The Country Bears

[Luke]

Use this thread to discuss the new article on The CountrY Bears:
http://www.ultimatedisney.com/DIScussions-03.html

[indianajdp]

HTTP 404 This Page Cannot Be Found

[Luke]

HTTP 404 This Page Cannot Be Found

http://66.227.17.213/DIScussions-03.html

[Loomis]

It failed to such an extent that it never even got a cinematic release over in the United Kingdom (but ironically while we never got a big screen release, we end up with a widescreen DVD).

The same was the case here in Australia. I don't remember a theatrical release, but the DVD comes out this week to buy, and has been available for some time. We are also getting the WS copy.

You make a good case for another screening, or in my case a first look, at this film that Disney seems to be considering the bastard red-headed step child of the "theme park movie" family.

Thanks!

[Maerj]

That was a very good review of the movie. I admit that I haven't seen it but I would be more willing to give it a try now. The advertisements for the movie just made it look like a silly kid's movie, so I didn't go see it. I liked the attraction at WDW of it, but felt the movie was something that I could skip. Now when I saw the poster for 'Pirates of the Carribean', I already knew that I would see it, when I saw the ads, I knew I'd see it opening day! Same for 'Haunted Mansion'... so I don't know if it is advertising or subject matter.

Oh... and Christopher Walken rules!!

[Captain Hook]

Eww, I thought that Country Bears looked like the worst thing that Disney has EVER done... I hated the Country Bears at Disneyland before the movie was even talked about. I hate Halley, I could hardly stand him in Jungle Book 2, let alone Beauty and the Beast Enchanted Christmas and Hunchback 2. Gag!

Hook

[ichabod]

<center>The Country Bears (2002)



Originally release - 26 July 2002
Director - <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0368614/">Peter Hastings</a>

Main Cast
<a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005286/">Haley Joel Osment</a> - Beary Bearington (voice)
<a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000686/">Christopher Walken</a> - Reed Thimple
<a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0046033/">Diedrich Bader</a> - Officer Cheets / Ted Bedderhead (voice)
<a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0004951/">Brad Garett</a> - Fred Bedderhead (voice)
<a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0304000/">James Gammon</a> - Big Al (voice)
<a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1007015/">Candy Ford</a> - Trixie
<a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0593258/">Daryl Mitchell</a> - Officer Hamm

Domestic Gross - $16,990,825 ($19,242,641 adjusted)
Worldwide Gross - $18, 012,097 (20,399,242 adjusted)</center>

Beary Barrington doesn't feel he fits in, he is a huge fan of the now separated band The Country Bears, and feels that because his hair colour is different to his brother and because his brother has freckles he must be adopted. The fact that he is a bear it seems only his brother has realised. Whereas his brother Dex has a birth certificate, Beary has a tracking collar. Feeling he doesn't fit in he leaves home heading for Country Bear hall, disovering that it is due to be knocked doen because they are behind on payments Beary has the idea to reform the band in order to raise money to save it, and so digging out the old tour bus, they go in search of the members of the band.

-------------------------------------

I really don'y understand why this movie is targetted so much! It seems to cause such malice to arise in people!

From what I can see, whilst it's certainly not OSCAR worthy, it is at times an extremely witty film, which is almost a parody of movies of the genre. I believe that a possible reason this film is dismissed as terrible could be because there are so many awful movies with cheesy dialogue and slapstick moments, they lump this in the same category, failing to realise that the corny lines and shmaltz is in fact a a swipe at children's movies with hair brained schemes and shmaltzy messages about belonging and looking past people's differences.

Possibly another reason this film is loathed could be because the film takes The Country Bear Jamboree Disneyland attraction as its basis, but goes off on a completely different tangent leaving people to believe the film is a disservice to the attraction?

Anyway, I have to say I find the movie very charming and very witty, the movie is full of delicious throwaway gags from Beary being passed off as the German spelling of Barry, to Beary's running away letter being completed with bear claw marks looking as though it has been mauled.

