Yogi Bear

Dir: Eric Brevig

2010

**

The biggest problem I had with 2010's live action Yogi Bear, and let me say early on in my review that there really isn't anything much I liked about it, was that real people and characters that never once appeared in the original cartoons took centre stage. I had to wonder whether anyone involved in the production of Yogi Bear had even watched the original series. Tom Cavanagh plays Ranger Smith, not as he was in the original series but as a slightly awkward and charismatic cardboard cut-out. Anna Faris plays a documentary film maker (and love interest to Ranger Smith) who wants to make a film about Yogi, much to Smith's disapproval. T.J. Miller plays a dumb but enthusiastic ranger in training and Andrew Daily plays a greedy Major who wants to turn Jellystone Park into a logging site. Yogi and Boo-boo pretty much take a backseat in the proceedings, which is a shame as their animation and voices weren't all that bad. Dan Aykroyd declared his love for Yogi Bear long before he agreed to voice him but I think the casting of Justin Timberlake as Boo-boo that took most people by surprise. Even more of a shock was that he was actually quite good at impersonating the little bear. Students of Daws Butler, the voice legend, were quick to offer help and advice to Aykroyd when he was announced as Yogi's voice but he declined all communication, stating that he wanted to do it his way. I find that a little obtuse but he does a fairly good job of it. Personally I would have been happy watching Yogi and Boo-Boo make various inventive initiatives in stealing picnic baskets for the whole film, plot or story be damned but director Eric Brevig said that he wanted to make a film that he didn't want parents who remembered watching the original cartoon to feel marginalized by or displaced by the contemporary rendition. I believe he could have tried a bit harder in making that happen. I also believe he was knowingly talking out of his back-side. This is another in a long line of Hanna-Barbera cartoons to be butchered by CGI and greedy producers. Sure, Hanna-Barbera got all their characters from sitcom characters of the 50s and 60s (Sargent Bilko, The Honeymooners) but their own creations were also something special and are sacred to millions of us around the world. Don't mess with this sort of thing, no one (and I mean no one) likes it!