Customer Reviews

Country Bears

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

My whole family loves this movie. This movie was bought as a replacement as my nephew loved it too he counldnt wait for aunty to help and SNAPPED the dvd in half.

Movie is for all ages.

Not good, very bad, easy to beat, so bad "blockbuster," flat out horrible movie to see. You waste your good movie time.

"The Country Bears" is a good family film. It isn't the best movie Disney ever cranked out, but it will hold your attention for about an hour and a half. It follows the story of young Beary Barrington, a boy/bear unsure of his purpose in life. He doesn't fit in with his human family(or at least that's what he thinks), so he sets out for "Country Bear Hall," where he believes he'll fit in. When he gets there, the place is about to be leveled to the ground, so he decides to reunite the band for a benefit concert. What follows is a good, clean family film about friendship, family, and tons of musical cameos.

It has a solid cast of well-known and not-so-well known actors. Christopher Walken plays the sore loser turned destructive banker bent on destroying Country Bear Hall. Deidrich Bader and "Chill" Mitchell play two goofy state highway patrolmen. Haley Joel Osment provides the voice of "Beary." Steve Tobolowsky plays the fun father figure of this film.

The film has a good overall message, but some younger kids may be turned off by the pace. It does introduce the younger lot to musicians like Don Henley, Bonnie Raitt, Willie Nelson, Elton John, Brian Setzer, and Don Was. It also has cameos by stars the youngsters will probably recognize like Wyclef Jean and Queen Latifah. I think that's what I like most about this film. It covers the Country Bear's "influence" across the board and manages to mix a number of musical genres into one. From hip-hop to rockabilly, it's all covered here. The Country Bear band has a Southern rock sound, with a little Eagles thrown in to boot.

For good family fun, I recommend this one.

Walt Disney Pictures used to be the center of original family entertainment year after year. It used to be the studio that all others looked up to for the next big thing for children young and old. What happened?! It seems the once center of fantasy magic has had a drought in the department of original ideas as the company recently announced the rollout of three live-action feature films based the Mouse House's theme park attractions. The first of these to test the mainstream waters is The Country Bears with Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and The Haunted Mansion soon to follow. Along with these attraction-based features, the studio will be digging through their archives and updating such classics as The Shaggy Dog and Freaky Friday. Will this work in revitalizing the studio's sagging box office returns? Hard to say at this point but critics have already given a thumbs down on the matter.

The story focuses on the adventures of a young talking bear out to discover his roots and reunites an old band in the process. Beary Barrington (some joke, huh?) always knew he was different then other boys but when his older brother informs him that he is adopted, the bear cub runs away figuring he doesn't fit into his adopted family. Beary sets out to seek his higher purpose in life and along the way he falls upon Bear Hall, the former home of his favorite band, The Country Bears. Unfortunately due to conflicting issues amongst the band members, they broke years ago and the Hall is faced with destruction if $20,000 isn't paid in time. Beary's new mission is to reunite the old members of The Country Bears so that they can perform a benefit concert to save Bear Hall before it meets the wrecking ball. The story for The Country Bears resembles that of the theme park attraction, from which this is based on, in that it offers a few catchy tunes but the performance wares on as the show rolls along. The uninventive storyline is all too familiar to the plot for the Blue Brothers 2000, thus the whole movie seems uncontrived and lacking in the least sense of substance.

Most of the main characters for the film are ... well, you guessed it, bears! Actually, they are audio animatronic puppets, created by the talented folks at Jim Henson's Creature Shop, who have facial expressions controlled by puppeteers off screen but have a person inside the costume walking through the scenes. Granted there are some human characters within the feature but they are as interesting as the audio-animatronic bears. Beary's family, unfortunately, is like any other typical Disney movie family complete with the loving father, worried mother and punky older brother. These were the least interesting characters in the film, which defeats the film's message of the importance of family entirely. Deidrich Bader and Daryl Mitchell offer some off-beat comic relief as Officer Cheets and Officer Hamm (get the joke?) but intentions can be deceiving especially by viewing the trailer for the film. They aren't nearly as funny as television spots made them out to be and the filmmakers seem to know this as the two officers seem to disappear completely near the end of the film. The only redeeming factor is the casting of Christopher Walken, who never seems to disappoint his fans. He presents a relatively serious character in the beginning but manages to make humorous in the long run.

