Yogi Bear

Yogi bear, a piece of ancient history comes to life in a film that like the first Garfield film combines real life acting with computer animated action. The story is easy enough: living in a park with his friend Booboo his only "work" is attempting to steal food from people coming there for a picnic. His idyllic life is threatened though - first there's the ranger that is on their tail and then there is the governor who wants to tear down the forest to make money for the city. But Yogi is a versatile bear, and solutions are in the making.

This is a typical kids film, designed for kids of all ages with a bias towards kids around 4 to 8 years old. The story is light and even the most dark spots are sweetened with enough sugar to make a layer cake or two.

For the parents it is endurable. It's not quite as fun as some of the other films in the same age group out there as it lacks any of the harmless innuendo that makes such films so much better, but it is endurable. The worst would probably be having to see the scenes that combine the real actors with the animated ones - the interaction shows all too clearly that they were blue-screen acted with the actors looking into the distance or somewhere different altogether while the animation should be happening right in front of their noses.

5 out of 10 misshapen attempts at resurrection childhood heroes

It's easy to slam a movie like "Yogi Bear"- just talk about how simplistic the script written by no less than three writers; or how childish the antics are of the titular character and his cautious sidekick, Boo-Boo; or even how repetitive pic-a-nic basket stealing gets. Yes, they are all fair observations of this live-action adaptation of the 1960s Hanna-Barbera cartoon, but I wouldn't go so far as to criticise the movie for these very traits.

If you've seen the Saturday morning cartoons, you'll find that this film actually stays extremely faithful to its source. In them, Yogi goes around doing perhaps one thing and one thing only- that's right, stealing pic-a-nic baskets and thinking to himself how he's "smarter than the average bear"- together with Boo-Boo, occasionally running into Jellystone National Park's head ranger Smith who yells at him for disturbing the peace.

We used to laugh at Yogi's foolish schemes (or at least I remember I did), so why is it so difficult to laugh at the same things all over again? Sure many of us who have enjoyed those cartoons may have grown up, but that's not a fault of the film, especially when those in the audience who were of the age when we were watching the cartoons were obviously having a great time.

Around the regular pic-a-nic stealing, writers Jeffrey Ventimilia, Joshua Sternin and Brad Copeland have spun an eco-friendly story of the unscrupulous town mayor (Andrew Daly) who aims to sell off Jellystone to the loggers to cover the city's deficit. Needless to say, it will be up to Ranger Smith, his love interest the nature documentarian Rachel (Anna Faris), and of course Yogi and Boo-Boo to save the day. Yes it's simple but the plot is just serviceable enough to be the glue this live-action treatment needs.

Ultimately, the stars of the show were always Yogi and Boo-Boo, and in this regard, both the voice actors and the animators have done a wonderful job. Dan Aykroyd does his best Daws Butler impersonation for Yogi Bear, most impressive for nailing his character's distinctive speech patterns. Just as outstanding is Justin Timberlake, clearly relishing the opportunity to disappear into the role of Boo-Boo, complete with the trademark nasal delivery. It's especially interesting to think how Timberlake sounds so uncannily like the classic Don Messick.

Director Eric Brevig (of 2008's "Journey to the Centre of the Earth") keeps the gags flying fast and furious, so even if some of the supposed verbal punchlines fall flat, there is always something visually appealing to hold your attention. An Oscar-nominated effects specialist, Brevig makes great use of the stereoscopy to deliver all sorts of visual gimmicks- whether something flying in your face or hurling you along- but it adds nicely to the fun.

And that's one word that sums up what it's all meant to be about- "fun", good clean harmless fun like how the cartoons were 40 years ago, and a trip down memory lane for those who have seen the originals. There'll be many tempted to ride the wave of criticism surrounding this movie, but if you know what you're in for, then "Yogi Bear" should just be the perfect family entertainment this holiday season.