Some of the humour is very dry and in places exceedingly witty, and the portrayals of middle America made me smile at least.

Granted the movie has big flaws, the unncessary tween music burst out singing moments are tragic, and some of the dialogue surrounding is actually corny for real. Also the plot does have its weaknesses.

But comedy movies and Disney are synonimous, I find it hard to understand how so many people at these forums rant on about how 70s movies like The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes and Snowball Express etc with shoestring plots, and a genuine lack of imagination, could then have such a vendetta for this film, when it is off the same vein.

So like I say, this movie is no masterpiece, at moments it makes me cringe, but I can't for the life of me see why people think it's that terrible, when it isn't.
------------------------------------------------------
Next time: The Watcher in the Woods

Previous Live Action Discussions
<a href="http://www.ultimatedisney.com/forum/vie ... ns">20,000 Leagues Under the Sea</a>
<a href="http://www.ultimatedisney.com/forum/vie ... Greyfriars Bobby</a>
<a href="http://www.ultimatedisney.com/forum/vie ... 389">Honey, I Shrunk the Kids</a>
<a href="http://www.ultimatedisney.com/forum/vie ... ">Treasure Island</a>
<a href="http://www.ultimatedisney.com/forum/vie ... 0">Tron</a>

[blackcauldron85]

I rented it a few years back, and I thought it was cute. A couple of weeks ago, I bought it, but haven't re-watched it yet. I think it's great to see the bears in the movie...they're cute...! I agree with you, though- I don't understand why so many people can't stand this movie!

[Timon/Pumbaa fan]

The Country Bears is an epic masterpiece and deserves to be on the same league of Gone With the Wind and Casablanca!









Is Netty still looking, how much longer do I have to keep this pro-Country Bears nonsense?




Seriously though, I have to say, this is ranks as the first and only movie that I actually rented, turned off less then half way(I think) through, and have no desire to ever see it again. I'm not too fond of the Disneyland attraction, so no, I don't think I'm bias, I just couldn't get into it. Sorry.

[2099net]

Well I wrote this ( http://www.ultimatedisney.com/DIScussions-03.html ) about the film long, long ago (in a galaxy far, far away).

What I can't understand is how a film which is so obviously Muppet inspired gets so much flack. If anything, its more of a muppet film than The Muppet Wizard of Oz was (discuss).

Its full of puns and surreal humour. It's full of cameos and guest stars. Its full of movie parodies and wonderful original songs.

Yes, its supposed to be like Almost Famous and The Blues Brothers. Yes, Elton John et al are just in it to have a laugh. And yes people, Chris Walken is supposed to be silly. Hopefully people are more used to a "silly" Chris Walken now, and this can help them reappraise the film (just like Rocky and Bullwinkle was critically savaged for DeNiro's involvement).

And yes, it is entertaining. How it managed to get such bad reviews amazes me. I'd easily put in the list of the top 5 Disney films of the past decade, and yes, I think its clearly superior to The Haunted Mansion and even Pirates of the Caribbean as far as Attraction-to-Film movies go.

What annoys me the most about the whole media-blackballing of the movie is how John Haitt's excellent songs ended up ignored by the masses. The Country Bears soundtrack is an excellent purchase, full of excellent tracks. Yet not one was nominated for an Oscar®

I wouldn't go as far to say I "love" The Country Bears, but its reception perplexes me. In a year when movies like the tired Men In Black II or the not-that-impressive Ice Age are family movies that made the Top 10, and a film as innocent and witty as The Country Bears only makes $16m - well, you know something is wrong.

[ichabod]

Yes, two things I forgot to mention, the Muppet-ness of the film and Celebrities! The film really is a surreal cross between The Muppet Movie and Blues Brothers.

And as for the celebrities, it's apparant that they got the celebrities to be in it just to give it some names, but it's also obvious that the celebs are doing it just for pure fun. But Yes, this is a surreal period where a film can be criticised for having well known celebrities in it!