Overall, The Country Bears is one of the most unoriginal feature films of the year and quite a disappointing start to Disney's theme park feature rollout. There is little to compliment this film, though one can make the argument about the music. The songs themselves, for the most part, were catchy and get your foot tapping every now and then but if you want to go for the music then just go to the local store and buy the soundtrack. The main problem with the musical numbers, though, is the feeling that they are too staged. Someone in the course of the film would utter a one line comment and then suddenly the entire cast would brake out into a song and dance number. Outside of Christopher Walken and some of the songs, The Country Bears leaves little to the imagination. Note that the film is intended for children and thus this review may be meaningless to them. Take this into consideration when taking the children to the film. But if you are a parent and hate to be dragged to this then follow my suggestion: Sit back, relax, pay attention when Christopher Walken comes on screen, tap your foot to some of the music and thank God that they didn't make an It's A Small World movie.

I highly recommend this movie to anyone who has young children. My 7 year old is just in love with this movie and knows all of the words to every song. Great characters, lots of music, and appearances by many famous stars are traits that make this a top movie to own. Disney did a great job on this one!!

I watched this movie with my 4 year old granddaughter who
absolutely loved it. Beary, a little bear cub has been raised in a human household with a human brother who seems to be anything but loving towards Beary. The Country Bears are Beary's
idols and after feeling that he was not a part of his 'human' family he sets off to find his destiny and through his faith in them the Country Bears, who had dismantled as a group, are brought back together.
This was a really cute movie, had some great music and dancing in it and was very upbeat. Also had a splash of humor, nice touch! Great for the family to enjoy together!

My 2 1/2 year old daughter loves this video. It gets played several times a week.

"Bringing back the band to raise money for a significant landmark", "cameos by a bunch of musicians, Elton John/ Don Henley/Queen Latifah to name a few", "a musical number here and there which pauses the plot of the movie just to flash "hey, we can sing and dance!""...and you got a knock off of "The Blues Brothers", hence the title! "The Country Bears", based on Disney's own attraction off Disney World, is flat out cheesy. The bear-lives-among-us theme isn't quite believable but still adorable on every ASPECT. (Which they should bring the Bernstien Bears to the big screen!) When Disney gets tired of making dozen's of sequels to beloved classics, only finding their way to the direct-to-video-piles and when Disney can't think of another "Honey, we shrunk the Disney execs", Disney starts creating plot points to their own attractions. While "The Country Bears" is underrated, it still didn't come on to strong. Kids under 4 just don't give a .... anymore. They want to see smartass Sherk's or another Toy Story. Disney just doesn't have it anymore (note: maybe because some brainless company fired a brilliant producer, who then went to Spielberg to form Dreamworks, which is not just kicking Oscar ... but also kicking Disney's as well). Disney has now developed a plan...for the next couple of years, they will bring to life their own attractions. With the "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" released couple of weeks ago, "The Haunted Mansion" in a few months...it will be interesting to see how the kiddies will react to Disney's approach. Who knows, prepare for "Hall of President's" and "The Movie Ride" if this venture takes off!

The first time I saw this film, I was upset by how I had wasted my money on a horrible movie. The second time I watched it, however, I was high on marijuana. Though I don't endorse the use of illegal drugs, if you're ever somewhere where dope is legal, I'll be the first person to tell you that the country bears is one of the best films a pothead can buy.

This Great Movie, has a great story of not giving up your dreams. This movie has songs that could just make you laugh, and laugh. A singing Group has given up their dreams nad is no longer a singing group, a boy is certian he can bring his heros back. This movie is filled with laugh, suprise, and so much joy that every one is sure to enjoy it