The Focus Pull Film Journal The Focus Pull Film Journal
The Focus Pull Film Journal The Focus Pull Film Journal
  • Full Issues 
  • Reviews 
  • Features 
  • OUR TEAM
  • Info.
    • OUR TEAM
  • Content
    • Full Issues 
      • Issue #01
      • Issue #02
      • Issue #03
      • Issue #04
      • Issue #05
      • Issue #06
      • Issue #07
      • Issue #08
      • Issue #09
      • Issue #10
      • Issue #11
      • Issue #12
      • Issue #13
      • Issue #14
      • Issue #15
      • Issue #16
      • Issue #17
      • Issue #18
      • Issue #19
      • Issue #20
      • Issue #21
      • Issue #22
      • Issue #23
      • Issue #24
      • Issue #25 - Horror Week
      • Issue #26
      • Issue #27
      • Issue #28
      • Issue #29
      • Issue #30
      • Issue #31
      • Issue #32
      • Issue #33
      • Issue #34
      • Issue #35
      • Issue #36
      • Issue #37
      • Issue #38
      • Issue #39
      • Issue #40
    • Reviews 
      • (All Reviews)
      • Action Adventure
      • Animation
      • Biography/History
      • Comedy
      • Crime
      • Documentary
      • Drama
      • Foreign
      • Horror
      • Romance
      • Sci-Fi
      • Thriller
    • Features 
      • (All Features)
      • Bonding with Bond
      • Double Exposures
      • Essays
      • Event Coverage
      • Lists
      • New to Netflix
      • News
      • Retrospectives
    • OUR TEAM
REGISTER
@
LOGIN
Reviews
0
previous article
Review: The Keeper of Lost Causes
next article
Seven Year Itch: 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days

Review: Bears

by Janneke Parrish on September 14, 2014
Overall Rating
7.0
7.0
Critic Rating
You have rated this

“Bears” is a fun little film about a family of bears living out bear lives and doing bear things in the Alaskan wilderness. While the film occasionally tries to pretend it has a plot or some story beyond the bears, it has no actual story, instead providing the viewer with an hour of footage of bears being bears.

There isn’t much substance to the film, or indeed, footage and images that haven’t been seen in some other film about the Alaskan wilderness. There aren’t glorious swooping shots of Alaska or of scenic vistas. Instead, there is a focus on this family of bears and their (mis)adventures. This tight focus on the bears works in the film’s favour, establishing this as a film that is not about some greater context or some bigger message, but just about bears. It allows the viewer to get more absorbed and understand more about these bears, as well as to admire them and what they do.

They are, of course, bears, and despite the narration’s attempts to personify them, there is a constant reminder that the viewer is watching footage of bears living out their lives. John C. Reilly’s narration represents by far the weakest part of the film, with his attempts to give a voice to baby bears and narrate their thoughts often being laughably bad, even bordering on obnoxious. While it is understood that this is not meant to be an educational documentary about the survival habits and lifestyles of Alaskan grizzly bears, equally, Reilly’s attempts to give voice to a baby bear fail succeed only in detracting from the immersion, reminding the viewer that they are watching a film. Even when Reilly’s narration isn’t anthropomorphising the bears, it still adds very little, except to add a human voice where none is required.

While “Bears” is fairly short, this, too, works in the film’s favour. Instead of dragging out a weak narrative or wear out the film’s welcome by flooding the audience with too many images of bears, the length sets a clear end goal and creates refreshing ambiguity about the fate of the bears. It is an optimistic film, but considering it opens with the general sentiment that it is difficult for baby bears to survive, a bit of ambiguity regarding the bears is very welcome.

Perhaps unintentionally, one of the most interesting strengths of the film is the interest it generates in these animals and their futures. The grizzly bear is an endangered species, and one of the things the film does extremely well is convey the majesty of their lives as well as the difficulties of survival. In portraying these animals, it inherently asks the audience to care, not only within the context of the narrative, but in the greater context of conservation as well. Films such as “Bears,” intentionally or otherwise, could potentially be used to generate interest and funding for preserving these endangered species and their environments. It is this additional benefit of the film beyond its surface-level enjoyable bear time that makes it more interesting than just a collection of film clips of bears. It is very successful in creating interest in bears, and in forcing the audience to engage with them when they might otherwise never have done so.

