Now we get to the last of my Disneynature reviews 🙁  I hope you guys have enjoyed them!  I certainly have and feel inspired by the majesty of God’s many creations.  It really has been a wonderful experience so thanks for picking them for me to review! After this I will post a ranking of all 8 Disneynature films, so start thinking of what your favorite is!  What do you think I will guess?

But before that let’s talk about Bears, which is one of the most kid-friendly of all the Disneynature films and overall most entertaining.  The same crew that has given us all the films goes to Alaska and follows brown bears, particularly a mother they name Sky and her two cubs Scout and Amber (not great names.  Kind of like Freddy in Chimpanzee…).  I know they are dangerous animals but they are also very cute especially the cubs!

Most of the movie is about Sky trying to take care of her cubs especially Scout who tends to wander off or lag behind.  She is trying to eat enough salmon to build up her food supply to provide milk during hibernation.  Unfortunately her efforts at many swimming holes get thwarted by other bears, wolves and by the salmon themselves.  The wolf is painted as the enemy following them and preying on the little bear cubs.

The other bears can even be cannibalistic over the baby bears!   It’s unbelievable how close to these animals the filmmakers get.  Especially when we know how hungry they are and yet there the crew is without any major projection.  Seriously look at this shot!  These photographers are nuts!
The narration is done by John C Reilly and it is very similar to Tina Fey in Monkey Kingdom or Tim Allen in Chimpanzee- a lighter more child-friendly narration.  I like this style of narration but I do always feel like it lessens some of the gravitas a Morgan Freeman, Jeremy Irons or James Earl Jones would give to these amazing images and creatures.  But they are movies for kids and if the lighter narration helps them learn about nature than it is a good thing.  I did keep thinking of Wreck-it Ralph the whole time while looking at the bears which was a little distracting. Why does Ralph like these bears anyway? 😉

African Cats was definitely the most brutal of the Disneynature films but this one should have nothing that will upset kids.  It’s maybe a little tough for the salmon but that’s about it as far as nature on nature violence.  Most of the movie is just bears being super cute and Sky taking care of her cubs.  I think kids will really love it and perhaps relate to it a little bit more than a movie like Chimpanzee in such a remote setting.  Alaska feels more similar to at least where I live than the jungle.

It doesn’t pack the emotional punch of either Chimpanzee or Crimson Wing so it is slightly lower than those two but I did really enjoy it.

Have any of you seen it?  Have your kids?  What did they think?

Overall Grade- A-