Matrixston
Wow! Such a good movie.
XoWizIama
Excellent adaptation.
Plustown
A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.
Python Hyena
Bears (2014): Dir: Alastair Fothergill, Keith Scholey / Narrator: John C. Reilly: One of the very best of Disney Nature documentary films. Since the release of the very entertaining Earth, Disney has released such engaging films as Oceans, African Cats and Chimpanzee. These are all educational films with effective narrations to engage younger audiences on wildlife issues. Now we are given a glimpse of one of North Americas most prized species in grizzly bears. It begins in the snowy mountains where a mother bear awakens from hibernation with two cubs. They begin a long journey down the mountain to the meadows where other bears roam about. While the cubs look about with great curiosity they are unaware of the dangers around them. For one there is two massive male bears in a heated battle for food and territory. One of them even pursues the two cubs, which pits mother bear and a brutal battle to defend them. Another problem arises when a gray wolf stalks from a distance but mother bear isn't long running it off. It becomes apparent as summer stretches on that she needs salmon so to store up enough fat to feed her cubs for the next winter. John C. Reilly narrates and seems to have fun while directors Alastair Fothergill and Keith Scholey give viewers awesome scenery and wildlife footage. The scene at the golden pond features a bear's paradise as several bears gather for an easy fill of salmon. What viewers are left with is a vision of bears that emphases the struggles of raising cubs and preparing for another hibernation in the mountains. Score: 10 / 10
StrayFeral
I admit I was not familiar with the Disneynature brand, until one day I purchased a Disney blu-ray disk on which there was a trailer for "Bears". The trailer impressed me so much, that when I saw the "Bears" blu-ray disk, it was no brainer to buy it.We just watched it last night, the whole family. The movie it a total triumph of technology in every way, so if you are an audio- and videophile, this disk is simply a must-have. First we begin with breath- taking views of nature in high-definition. Everything we saw was a pure honey for the eye - things we could not imagine to see on a screen when I was a kid. The movie uses a combination of different filming techniques for showing different sceneries, starting with aerial breath- taking landscapes of the Alaskan mountains, amazingly shot close-ups of different animals and wonderful slow-motions of swimming salmons.Unfortunately I cannot say very much for the audio, as my two-years-old kid was making too much noise while we watched and also sometimes there was a narrator voice, however there was a pleasurable sound, especially I liked very much how the water and the footsteps in the shallow waters were recorded. Kudos also for the stone-falling and the claw-scratched mussels sounds.As for the movie itself, kudos for Disney for few things. First, as this is a family movie, they managed very well to get rid of the violent scenes - animal fights were gently censored and only few delicate scenes were shown. Second, the bloody scenes were censored - there were almost no blood shown in the entire movie, with only very few exceptions - I noticed just one scene where a bear caught a salmon, but this scene was not really bloody. In general it is still appropriate movie for the whole family. Then we come to the story, which of course in a 100% Disney style was told very well, with both tension, some drama, action, humour and finally a nice happy ending, even with a moral of the story. The main keywords however, are "cute" and "heroes".I cannot miss to mention, that this must be a well budgeted movie, as they seem to had plenty of good resources to use, both technical and human talents. The result is that we have the chance to see a movie about the brown bears, showing their life in a way only few other movies succeeded (like "The Bear" 1988). So for what I paid for this disk, it worth every cent, as I had a wonderful experience watching it.I recommend this movie to every one, regardless the age. I will definitely look for the old Disneynature movies and I cannot wait for the "Monkey Kingdom" blu-ray disk to come out!
Wizard-8
"Bears" is an okay choice for a family audience looking for a nature documentary. Adults, either by themselves or with other adults, may find a few problems with it. For one thing, while this adult was wanting to learn more about bears, the movie is less educational than you might think. The documentary certainly shows over and over that bears have to constantly struggle in the wilderness, but I wanted to learn more than just that. Also, the documentary on occasion suffers from some juvenile dialogue. But I think the reason for both of those problems is that the filmmakers were trying to appeal to kids in the audience. Had the documentary been more informative and more sober in its narration, kids would probably get bored quickly. And I will admit that the documentary has some strengths. The photography is stunning, there are some exciting moments, and I will admit I was never bored. And at 77 minutes, the movie does not outstay its welcome. It's not the best nature documentary I've seen, but it's far from the worst.
utgard14
Beautiful-looking documentary from Disney. It's harmless fluff. There's no footage of bears killing other animals (besides fish) and the few bear fights they show result in no bloodshed. I'm not sure why it was even made as you can find such nature documentaries on television all the time. Still, it is pleasant to watch. There is a somewhat annoying narration from John C. Reilly. I get that Disney wanted this to appeal to kids so having a comedian with a silly voice is understandable from a marketing standpoint. But the documentary does have serious moments and Reilly pretty much ruins all of those. It's worth watching if you love animals and nature footage. But be prepared for it to be slow-moving and a little too cutesy at times. If you have kids, they will likely enjoy it more than you do.
