Grizzly Falls

Old Harry (Richard Harris) recounts his childhood adventure with a grizzly bear. As a young boy with his beloved mother dead, his adventurer father Tyrone Bankston (Bryan Brown) returns to take him out of his hated boarding school. They head into the Canadian wilderness to capture bears with native guide Joshua McTavish (Tom Jackson) and some questionable hired hands.

This falls into the category of tall tales and I certainly wouldn't want any young boys to try this. The bear scenes with the boy seem sometimes to be composite scenes. I would hate to think the bear was that close during filming. As long as one keeps that in mind, this is a fine adventure movie. It feels like a Disney movie from the 70's or 80's.

Old Harry (Richard Harris) is telling his grandchildren a campfire story out in the woods. And, what a tale it is! When Harry was young, his mother died and his father, Tyrone (Bryan Brown) was a world adventurer who took months to come back and retrieve his son. After their reunion, Tyrone suddenly announced his intent to capture a grizzly bear! Father and son, along with a ragtag team of somewhat seamy volunteers, go out in the woods and try to do the deed. But, low and behold, when the party captures two grizzly cubs, the mother bear captures young Harry! Thinking he is her new offspring, Mother Grizzly keeps close tabs on Harry, preventing an early escape. Will Harry ever see his father again? This film is just, well, bearific! The human actors do a great job but the bears in the film are beyond compare. One truly can walk hand in hand with a grizzly and experience what this young boy did every step of the way. The scenery is lovely, too, making the film a great pleasure to watch. If you have any animal lovers in your household, or even if you just want to stir up some excitement for a family film night, you could hardly do better than this movie. It is a great achievement in cinema for audiences of all ages, pawsitively marvelous. Don't hesitate to look for the film at the library or video store, today, tomorrow or very soon. Your family will clap for joy at the film's end.

After losing his mother, Harry (Daniel Clark) is sent to a boarding school. His Father(Bryan Brown) comes to take him on a trip with a few other people to catch and bring back a live grizzly bear. After two bear cubs are captured, the mother bear comes and kidnaps Harry Bankston. She takes him to the spot where her bear cubs are being kept. On the way there, they became friends. After the mother bear frees her cubs, she leaves Harry and goes back into the wild. Most of the acting is good and the actors make the movie believable. Grizzly Falls is a good movie directed at children under the age of thirteen, but it could also be enjoyed by parents, grandparents, and animal lovers.

A good movie, that should probably have been rated PG-13, in my opinion. There are some genuinely terrifying parts, bad language, and some violent and realistic fighting. It keeps you pretty close to the edge of your seat, for most of the film.

The family-relationship subplot was not very convincing, but otherwise an excellent film. I also found it confusing that the Grandfather made some comment about moving to England from Chicago, and as a child attended what appeared to be an English boarding school...but took the train out west to look for bears. Maybe I misunderstood something.

(One note: the bear is not Bart, but Ali Oop. I have submitted a correction to IMDb.)

Grizzly Falls is a great movie intended mainly for a young audience around the age of 10. This PG movie is an adventure story about a boy (Daniel Clark) who befriends a bear after being kidnapped due to its cubs being taken by the boy's father (Bryan Brown). Of course, the boy and the bear learn to respect each other and become just like family. Overall, it's not a bad movie. Harry and the mother grizzly make a hilarious team together. Although you more than likely seen this plot many times, it's a little different because he learns to respect nature and family values through a bear. Grizzly Falls is a really good family movie to watch with the kids.