broad and not particularly good. Combine that with the ugly graphics and it's a film you'd probably want to skip. Now I am not saying you necessarily should completely avoid the film--I just cannot see paying anything to rent or buy it. If it ever appears on a pay channel that you subscribe to and you have nothing better to do, then by all means see The Great Bear. Otherwise, you certainly could do better.
Cheap animation and no time taken to fix little things
danumber404 July 2014
Warning: Spoilers
While on vacation, eleven-year-old Jonathan and his younger sister Sophie get lost in the deep woods. While Jonathan is looking for Sophie, she discovers a mountainous bear and befriends him. Jonathan thinks the bear kidnapped her and "hires" a hunter to take him down, but he soon realizes the bear is a friend and must stop the hunter. There's the environmentalist message for you.
This movie was made in 2011, but the graphic appear older. Movements are choppy and unrealistic. Not a lot of detail went into things, making them look rather smooth.
The animators seemed too lazy to properly move the characters' mouths. The mouths only jump around. Then the they simply threw the script in, so none of what they say matches the movements. Occasionally, their mouths wouldn't move at all.
For a children's movie, there's a decent bit of gore. Jonathan sticks his whole arm into the bear's tongue to remove a bullet, and adding to the gunky blood from the wound, Jonathan's arms a covered in blacking blood, as well as splattered across his face.
There was a rather unsettling scene where Sophie falls from the bear's head. It looked like a good five story drop, and she lands flat on her back. For the brief second we see her, she's not moving. I thought she was dead from the terrible thud, but when the hunter angrily grabs her, she's perfectly fine, unharmed. Oddly enough, she seemed to pull a muscle when the hunter lifted her arm up. Yet she wasn't hurt from the fall.
There was some unnecessary violence, I think, for a kids' movie. In a slightly disturbing scene, the hunter squeezes a small bird in his hands out of anger. Then he launches it at a tree. The poor thing was squashed and its eyes stayed open while his bird friends mourned over him. It might startle some viewers.
On top of all this, Jonathan cursed in the beginning of the movie. It's dotted with small things, like "darn" and "idiot." But an eleven-year-old is not supposed to drop the S-word.
A lot of obvious goofs: When Jonathan first meets the hunter, the hunter makes a bandage out of leaves and puts it on Jonathan's arm. In the very next shot, it's gone and never returns. The wound is also gone. The animators didn't take the time. For some reason, the bear, who is hundred of feet tall and long, is afraid of two small dogs. That makes no sense; a regular bear could attack the dogs.
Unexplainably, frogs create rain.
The hunter dies from collapsing rocks, and without music, it's quite sudden and, as I said before, probably unnecessary.
The whole movie has a dark, eerie feel. The sky is always cloudy, the forest is always covered by a foggy--literally and figuratively--veil. Not something cheerful. Did not enjoy it and don't recommend it.
This movie was made in 2011, but the graphic appear older. Movements are choppy and unrealistic. Not a lot of detail went into things, making them look rather smooth.
The animators seemed too lazy to properly move the characters' mouths. The mouths only jump around. Then the they simply threw the script in, so none of what they say matches the movements. Occasionally, their mouths wouldn't move at all.
For a children's movie, there's a decent bit of gore. Jonathan sticks his whole arm into the bear's tongue to remove a bullet, and adding to the gunky blood from the wound, Jonathan's arms a covered in blacking blood, as well as splattered across his face.
There was a rather unsettling scene where Sophie falls from the bear's head. It looked like a good five story drop, and she lands flat on her back. For the brief second we see her, she's not moving. I thought she was dead from the terrible thud, but when the hunter angrily grabs her, she's perfectly fine, unharmed. Oddly enough, she seemed to pull a muscle when the hunter lifted her arm up. Yet she wasn't hurt from the fall.
There was some unnecessary violence, I think, for a kids' movie. In a slightly disturbing scene, the hunter squeezes a small bird in his hands out of anger. Then he launches it at a tree. The poor thing was squashed and its eyes stayed open while his bird friends mourned over him. It might startle some viewers.
On top of all this, Jonathan cursed in the beginning of the movie. It's dotted with small things, like "darn" and "idiot." But an eleven-year-old is not supposed to drop the S-word.
A lot of obvious goofs: When Jonathan first meets the hunter, the hunter makes a bandage out of leaves and puts it on Jonathan's arm. In the very next shot, it's gone and never returns. The wound is also gone. The animators didn't take the time. For some reason, the bear, who is hundred of feet tall and long, is afraid of two small dogs. That makes no sense; a regular bear could attack the dogs.
Unexplainably, frogs create rain.
The hunter dies from collapsing rocks, and without music, it's quite sudden and, as I said before, probably unnecessary.
The whole movie has a dark, eerie feel. The sky is always cloudy, the forest is always covered by a foggy--literally and figuratively--veil. Not something cheerful. Did not enjoy it and don't recommend it.
Our family loved this movie!
hintonmama23 September 2015
We found this wonderful movie on TV and were quite delighted by it. We found the characters appealing and the story enchanting. It wasn't overburdened with special effects and was more like a familiar children's book brought to film. We were left wanting to see more and were sad to see it end. We would recommend this film to any family that enjoys storytelling in the fantasy realm. I can't wait to go buy it so we can watch it again. Thanks to cable TV we got to experience it for the first time. We want to own it so we can watch it multiple times and share it with others. Our ages range from 4 years to 71 years. We watched it as a family and all found it appealing.