But Yes, it's hardly surprising that in a time when a burping CGI ogre is classed as entertainment, that the subtle humour and moments of genius of this film fly over the heads of most!

[dvdjunkie]

To even try to compare "The Country Bears" to such a piece of tripe that was foisted on us called "The Muppets Wizard of Oz" is rubbish. First, the "Bears" were inspired by the attraction at Disneyland in Anaheim. Those of you who don't remember Country Bear Jamboree at Disneyland will never get the 'inside jokes' of the movie.

I collected all of the Country Bears stuff when it was available. The record albums, the video tape, and the slide-show that I bought on Main Street, USA at Disneyland.

It is a shame that they have taken Country Bear Jamboree away from us, because it was one of the most-looked-forward-to attractions for me at Disneyland.

Now for the movie. I agree, it is no great shakes as a motion picture, but it is great family entertainment. All of these Disney family films are just that. Made for the whole family to watch as a family, and if you never saw Country Bear Jamboree as a family, then you will never enjoy this movie as a family. The story is lame, but name me another family live-action movie from Disney that didn't have a lame story. It had it's funny moments, and I thought the music was good and the celebrity 'guest' spots in the film were genuinely funny.

I am proud to have "The Country Bears" in my collection and watch it regularly with the other Disney films that I own.

Here goes the age thing - Escapay just hates it when I do this - but some of you have probably never seen Country Bear Jamboree, so you won't get the 'joke' behind the movie. Again you can't judge something if you haven't seen the original.

[blackcauldron85]

It is a shame that they have taken Country Bear Jamboree away from us, because it was one of the most-looked-forward-to attractions for me at Disneyland.

It's unfortunate that the Country Bear Jamboree "left" DL, but it's still at WDW...

[Wonderlicious]

It is a shame that they have taken Country Bear Jamboree away from us, because it was one of the most-looked-forward-to attractions for me at Disneyland.

Are you a Disney World goer at all? I believe that the Magic Kingdom still has it's Country Bear show, so the Bears aren't dead just yet.

Anyway, I haven't seen this film fully, only the end credits (it was on TV, and I just caught this whilst flicking channels). One thing that caught my eye (or at least I think this is what it read) was that the film was copyrighted to Touchstone, or something along the lines of that. If I'm recalling correctly, does anybody know why this is?

[BrandonH]

With the exception of the police chase through the car wash, I really enjoyed The Country Bears. It had plenty of humor and heart, and the soundtrack is great.

If Disney ever released this movie in its OAR, I would buy it.

[MichaeLeah]

I would like to make a correction to the above statements. The Country Bear Jamboree was in Florida first! This is according to The Imagineering Guide to the Magic Kingdom. Okay, I am finished.

[Escapay]

Here goes the age thing - Escapay just hates it when I do this

I don't hate it, I just feel that reasons for liking or not liking something can be found without having to use age as a reason.

Anyways, like several have pointed out, "The Country Bears" originated in Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom. Due to its immense popularity, it was later added to "Disneyland", where it was then replaced by some Winnie-The-Pooh Ride. The WDW one is still around, and is a perfect attraction to do in the afternoon when everyone in Frontierland is either in line for a mountain or waiting for the parade.

As for the film, Kram rented it once, and everyone refused to watch it with him, so he had to watch it by himself in his room. I've tried watching it at times, but just cannot get into it.

Looking forward to the Watcher in the Woods discussion! Got a lot I can add to that one!

Escapay

[slave2moonlight]

This is considered a bad movie by most because it is mostly a bad movie.

It's not totally bad, but it's pretty bad. Plus, people already didn't like it from the get go because it was based on a theme park ride (the same people who loved Pirates of the Caribbean are still against any films based on rides it seems). I'm not one of those folks. I am a huge fan of pirates, I love the corny Tower of Terror film (still need to get that one), and I also really like Haunted Mansion, believe it or not.

