User Reviews

Here's a family friendly movie that will be enjoyed by all ages. Outstanding cinematography takes you very up close and personal with a mother bear and her two cubs in their first year.

John C. Reilly narrates, sometimes as if for the blind. He is saying what is on the screen. The narration is a little too much when he speaks for the male cub. An excellent music track adds to the enjoyment.

You can't help but wonder how did they capture that action? Over the end credits there are behind the camera shots that show how some of the movie was made.

It is short, and there is nothing too scary for smaller children. The Bears make it through their first year, the salmon well that's a different story.

A documentary very easy to watch by kids and the young at heart who love nature.

It conveys the harsh challenges of the first year of life of a brown bear family in the Alaskan peninsula.

Parents or other responsible adults may face some tough questions about additional details on what it's not shown by naturally curious children.

If at the end the viewer is left amazed at how the making of this feature was even possible, just stay a while longer through all the credits.

Bears as long-nailed mammals, have always been portrayed to be deadly and menacing in countless movies (1997's The Edge comes to mind). In 2014's Bears (the cuddly documentary I'm about to review), they instead come across as harmless and adorable. For 78 minutes, you become interested and involved in their sort of humorous way of life. So by that token, this is a film that pretty much anyone can enjoy. Kids will eat it up the most even though the proceedings hint towards a replica of a classroom film strip. As for the way it was shot, I gotta say it's impressive. The director or directors probably gathered a ton of footage, had to endure massive amounts of editing (to come up with a cohesive story line), and then when everything was cut, asked narrator John C. Reilly to step in and do his thing. Oh, and I'm thinking that everyone involved also had to worry about their own safety. Bears are still for lack of a better word, utterly dangerous if you get too close.

Featuring a dandy of an opening shot (of a bear mother giving birth to her wide-eyed kin), helmed by not one but two directors (Alastair Fothergill and Keith Scholey), having vague similarities to March of the Penguins, and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, Bears follows female grizzly bear Sky taking her newly born cubs to trek across Alaska's Katmai National Park. It's summer time and Sky's family along with every other group of bears, is searching for food (the parable of these caniforms as consumers is really sledgehammered here). Along the way, Sky has to use her maternal instincts to protect her two young ones from avalanches (in early April), antagonistic food mongers (portrayed by another bear named Chinook and a seething wolf named Tikanni), and the threat of not being ready for winter hibernation. The film is G rated but has a few attack scenes between the large mammals. These shortened scenes aren't too intense and shouldn't dissuade a young child from taken in a viewing.

Things I didn't know about the bear species before seeing this documentary: 1. they make friends with birds like the raven when gathering their food supply (who knew?). 2. bears have a sense a smell that is simply off the charts. They put bloodhounds to shame. 3. bears are for some reason, frightened by wolves even though they are twice their size. 4. call me naive but I never knew that bears liked salmon so darn much. The mother bear has to eat enough of this fish to fatten up for her cubs (so they can make it through the hibernation period mentioned earlier). The only other foods bears eat are I guess, grass and mussels. For them, these forms of nourishment are sooooo boring!

Interestingly fun factoids aside, Bears is without a doubt, a great looking flick. Channeling a little residue a la Terrence Malick, a lot of its shots are slow motion close-ups of said species, a couple of impressive time-lapse sequences, and views of breathtaking cinematography via the wide open, Alaskan wilderness. The film score is a mixture of country, contemporary, and pop rock music genres (the familiar "Home" by Philip Phillips is featured). And said score evokes in equal measures, feelings of happiness, despair, and goofy playfulness. The only human element pertaining to Bears is the narration by veteran actor John C. Reilly. It's a hoot and a real breath of fresh air. He plays to the audience in a happy-go-lucky sort of way while at times, speaking for the furry guys themselves (it's as if he's doing their voices if they could only speak real English). Overall, his narrative technique is perfect and let's face it, we could all use a break from the more serious Morgan Freeman.

In conclusion, this summer of 2014 release with its fair share of educational fodder, does sort of wear out its welcome at the 1 hour mark. However, it's a beautifully shot, delightfully passive documentary done in the classic documentary style (as with most docudramas, the slow motion nature phenomenas are in abundance here). Bears will at certain points, warm the cockles of your heart. Result: A "bearably" good 3 stars.

I imagine that when Disney launched their DisneyNature movie department, some people expected them to produce nature documentaries chock-full of saccharine, corny sentiment, with animals presented basically as four-footed people with fur. While DisneyNature's "Bears" doesn't completely avoid that anthropomorphic expectation, it is surprisingly largely realistic and comprehensive in its portrayal of a mother grizzly bear named Sky and her two cubs, the rambunctious, independent boy bear Scout, and the more cautious "mamma's girl" Amber. The film begins in a winter mountain den, where Sky is nursing her newborns.

As spring struggles to break forth, the cubs have developed enough to leave the den. Skye then proceeds to lead them over majestic mountain scenery to plains and coastal lowlands to find food – especially the bear mecca Golden Pond swarming with salmon that have migrated from the sea to lay their eggs and die. The three bears' goal in life is to eat enough, especially fat and protein, to put on enough weight to hibernate through another winter.

