Don't Believe the Hype

Absolutely Fantastic

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

This is 'cute' if you do not mind the fact that birds and animals in the film are NOT even from the same country--you would never see the type of deer and birds together anywhere other than this 'movie'. You will also notice the size of the 'cub' changes throughout the movie. The BIGGEST farce of the "Bear" is that NO male grizzly would ever bond with a cub-not even their own---they would kill it! Let's hear it for REAL nature movies, not this type of silliness.

***SPOILER*** Beautifully and breathtakingly photographed in the Italian Alps, subbing for the snow capped mountains of British Columbia, "The Bear" is one of the finest films about man and beast, in this case grizzly bears, to come out in the last 30 or so years. There's this 1,500 grizzly, Bart, who's injured by a pair of trophy hunters who turns violent and after attacking the hunters camp ends up killing and injuring all their pack mules and horses.It's little Youk a baby grizzly bear who's mother was killed in an avalanche who tries to befriend Big Bart who at first drives him away and later, after Youk ends up licking and cleaning his gunshot wound, accepts him as his own. While all this is going on the two hunters are determined to track down Big Bart and kill him before he does any more damage. Big Bart who knows the landscape far better then the two hunters eludes them at every turn but little Youk isn't that successful. Youk get caught by the hunters and left tied in their camp as a pet together with the hunters tracking dogs.***SPOILERS*** It's later when one of the hunters is caught off guard, minus his bear killing rifle, that Big Bart confronts him on a mountain ledge having him scared, in knowing what Big Bart is capable of doing, out of his wits. With the terrified hunter showing fear as well as submission Big Bart in returns show the helpless hunter the kind of mercy that he and his fellows hunter never showed to the big bad bear. What's even more striking in all this is that Big Bart was shot and seriously wounded while eating wild berries, and not attacking them,by the hunters earlier as well as him being tracked down by them to be killed while at first being no threat to them at all! Yet Big Bart showed the trapped hunter the kind of human like mercy that he or any other hunter would have never showed to him under the same circumstances!****MORE SPOILERS*** With the hunter now a changed man he refuses to gun down Big Bart when he with his back turned walks away from him. He also gets his fellow hunter to do the same thing without telling him of the frighting and traumatic as well as heart lifting experience he just had with the big grizzly. With the now changed, in killing wild animals, hunters releasing little Youk back into the wild the cute little bear is soon stalked and confronted by a hungry and ferocious mountain lion who after what seemed like over a mile chase cornered him and was just about to stick his deadly claws and fangs into the helpless baby bear. It's just then that something caught the mountain lions attention and he not only ceased his attacking little Youk but turned tail and ran for his life. It was Youk's adopted daddy Big Bart who despite being separated from little Youk for some time he in fact didn't forget him as he came to his rescue!

Enjoyable kiddie film about the adventurer life of an awesome bear and the feats on the wildness , as the animal has to survive on his own , facing off dangers and risks . Picturesque story about an orphan bear cub hooks up with an adult male as they attempt to dodge human hunters played by Tcheky Karyo and Jack Wallace . He's an orphan called ¨Bart the Bear¨ at the start of a journey throughout meadows , woods and mountains . Bart stars this dangerous journey to survive and being relentlessly pursued by two stubborn hunters.This is a wonderful film , an ecologist story dealing with orphaned bear cub that is adopted by an adult male bear and must avoid two obstinate hunters . The tale of the extraordinary existence and times of a little bear is well written by Gerard Brach , Roman Polanski's usual , being based on novel titled "The Grizzly King" by James Oliver Curwood . The impressive scenery , photography and music enhance the story of Bart and his adoptive father . The scenes featuring the bears were breathtaking , plenty of pranks and frolics , their legs moving together in smooth rhythm , they were all absolutely beautiful . There are some rousing animal shots , it must have been hell getting the bears to "act" . The story is treated in good sense and high sensibility ; environment , mountains , forests combine to enhance the glories of nature, one of which, after all, is silence . Because in the wild, male bears usually eat bear cubs if they can, the filmmakers prepared the adult Bart the Bear for the cub by having him play with a teddy bear the size and fur color of the cub , when the trainers felt he was ready, he was introduced to the cub and he greeted the cub affectionately . Glimmer and colorful cinematography by Philippe Rousselot , splendidly filmed in spectacular landscapes from Dolomites , Italy . Sensitive and emotive musical score by Philippe Sarde . For the music lover, ¨The Bear¨ is a sensible ride in which the music all too well toys with the soul , it is so delicately composed, performed, and chosen for the movie that it is worth seeing just to enjoy the soundtrack . The magnificent filmmaker Annaud creates yet another picture in nature with almost no human dialogue such as ¨Quest for fire¨ in this agreeable flick . Excellently directed and produced by the French Jean Jacques Annaud , an expert on animal films as proved in ¨Running Free¨ about horses and ¨Two brothers¨ dealing with tigers . The bottom line is if you love animals at all , then you will completely adore this film . Rating : Better than average , worthwhile watching .

Well-received French film from James Oliver Curwood's book harks back to the wildlife documentaries from 1950s Disney in both style and sentiment, as an orphaned bear cub trails a Kodiak bear around a mountain terrain for companionship. Soon, they're both being followed by an eager pack of hunters. "The Bear" features several eloquent and lovely moments, captured beautifully on film by director Jean-Jacques Annaud, though unfortunately the film as a whole isn't especially worthwhile. The animals are manipulated into action for the sake of thrills, some of which have a brutal edge, leaving an uncomfortable pall hanging over the project. Ultimately, it's an old-fashioned adventure story with a sincere appreciation for the bears involved, yet it doesn't leave one feeling very satisfied. ** from ****