On the whole, “Bears” comes across as fulfilling the same purpose as a trip to the zoo. It gives the viewer the opportunity to watch animals while pretending they are learning something. “Bears” is less educational than the zoo, but provides just as much entertainment and just as much of an opportunity to enjoy nature and all the creatures

Continue Reading Issue #20
Language

English

Runtime

1 hr. 18 min.

Genre

Documentary

Director

Alastair Fothergill and Keith Scholey

Cast

John C. Reilly (narrator)

(All Reviews), Documentary, Issue #20, Reviews
Animal documentariesAnimalsBearsJohn C. Reilly
Animal documentaries, Animals, Bears, John C. Reilly
About the Author
Janneke Parrish
Janneke Parrish
Janneke Parrish lives in South Korea where she struggles to order pizzas and consoles herself by watching far too many movies.
You might also like
John C. Reilly
 

A Fresh Look At: Boogie Nights (1997)

by Marcus Michelen on October 18, 2014
Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Boogie Nights” is an entertaining and often tragic film that features some of Anderson’s most memorable characters, despite occasionally falling into cliché.
 

Review: Life After Beth

by Josef Rodriguez on August 21, 2014
“Life After Beth” is a funny, if uneven, zom-rom-com that only explores a fraction of its limitless potential, wasting a horribly misused cast in the process.
 

Review: Guardians of the Galaxy

by Williamson Balliet on August 3, 2014
Director James Gunn’s penchant for hyperbole is form fit to the little-known "Guardians of the Galaxy," sneaking in ludicrousness and self-awareness behind layers of masterful production design.
Comments
Leave a reply
Add Comment Register



Leave a Response
Cancel reply

The Focus Pull in your inbox!

Subscribe to this list, and we'll send you each week's new issue directly to your inbox. One email a week, packed with essential film writing!

Latest Reviews

View All
 
Taylor Sinople Picks: The 16 Best Films of 2016
 
Form and Function in Alex Ross Perry’s “Queen of Earth&...
 
Digging for Fire and Unexpected: Husband and Wife Process Parenthoo...
 
Every Thing Will Be Fine 3D Review

Latest Features

View All
 
Taylor Sinople Picks – The 17 Best Films of 2017
 
Taylor Sinople Picks: The 16 Best Films of 2016
 
Taylor Sinople’s Top 10 Films of 2015: “The Duke of Bur...
 
8 Films to See at the 51st Chicago International Film Festival

Our Partners

Advertisement

FESTIVAL COVERAGE

View All
 
8 Films to See at the 51st Chicago International Film Festival
 
Every Thing Will Be Fine 3D Review
 
Berlinale 2015: Eisenstein in Guanajuato
 
Berlinale 2015: Sworn Virgin
 
Berlinale 2015: Under Electric Clouds

LISTS

View All
 
Taylor Sinople Picks – The 17 Best Films of 2017
 
SNL40: A Look Back at 40 Years of SNL in Film
 
Six Must-See British Films Opening in 2015
 
Oscars 2015: Ranking the Best Picture Nominees
 
Our 26 Most Anticipated Films of 2015
Tweets by @thefocuspull
  • "Popcorn - check. Soda - check...I have a date with Netflix on Friday night." - Sherry
  • "[…] nails it.” I disagree, and frankly wonder what movies John is talking about. The original G..." - Dear Godzilla Fans: Please Stop Defending that ...
  • "[…] www.thefocuspull.com […]" - Annie Hall
  • "[…] more vibrant monologue or confrontation, like the dinner scene that comes at just the right time ..." - Taylor Sinople's Top 10 Films of 2015
  • "[…] of the year is also the stuff of a best picture winner. With Michael Keaton, hot off praise from ..." - Taylor Sinople's Top 10 Films of 2015
TRENDING ON TFP
   
Try a different filter
© 2014 THE FOCUS PULL FILM JOURNAL
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.