Not an awful movie. Not one that I would take a date to go see, though. Odd...one of the jokes was talking about getting a date with a young woman, and Yogi mentions urinating on her. I was wondering why that had to be included. Really don't want to talk to my kids about urination. To throw that into a movie that is so obviously a kids movie seems out of place, like a sex scene in a Dr. Seuss book. Or day care advertisements in Penthouse. At the very least, it was odd. But the plot is predictable and easy on the mind. There is very little deviation or subplots that play out, and the ending is easy to guess. But, again, it's a kids movie. So, I took my 5 and 3 year old, and the 5 year old giggled, and the three year old played with my smartphone. I napped. I do have one other flaw for this movie...why do they think that using Dan Akroyd or Justin Timberlake increases the sales for this movie? Or any movie out there that uses big name stars for a cartoon? What's the point? Dan was just fine, and Timberlake was very good as boo-boo, but there are hundreds of voice actors in Hollywood. This could have been a huge film for one of them. Instead, the producers overpaid two big stars that could have literally phoned in their parts. Is that why I pay 20 bucks for popcorn? Because of overpaying big stars for parts like this? I think it might be...

First of all if you are going to see this film you probably already know what you are getting yourself into. This is a really really really dumb movie featuring Yogi Bear and Boo Boo voiced by Dan Aykroyd and Justin Timberlake respectively. There is no substance at all what so ever in this movie, therefore, sit back, relax, become a kid again and enjoy the antics of Yogi Bear and Boo Boo. The movie begins with the picnic basket nabbing antics of the renowned cartoon character Yogi Bear and his partner in crime Boo Boo at Jellystone Park. They are constantly messing with Ranger Smith (Tom Cavanagh) who they call Mr. Ranger and scaring campers away. Documentary filmmaker Rachel (Anna Faris) arrives in order to shoot a project by attaching a camera to Boo Boo's bow-tie. All is normal until Mayor Brown (Andrew Daly) decides to sell Jellystone Park to loggers in order to save the town from bankruptcy and help him with his campaign for governor. However, Yogi and Boo Boo have something to say about this and team up with Ranger Smith and Rachel in order to stop Mayor Brown plot and save the park.

The movie itself isn't very good nor is it supposed to be very good and the fact that the creators recognized this while making the film makes the film a lot of fun. Yogi Bear and Boo Boo are the best part of the film and are laugh out loud hilarious. They aim for the ridiculous and do the craziest things that are very entertaining. Dan Aykroyd and Justin Timberlake were perfect choices for the parts of Yogi Bear and Boo Boo. They help the film avoid any sappy emotional drama and just have some childhood fun. The film is also very short and therefore it does not overstay it's welcome. The film just tells the story and makes you laugh without really worrying about anything.

The film isn't worth paying fourteen dollars to see in 3D and is very forgettable because it lacks any originality what so ever. Also, all of the actors really do not add anything to the film except a small cliché romantic relationship between Ranger Smith and Rachel. The bad guys are very annoying as they usually are these kinds of movies. Also there really isn't a plot or at least a plot that you really care about. The writing is terrible, but yet again you aren't seeing the film for that.

This is a great kids movie that isn't scary at all and could probably even be rated G. I actually do recommend seeing the film, but you should probably wait to see it in the cheaper movie theaters or wait for DVD unless you want a really safe movie to take a kid to. (Save your money and do not see it in 3D)

In the new animation Yogi Bear even the voices of Dan Aykroyd as Yogi and Justin Timberlake as Boo Boo aren't able to take a lumbering script and make it less than soporific for adults. But, then, this movie is for youngsters about 5 years old, no older, so it has found an audience that might be mildly amused, as mine was.

In this derivation from the once popular TV series, a documentary filmmaker, Rachel (Anna Farris), falls in love with Ranger Smith (Tom Cavanagh) while she witnesses his struggle with nefarious forces that threaten the future and ecology of Jellystone National Park. Yogi and Boo are not a help even though they'd like to be because Yogi regularly disproves his boast that he's "smarter than the average bear." This comedy, magnified but not improved, by 3-D is not smarter than the average animation.