Yogi Bear (2010) – Review

Prepare yourselves, ladies and gentlemen, for a cinematic catastrophe that somehow managed to turn a beloved childhood cartoon into an abomination of epic proportions. This Yogi Bear movie takes everything that was endearing about the original series and mangles it into an unrecognizable mess that leaves you questioning your life choices.

The plot, if it can even be called that, revolves around Yogi Bear (Dan Aykroyd) and sidekick Boo Boo (Justin Timberlake) trying to save Jellystone Park from the corrupt machinations of Mayor Raoul Brown (Andy Daly), who has bankrupted the city and now plans to raise money for its new budget, as well as his upcoming gubernatorial campaign, by shutting down Jellystone and opening the land to logging. However, the storyline is so paper-thin and formulaic that it becomes painfully predictable within the first few minutes as to what will happen. So this conflict kicks off the story, dealing with Ranger Smith (Tom Cavanaugh) trying to raise $30,000 dollars in one weeks time – which is what the park needs to cover its operating costs – or the Mayor will be able to rezone the park and sell it to a logging company.  But that’s not enough, we also have documentary filmmaker Rachel Johnson (Anna Faris), the film’s ostensible love interest, who has come to Jellystone to make a documentary on Yogi Bear because, apparently, talking bears are rare.

She’d have been better off looking for the Blair Witch.

Needless to say, things go awry and hijinks ensue. While Ranger Smith and Rachel try and hold a centennial festival in an attempt to sell season passes the Mayor promises Ranger Smith’s assistant, Ranger Jones (T.J. Miller), that he will be given the position of head ranger if he sabotages their efforts to raise the funds. To achieve this, Ranger Jones manipulates the ego-eccentric and gullible Yogi into performing an elaborate water-skiing performance that goes wrong and results in the fireworks being launched into the crowd, who then flee in panic. This leads to the second act of our drama with Jellystone Park being shut down and Ranger Smith forced to take a job at a tiny city park. A ray of light appears when they learn that Boo-Boo’s pet turtle is a rare and endangered species known as a “frog-mouthed” turtle which means, according to law, that the park cannot be destroyed if the turtle is living there, the film will then attempt answer such questions as “Can Ranger Smith and Rachel find true love? Could Yogi and friends use this legal loophole to save the park? Or will the Mayor and his cronies thwart our hero’s valiant efforts?”

And could anyone watching this movie care less?

Stray Observations:

• Jellystone is a National Park and thus the Mayor would have no jurisdiction power over it whatsoever, which completely invalidates the entire central conflict of the movie.
• Yogi advises Ranger Smith to urinate on Rachel to mark her as his territory, which while not actually mating behaviour it could possibly highlights a particular kink of Yogi Bear.
• Yosemite National Park’s revenue is about three million dollars a year, so maybe Ranger Smith should be fired if Jellystone can’t even break even.
• Yogi offers to be a headliner to help bring in more tourists but Ranger Smith turns him down, even after Yogi performs Sir-Mix-a-Lot’s “Baby Got Back” which is all kinds of wrong.  Even if it didn’t bring in tourists they could earn money by entering Yogi into America’s Got Talent.
• Yogi’s impromptu water-skiing performance did ruin the festival, setting off the fireworks into the crowd, but why was Ranger Smith having a daylight fireworks display in the first place? Isn’t this type of event typically held at night?
• If an endangered species like the “frog-mouthed” turtle means the park cannot be destroyed why isn’t the park safe by having talking bears like Yogi and Boo Boo?

What’s really endangered is here the very concept of comedy.

The attempts at humour are embarrassingly juvenile, relying heavily on slapstick gags and cheap visual effects and even the film’s target demographic—children—might find themselves struggling to muster up more than a courtesy chuckle. The film was directed by Eric Brevig, whose career mostly consists of work as a visual effects artist with his only other screen credit as a director being the Brendan Fraser remake of Journey to the Center of the Earth, but it’s hard to blame this travesty on a novice director when pretty much every element of this film is a misfire. The storyline is an uninspired rehash of countless “save-the-whatever” plots we’ve seen before, lacking any originality or engaging twists. The attempts at humour is often forced, relying heavily on slapstick comedy and tired jokes that fall flat, especially at a time when animated movies were beginning to raise the bar in terms of both humour and emotional depth. Of course, one of the most glaring issues with Yogi Bear is its thinly veiled attempt to cash in on nostalgia while simultaneously offering little substance for both fans of the original cartoon and newcomers alike.

I declare “Open Season” on these abominations.

As for the cast, this cinematic dumpster fire brings together a group of actors who may as well be holding “Will act for Food” signs as none of them seem to be giving a shit with their performances. From the moment the CGI Yogi starts talking you’ll wish he’d just go back to stealing picnic baskets in silence. Dan Aykroyd’s voice-acting is easily the most painful element in this train wreck of a movie, his attempts at recreating Yogi’s iconic voice were as convincing as a toddler pretending to be a lawyer. Boo Boo, voiced by Justin Timberlake, sounds like he’s trapped in a recording booth against his will, forced to utter lines that would make even the most devoted fan cringe, and then there is poor Anna Faris who is given so little to work with in terms of character development and she comes across as a more of a plot device rather than a fully fleshed-out character.

Note: In all fairness to this movie, the 2017 Woody Woodpecker wins the title of worst live-action adaptation of a cartoon. This Yogi Bear movie is terrible but the Woody attempt is actively painful to watch.

As for the film’s visuals, Yogi Bear struggles to merge the live-action elements with the CGI-rendered characters convincingly as their integration often feels jarring, pulling audiences out of the experience instead of immersing them in the world of Jellystone Park. The environmental messages that the film attempts to convey are delivered heavy-handedly, lacking the subtlety that could have made them impactful, but perhaps the most disappointing aspect of this Hanna-Barbera-inspired mess is its missed opportunity to update the characters and their dynamic for a modern audience. The 1960s animated show was known for its clever satire, witty commentary and endearing characters, in contrast, this adaptation reduces Yogi and Boo Boo to mere caricatures of their former selves, devoid of the depth and personality that once made them beloved icons. The film’s attempts to shoehorn in references to the original show only serve as a reminder of how much better that source material was. In fact, if you want to watch a feature-length Yogi Bear movie there already is an excellent one to check out.

The film “Hey There, It’s Yogi Bear” came out in 1964 and is well worth checking out.

It’s clear that this Yogi Bear movie was nothing more than a blatant cash grab that attempted to capitalize on nostalgic property without understanding what made the original cartoon so special. Its lack of heart, originality is criminal and the end result was nothing more than another lame live-action adaption, such as Alvin and the Chipmunk and The Smurf. In the end, 2010’s Yogi Bear is a forgettable and regrettable attempt at adapting a beloved classic. Its weak script, uninspired performances and complete inability to capture the spirit of the original makes it a disappointment for fans and a missed opportunity for the filmmakers. This movie serves as a stark reminder that some things are best left in the past, untouched by the misguided attempts of modern adaptations.