"Bears" chronicles the first year of these three bears' lives and the adventures and obstacles they encounter on their way to their promised land. They meet two male bears, the sneaky rogue Chinook and the lordly, territorial giant Magnus, both willing to make a snack of Scout and Amber. The bears also meet a solitary light-colored wolf named Tanaka, who would also like to take a bite out of the cubs. Sky has her paws full defending her cubs from these predators, even daring to tackle Magnus in a ferocious fight. She also has to make sure the mischievous Scout doesn't wander too far away and get lost. Sky, Scout, and Amber have to be careful not to be swept out to sea as they dig for clams. They have to find a safe, salmon- fishing spot along the river on the way to the pond, away from other fishing bears. Most importantly, they need to find Golden Pond to harvest the fatty salmon and pack on enough pounds to survive another winter. Clearly, these three bears' lives are no fairy tale. Will they succeed in their trek? Well, this IS a Disney movie after all.

Again, "Bears" should be commended for showing how bears really live and interact and mostly resisting the temptation to make them too human. Every so often the narrator, John C. Reilly ("Stepbrothers", "Ricky Bobby: Talladega Nights", "Wreck-It Ralph") gives in to this temptation and makes the cubs seem like little kids (e.g. "Wait for me, Mom!" "He's got his game on.") but his narration is mostly otherwise straightforward and informative. We learn about the bears' diet (including grass), their dexterous claws (used to pry open clams), their acutely sensitive noses, their fishing techniques (including grabbing salmon in mid-air), and how a mother bear protecting her cubs is the most terrifying creature in nature. Although "Bears" does show some fierce animal brawls and attacks and salmon being eaten, these scenes are muted enough to merit the "G" rating. Not least important, the natural cinematography is stunningly magnificent. During the end credits, we witness the hazards the daring cameramen endured to get close enough to the bears and other creatures to film them.

Therefore, I think "Bears" is an exciting, suitable, and accurately educational nature film for all people ages 7 and up. Even for people, like myself, who have seen more than their share of "National Geographic" wildlife documentaries, "Bears" reinforces the harshness, rawness, splendor, and grandeur of nature. It may even convince the hidden environmentalist in all of us that bears and other wild animals richly deserve our respect and protection.

I was surprised how tame and dull this movie was, even for Disney. I get it's a G-rated film, but nothing dramatic, thrilling or suspenseful happens in the entire 77 minutes of the film. Disney is known for killing off a parent in their films or something horrific, bad or sad usually happens to make us adults tear up when watching the film, but not in this one - unless you are a vegetarian. We see salmon, mussels, clams and eels killed off like they feel no pain, but nothing major happens to any of the bears in the film. They act like something horrible is about to happen, but cut to more scenery shots then back to the bears and it was all much ado about nothing.

John C. Reilly's narration is very cute, but also very over-the-top. He narrates things that aren't even happening or he over-narrates quite obvious things we are watching on screen. The bear cubs, Amber and Scout are adorable. They describe this film as a fast-paced thrill ride, but it's nothing close to that. It's very slow moving with heavy narration.

Disney normally has some adult humor for adults watching the films that go above the kids heads, but not in this film. What you see is what you get in this film. Safe for kids of any age. Expect a sequel.

Bears (2014): Dir: Alastair Fothergill, Keith Scholey / Narrator: John C. Reilly: One of the very best of Disney Nature documentary films. Since the release of the very entertaining Earth, Disney has released such engaging films as Oceans, African Cats and Chimpanzee. These are all educational films with effective narrations to engage younger audiences on wildlife issues. Now we are given a glimpse of one of North Americas most prized species in grizzly bears. It begins in the snowy mountains where a mother bear awakens from hibernation with two cubs. They begin a long journey down the mountain to the meadows where other bears roam about. While the cubs look about with great curiosity they are unaware of the dangers around them. For one there is two massive male bears in a heated battle for food and territory. One of them even pursues the two cubs, which pits mother bear and a brutal battle to defend them. Another problem arises when a gray wolf stalks from a distance but mother bear isn't long running it off. It becomes apparent as summer stretches on that she needs salmon so to store up enough fat to feed her cubs for the next winter. John C. Reilly narrates and seems to have fun while directors Alastair Fothergill and Keith Scholey give viewers awesome scenery and wildlife footage. The scene at the golden pond features a bear's paradise as several bears gather for an easy fill of salmon. What viewers are left with is a vision of bears that emphases the struggles of raising cubs and preparing for another hibernation in the mountains. Score: 10 / 10

** SPOILER ALERT ** From the beginning of the film with the close-up shots of the mother bear and her cubs to the end where the bears return to the mountains to hibernate yet again for another winter, the portrayal of how the mother bears look out for her two young cubs and how they survive the year is interestingly narrated.

While some might feel that certain aspects of the narration may feel clichéd, the voice-over for the bears are interestingly done and humorously executed.

This film is family-friendly and is suitable for adults and children alike. It's also educational and many values are taught over the course of this film.

One of the most beautifully directed films for this year!

The music, John C. Reilly's narration, scenery, EVERYTHING about it was perfect. It was so cute the way the narration sort of 'anthropomorphized' the bears' behavior. I watch a lot of nature programs. This was so uplifting and enjoyable. It was realistic as far as what Skye had to do to ensure that her cubs, as well as she, would survive. Including other animals like the wolf, the raven, made it even more interesting and substantive. In addition, being able to see the actual photographers and film crew during the credits at the end makes the viewer realize how much effort went into filming this.Absolutely fantastic film!