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| The
Country Bears DVD Review |
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Order this DVD from Amazon.com
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The
Country Bears
(Buena Vista Home Entertainment)
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| DVD
Release Date:
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December
17, 2002
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Length:
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88 mins.
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| Rated:
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G
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| Format:
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Full Screen (1.33:1)
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Audio:
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English Dolby Digital 5.1, French Dolby Digital 5.1
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| Subtitles:
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English, French, Closed-Captioned
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| Extras:
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Audio
Commentary with Director Peter Hastings and Special Guests Ted
and Zeb, "The Country Bears: Out of the Woods"
Mockumentary, "The Country Bears Concert for America"
ABC Special, Video Mix Master Jamboree, Sing With the Movie
Subtitle Track, Krystal "The Kid In You" Music Video,
THX Optimizer, Sneak Peeks
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The source material well must be running
dry. We have exploited TV shows, literature, comic books, we've
re-made old movies shot by shot and now this... the first movie based
on a popular Disney attraction. The Country Bear Jamboree at Disney
was one of my favorites. It was fun and funny. So if you are going to
base a movie on an attraction, you would think that you would want to
exploit the existing fan base. But they don't. To my dismay, the movie
really has nothing to do with the attraction - other than the fact
that there are bears and they play in a band.
Some of the names were the same. There was Henry, Trixie and Big Al
but they didn't look anything like the characters that I know of in
the theme park. A second disappointment in the movie was at the Bear
Concert Hall. I wanted to see nicely mounted on the wall the Buffalo,
Deer and Moose heads that are such a comical and wonderful part of the
attraction. (Yes, they are mounted like a trophy, but they talk and
tell jokes as part of the show. Heck, if we are to buy into the awful
concept of a bear being raised by human who can't tell he his a
bear... Well, I think you see my point!)
A third problem with the movie, which has no relation to the
attraction was Beary, the bear raised by humans and no one but his
brother can tell he is a bear. He wonders if he is adopted (we never
find out the answer to that question) and leaves his home in search of
Bear Hall to find his greater meaning. Why are there no other bears
anywhere in this movie? Is it common for bears to work with people? Or
is it only these six or seven? Why are there no other sentient animals
in the movie? The premise doesn't hold up to scrutiny.
I did enjoy most of the country music in the movie, Don Henley and
Bonnie Raitt were a nice touch. The story was very simple - reunite an
old band to raise money to save their concert hall. So how was the
movie? Honesty... it wasn't that bad. It really it wasn't. At least
not as bad as everyone said it was when it came out.
The cast was pretty good and getting real singers to do the songs was
a nice touch. Casting Christopher Walken as the bad guy was a pretty
safe choice. He added a nice touch to the movie. And the bumbling
police, played by Diedrich Bader and Daryl Mitchell, were pretty funny
together. The car wash escapade had a funny end to it.
The Special Features
My disappointment is loud and clear at the Pan and Scan version that
was released. Widescreen is the way to go. I know kids prefer movies
without "the black lines" but I think they should get used
to it now, because that's all it's going to be sooner or later. The
picture was nice and the sound really shone through during the musical
numbers.
The extras weren't that bad for this movie. The commentary was at
times lacking and offered little insight or answered few questions you
may have had other than "Are the bears real?" (No they are
not.) In general, I find DVD commentary seems to be stuck in a rut.
They all say the same thing - I would like to hear something
different.
I liked the VH1 style "behind the music" featured in
"The Country Bears: Out of the Woods". It was a fun
perspective from all the people and bears in the movie offering a look
at their rise, fall and rise again in the music industry.
Another segment, titled "Concert for America", was the
weakest extra on the DVD. It was hosted by Julie Brown and was pretty
annoying. They interview Willie Nelson (who looked like he wanted to
anything but speak on this DVD - but hey, you gotta pay the IRS...)
and others who offered their opinion on the Bears' music.
The requisite Disney "game" on the DVD was another poor
showing. The DJ mix master let you edit together a string of video
clips to put them in the right order. It was confusing and sometimes
difficult - way too complicated for my six year old who very quickly
grew very tired of it. So did I.
There was another music video and a bunch of "sneak peaks"
that seemed to go on forever.
One last thing, the menu used static images. Myself - I am a fan of
the motion clip menu. On a disc like this, it would have enhanced the
experience. However, the navigation was easy enough.
There is a simplistic charm to the movie, and it does manage to come
through. My own daughters (aged 5 and 6) who both hated the Disney
attraction, liked the movie enough not to be bored with it or loose
interest in it. They both laughed at the funny kid parts. Actually so
did I.
| The
Movie: |
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6.5/10 |
| The
Extras: |
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5/10 |
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| Recommendation: |
Rent
This One |
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Blair Barbesin - Contributor
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