Entertaining and meaningful
mariahromines20 January 2022
Warning: Spoilers
At face value, it is a nice story for young kids. My daughter liked it even before she was old enough to understand it on a deeper level.
She is now a tween and she continues to like it. After rewatching it during quarantine, she found something different to think about each time. As a parent, I feel that the movie did a really good job objectively presenting ideas to spark critical thinking. It also suceeded in translating that spark to a child without being overt. I don't see many kids movies that try to do anymore that let alone suceed.
The themes about being misjudging and being misunderstood, man vs nature, the human-nature connection, communication and listening, etc have started great family conversations.
I especially like that the hunter's negative reactive behavior is put into context. He makes very poor decisions that cause his own demise but you can see why he thinks the way he does.
He demonstrates how not taking the time to fully understand a conflict hurts everyone. Surely, we need that message taught now more than ever!
She is now a tween and she continues to like it. After rewatching it during quarantine, she found something different to think about each time. As a parent, I feel that the movie did a really good job objectively presenting ideas to spark critical thinking. It also suceeded in translating that spark to a child without being overt. I don't see many kids movies that try to do anymore that let alone suceed.
The themes about being misjudging and being misunderstood, man vs nature, the human-nature connection, communication and listening, etc have started great family conversations.
I especially like that the hunter's negative reactive behavior is put into context. He makes very poor decisions that cause his own demise but you can see why he thinks the way he does.
He demonstrates how not taking the time to fully understand a conflict hurts everyone. Surely, we need that message taught now more than ever!
Loved It! NOT as eerie or heavy-handed as some suggested
beadgirl-211299 January 2020
Warning: Spoilers
In the post Christmas season I have been looking for different things to watch than the constant drivel that is Broadcast Daytime TV, so I began exploring some of the alternate media services that are available online. As much as I dislike watching or even reading things on the small screen that is my 15" (17"?) Laptop, I've put up with it as I haven't taken the time yet to hook-up my router to my smart tv.
Personally, I enjoyed this little film Very Much and did NOT find it as dark and eerie as a few of the other reviewers. Plus, as I don't have children and am more used to used to hanging with teenagers as a former High School Guidance Counselor, I cannot gauge how scary this film might or might not be to young children. I leave that to the parents who have already written, and they seemed okay with this film.
Keeping in mind that the Production Year for "The Great Bear" was 2011 , AND it was produced by a Culture DIFFERENT from the USA, I did NOT see ANY issues with the graphics or technical aspects of this film. For all WE know, it could have been an Artistic Choice by the Director and His team. As write-ups of this film already describe the Great Forest as "magical", NO explanation of miniature moose, an over-sized bear or how squeezing a frog can produce a rainstorm are needed. I considered the latter one about the frog as possibly being routed in Nordic Culture an mythos. Who knew?
Yes, the story line is simple and moves along literally towards a not too unexpected end, I did not feel it was heavy-handed or overly Pro-PETA in it's approach. Pro-Nature and a belief that we need to protect our Planet and still be in awe of Nature, might be a more correct assessment. For those who wrote and found the film to be visually "dark", I recommend you adjust the Brightness and Contrast controls on your monitor. I had no problems with it. Whereas, LOTR and The Hobbit are infinitely MORE dark and difficult to watch on a small screen that was not in a Theater than this little film.
Want something to watch with or without your Grade School children? Something with a realistic, yet positive world voice, AND from a culture different from Hollywood and the USA? Then, I HIGHLY recommend "The Great Bear". I'm not sure if I have any spoilers, but I'm checking "Yes" just to be on the safe side.
Personally, I enjoyed this little film Very Much and did NOT find it as dark and eerie as a few of the other reviewers. Plus, as I don't have children and am more used to used to hanging with teenagers as a former High School Guidance Counselor, I cannot gauge how scary this film might or might not be to young children. I leave that to the parents who have already written, and they seemed okay with this film.
Keeping in mind that the Production Year for "The Great Bear" was 2011 , AND it was produced by a Culture DIFFERENT from the USA, I did NOT see ANY issues with the graphics or technical aspects of this film. For all WE know, it could have been an Artistic Choice by the Director and His team. As write-ups of this film already describe the Great Forest as "magical", NO explanation of miniature moose, an over-sized bear or how squeezing a frog can produce a rainstorm are needed. I considered the latter one about the frog as possibly being routed in Nordic Culture an mythos. Who knew?
Yes, the story line is simple and moves along literally towards a not too unexpected end, I did not feel it was heavy-handed or overly Pro-PETA in it's approach. Pro-Nature and a belief that we need to protect our Planet and still be in awe of Nature, might be a more correct assessment. For those who wrote and found the film to be visually "dark", I recommend you adjust the Brightness and Contrast controls on your monitor. I had no problems with it. Whereas, LOTR and The Hobbit are infinitely MORE dark and difficult to watch on a small screen that was not in a Theater than this little film.
Want something to watch with or without your Grade School children? Something with a realistic, yet positive world voice, AND from a culture different from Hollywood and the USA? Then, I HIGHLY recommend "The Great Bear". I'm not sure if I have any spoilers, but I'm checking "Yes" just to be on the safe side.
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