I get the humor of Country Bears. It does have its moments. I haven't watched it in a while (yes, I do have the DVD, which is *ugh* fullscreen), so I won't comment on the soundtrack being good or bad. However, here's what was all wrong as I see it.

First, the bears looked nothing like they do in the show. They totally look like people in bear suits. Why not use animatronics and make them look exactly as they do in the show? They shouldn't look different at all. In this case, there's no excuse for it! We've met these creatures live in the show at the Disney parks. They should look exactly like that. These were interpretations of animated characters. If they couldn't use animatronics... or even CGI... to make them look exactly as they do in the park shows, then they should have just made it an entirely animated film (preferably 2D). Now, that could have been great, an entirely animated (2D) Country Bears movie where the characters look like they do in the show! It could be direct to video if necessary! I must say, the thing that put me off the most about this film was the look of the bears, which were in the style of Henson's Turtles and Dinosaurs more than their Muppets. Had Henson done them more like the muppets, it probably would have been more satisfying and like the park shows.

Besides that, the Blues Brothers rip-off plot wasn't working for me. Yeah, I get that it's supposed to spoof those types of films, but it didn't seem funny ENOUGH to be spoofing. It seemed like they were trying to be more sincere with the story. Just plain not funny enough. I get the humor, it just wasn't ENOUGH. However, I love that they had stars like Christopher Walken (a highlight of the film) and Diedrich Bader (sp? That's the Drew Carrey sidekick guy, right? Love that guy). Those were good points. But, then there's the other guest stars, the musical ones. It's the COUNTRY Bears. They should have had some BIG NAME Country guest stars if they had to rely on that stuff. I seem to remember not even recognizing some of the guest stars in this flick. Okay, I don't remember all the guest stars, but I remember thinking that when watching the film. I specifically remember a couple of female guest stars who left me wondering "who the heck are these chicks?" Okay, I'm not a country music expert, but I like enough of it that they should have used stars I'd recognize. And Elton John? I love Elton John, but he didn't belong in this movie... I don't know, it seemed like a mess. A mess with a lot of potential, but a mess nonetheless.

I really wish they had (or would) made this a 2D animated feature with designs based more closely on the park characters. I also wish that the story had been more about forming the band, or some other musical adventure the band has. Even if it IS about saving their music hall. "Gettin' the Band Back Together," that just wasn't working for me as a spoof, and it was done already as a hit film...

[2099net]

That's interesting Slave2Moonlight because if you remember, we had a similar discussion about the US Godzilla film. Don't take this as an attack, but it seems you are disappointed with The Country Bears because they don't resemble the Country Bears you know (where as I don't know the Country Bears from the Parks at all).

I think, when people make a film based on a property, its important to keep the "spirit" of the original. That's doesn't mean it needs to look the same, but it needs to have the same basic "feel". Godzilla for me failed, because Godzilla wasn't Godzilla. I don't mean looks, I mean personality wise. The live-action Scooby-Doo movie failed for me, because it spent more time changing the characters to fit their spiteful "jokes" than celebrating the characters.

Doing a movie from a theme-park attraction must be hard. An attraction can have a feel, but it has no "narrative" as such. I would guess, The Haunted Mansion has more narrative than any of Disney's other attraction-to-film movies. I mean, I'm pretty sure even though I don't know the ride, that Pirates of the Caribbean had no Undead Skeleton Pirates in it, but nobody complains about that!

So what am I saying in all this? I dunno, I've stumbled off the point. But while I can understand people who "know" the bears not liking the fact that they may not look the same as the attraction, I feel there's more "wriggle room" for differences of interpertation than well-loved, established "franchises" such as Godzillla, Scooby-Doo or Catwoman.

As for CGI, No! No! No! One of the best bits about The Country Bears is that the bears interact with their environments and co-stars so well. I also think the "muppet" quality of the bears works better than CGI ever would, because we, and an audience, are used to such realisations in similar movies. There's something attractive and comforting about men dressed in constumes - an innocence that is missing from lots of newer, flashier movies. (but that's just my opinon).

