Date of screening - 29 January 2011
Cinema - Greenbelt 3, Makati
Rotting Tomatoes - 14%
My Rating - 3/10 just because the kids watching had fun with the movie
When I was a kid, I loved to watch re-runs of Yogi Bear. The cartoons then was by Hanna-Barbera, and hey, there's a studio in our city called Fil-Cartoons which supplies the animation to Hanna-Barbera but I haven't seen their signage in years. I think it closed already.
Yogi Bear is a dear reminder of my happy childhood years. I used to sing it's theme song, "Yogi Bear is smarter than the average bear; Yogi Bear is always in the Ranger's hair," or something like that. But much as I used to laugh hard at Yogi's basket-snatching tactics, it was Boo-Boo who always had an impression on me. He doesn't claim he's smarter than the average bear like Yogi does but he's the voice of reason...He's also very patient with Yogi and his not-so-successful tricks. So, when I heard that Yogi Bear's made into a film, I was kinda happy, but then again, I was not expecting too much from the movie. After all, I am not a kid anymore.
So, I watched Yogi Bear last Saturday; it was a toss between Love and Other Drugs, The Green Hornet, The Tourist and one other film that I totally missed out the title. I didn't want to see St. Angelina and Johnny Depp...neither did I want to watch Jake and Anne. I would have picked The Green Hornet, again, but that would be like stalking Jay Chou, right? So, I settled with something that would at least make me reminisce about my childhood so I picked Yogi Bear. Well, I was hoping to see Tangled but it was not yet in theaters last week, so I had to sit through Yogi Bear.
I was surprised to learn that Boo-Boo was voiced by Justin Timberlake...did they auto-tune him to make him sound like Boo-Boo? Both he and Dan Aykroyd sounded just like Yogi Bear and Boo-Boo from the golden days of yore. Also, I was amused to see Anna Faris from the Scary Movie series. I was half-hoping that Toshio and Samara would come out from their hiding hole, too. Hahaha.
At the theaters, I was so baffled at the sheer number of people who watched the movie. While the theater was smallish in size, it was 2/3 full. There were about a hundred people in there, perhaps more, and definitely more than the number who watched The Green Hornet the other weekend. Heehee. But they're mostly made up of kids with their reluctant parents in tow.
If I were to say that the movie sucks, the kids watching in the theater would throw their popcorns at me,and yell for their parents to beat me up. Really. The kids enjoyed the movie. It was a no-brainer; it was made for little kids, especially those in pre-school. So, don't you adults try to understand the shenanigans of the film. It was not made for you after all. Personally, I found myself kinda enjoying it because the kids were definitely having great fun. I was surrounded by kids and I could hear them say, "Daddy, daddy, look! It's so funny! Hahaha! [enter narration of the child here]." By the end of the movie, I was like, well, I got what I deserved. I wanted to watch a kid's movie so I shouldn't complain; but really, I was at least smiling at times, and laughing at one point (because of the cute kiddies who were totally engrossed). And, the kids clapped after the movie. It was a collective clap and no one told them to do it. So, the kids have spoken: Yogi and Boo-Boo for the win!
Sometimes, you really need to realize that not all films are made for people of all ages. But you may just argue that Hayao Miyazaki has great success with Ponyo and a string of perhaps some of the greatest movies ever made: Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, My Neighbor Totoro and Grave of the Fireflies. Just like Pixar's Toy Story 3 which not only slayed at the box office but likewise earned critical recognition. Well, Miyazaki is a master after all, and John Lasseter is always inspired by Master Miyazaki's divine creations. So, Yogi Bear may not have an excuse for having a storyline that might have been tolerable in a five-minute mini-episode of the original cartoons but not in a full-length movie. But hey, the kids in the theater disagreed and had a grand ole time. Who am I to argue?
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