[slave2moonlight]

Don't get me wrong, I'd rather they not do CGI, but if it could have made the characters look at all like the originals, than it would have been an improvement to me. The original characters are audio-animatronic, so I am a bit puzzled that they couldn't recreate them for the film. That's one of my big gripes about the looks of the bears. They look NOTHING like the originals. I mean, I can't stress how different they look. And, for me, they doo look too much like people in costumes. However, I still say that the best route would have been an entirely traditionally animated film for the Country Bears, and it's sad that they probably will never do that now, since this movie came out and flopped. Though, I rewatched the film on DVD last night after getting into this thread, and I may have been a little hard on it. It's probably more like 50 percent bad, but that's really too much for a movie and too far from "so bad it's good." But I'll get more into my rereview in a minute...

In regards to the comparison to Scooby-Doo, Catwoman, and Godzilla, I can see what you're saying, but I still have to disagree with it being the same thing. With Scooby-Doo, I too was a longtime fan. I mean, I grew up with every version of that show. Unlike with Country Bears, I felt that, for the most part, the characters looked a lot like themselves. Sure, Scooby was CGI and made to look somewhat like a real Great Dane, but this was a live-action movie... I still thought he looked and acted like Scooby, fart jokes aside, and he certainly had the voice. Velma was considerably hotter than she was as a cartoon, but she still acted like Velma to me. Shaggy was right on the money and Daphne was pretty darn good too. Fred, well, he was the only one I felt was a little off in the looks department, but not to an extreme level. Sure, he was never THAT full of himself, but I always did get the sense that he was just a little bit that way... In truth, I really don't feel the makers of the Scooby movie had a lot to work with in terms of personalities. Let's face it, I loved 'em, but the Scooby gang was always somewhat 2-dimensional. I feel that the filmmakers took their personalities and exaggerated them and filled them out a little. And, as for the story, they just tried to deal with the characters' long past by having them split up and then realize they belonged together. No doubt, I liked the sequel better, which was more like the cartoons, but I don't have a problem with the first film, despite being a longtime fan. But, fan opinions are pretty divided on the Scooby films. Anyway, in regards to Country Bears, I wouldn't have minded them taking what we knew about the Country Bears, then exaggerating and building on that, and even having a break up and get back together story like the Scooby gang (if handled in a less "Blues Brothers" rip-offy way, everytime they said "get the band back together" in Country Bears, I cringed). As for Catwoman, well, I still view that as a film about an entirely different Catwoman, not the one that deals with Batman. It's a bad film, but I still can get enjoyment out of it. No doubt, I would have preferred one about Batman's Catwoman, but this really seemed that it wasn't supposed to be that same Catwoman. At least, that's what I from the film's explaination that there are multiple catwomen around. However, maybe I took that wrong and it WAS supposed to be Batman's Catwoman, it still works, as there have been variations on this character from the beginning, and this seems to be inspired by one of them (the Eartha Kitt Catwoman, in my opinion). Comics are a tricky subject, because the characters often have a history of different interpretations, but we tend to want to see the most popular one, or the most recent one, or the original one, when what we should probably most be concerned with is that the interpretations maintain enough common threads to keep the character recognizable and solid. That's sort of what I feel about Godzilla. It was a movie about a giant, radioactive lizard that blew fire and trashed a city. It was updated and made to look more realistic (the lizard at least), and I still felt it stayed true to what I remembered of Godzilla. Sure, he looked different, but the old one didn't look real at all, so that seems unavoidable. Most complaints seem to be that he died too easily. Well, upon watching the film again recently, I really don't think that he died all that easily... and that doesn't mean they couldn't bring him back. You can always do that with sci-fi.

The thing about Country Bears is that it seemed the only things it had in common with the theme park show it was based on were the names of the bears (some of which were left out) and their music hall. The fact is, they probably had more to work with here than they did with Pirates (which had no solid story besides Pirates attacking a town, and, yes, I remember at least one skeleton pirate driving a ship in that ride), and Haunted Mansion (most people don't even remember the story that ride comes with, only the ghosty things that they saw). The Country Bears is an indoor stage show in the parks, each bear is animatronic, and so they have a very specific and "realistic" look (I mean, they look cartoony but they look real and alive), each one gets introduced and their personalities come out fairly well, and they perform country for the most part, not classic rock. It's a very HeeHaw type show, much like the sort of Country Music Reviews you can find in places like Branson Misouri, Oklahoma City, and parts of Texas. The movie turned them into a take on The Eagles and bands like that. Hey, "The Eagles" is my number one favorite band, but they Country Bears just weren't that kind of music. They were, for the most part, hillbillies in a hillbilly band, and they could have at least maintained that very specific aspect of the show. Instead, they wanted to satire movies like "The Blues Brothers," and it seems that they wanted to do that much more than to produce a real "Country Bears" based movie, and that's what was so disappointing. They didn't really seem interested in the Country Bears at all, they seemed interested in doing a Blues Brothers satire. The sad thing is, they didn't even do that well. I mean, get some major musical legends for those breakout song and dance numbers, not some little known pop hotties they're trying to make popular. Thank God for the Brian Setzer duel number, and I admit that the songs the Country Bears did were pretty good. They did have an Eagles sound to them, but they didn't have a Country Bears sound to them. I guess the heart of my complaint is what I said a moment ago. They were more interested in doing a Classic Rock Band movie than a movie about Disney's Country Bears. With a movie like Scooby Doo, I felt they were trying to make the characters 3-dimentional and show the "next step" in their lives when they were reevaluating things, but I still felt they were mostly true to character. In Godzilla, they were updating a monster movie. Plus, this was the U.S. doing a Japanese film. I wouldn't care if the Japanese made a Country Bears movie that was way off the mark... But, with the Country Bears, they didn't seem that interested in making a movie about "The Country Bears."

Okay, but having said all that, as I mentioned before, I rewatched the film last night, and all the extras. First, I was amazed at the extras they decided to include, for a single disc Disney release anyway. So odd that they did all that, yet only released it in widescreen! So, on the DVD itself, my feelings are split right down the middle. But, as for the film, having watched it again... As I said before, it is probably not mostly bad, it's probably 50 percent bad, but 50 percent bad can definitely leave one feeling that a film was mostly bad, because 50 percent is too much. Most of what I said in my previous post I still feel the same about. The characters do not harken back to the originals at all to me, except maybe Big Al, but only somewhat. The classic rock (with that slight country sound, a la The Eagles) is a favorite genre of mine, but it's not what the real Country Bears are known for. The musical numbers where the two females performed, I get that they were trying to show the Bears' influence on young performers, but who were these girls? Couldn't they get really well known performers? Blues Brothers had Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin. When they DID get big stars in Country Bears, they didn't perform, or they performed AS the bears. Most of the cameos weren't what one would expect from a Country Bears movie either. The most appropriate one was Willie Nelson, who was only in the film for like 2 seconds on a TV screen. This movie should have been a redneck, country-music cameo extravaganza! The cameos should have been Dolly Parton, Garth Brooks, Randy Travis, anyone from Green Acres or HeeHaw that is still alive, anyone form the Blue Collar Comedy Tour.... That's the sort of movie this should have been. What it is, is a Blues Brothers satire that doesn't quite work because it doesn't have big, lively numbers by big name stars (that first girl's number was awful!) and, the humor was hit or miss. However, because SOME of the music is good, because Christopher Walken is always brilliant, and because SOME of the humor worked, it is possible to enjoy watching this movie. But, even forgetting the fact that it fails as a film based on the attraction, it still is not that great as a comedy/satire. It's just okay when it's not bad, but it does have SOME funny jokes, SOME good music, and SOME nice moments with Beary Barrington.