Reptileenbu Did you people see the same film I saw?

Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Aneesa Wardle The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Janis One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Reno Rangan One of the latest Disneynature's documentary ventures. There's nothing wrong to call it a grizzly version of 'To the Arctic'. Because both films are about the mother bears and their new born cubs' first year of survival in the wilderness, but the differences are the fur and habitat. Shot in Alaskan coast side, the film crew followed the bear family for one circle of a year's season to capture the beginning of the life journey of newborn cubs with their mother.Like the Disney films famous for fairy tales and children friendly, Disneynature films as well not too far behind. Their films are not like we watch on Animal planet and Nationa Geography, the uncut and harsh version of animals' survival in the jungle. But a cute and enjoyable little epic tale. This film was narrated by our own jolly fellow John C. Reilly. Some of his lines were too good for kids and family, I mean comical. Like other Disneynature films is a must see for children. Hope along with kids, the adult would have a nice time.8/10

romanorum1 This Disney nature film, narrated by John C. Reilly, is the story of the first year of life in a family of three brown bears. Sky the mother bear previously dug her winter den high in a nearly inaccessible mountain in Alaska (Katmai National Park) and gave birth to her two cubs. Now it is time for her to leave her den and move her offspring down the snow-capped mountains. It is a rather arduous trek for cubs Scout (the adventurous one) and Amber (the more practical one). The trip is exciting but lurks with danger. Snow that sheltered the small family in the winter now becomes a deadly enemy in early spring, especially because of avalanches. And mother soon has to begin feeding to make milk for her young ones. Down at the Alaskan coast the snow has melted and the land is green. At a meadow there are other bears; they eat grass, their salad until they can get their real food: tasty salmon. There is an occasional fish. The dominant bear in the area is the behemoth Magnus, who at one thousand pounds is three times larger than Sky. Then there is the outcast bear Chinook, who was banished from the meadow by Magnus. Sky has to remain alert for these rival bears and even for predators. In the mudflats near the water are some clams. There is peril for the cubs when the tides return, as they can be separated from land. Then there is the clash with Chinook, but the cubs escape. At another spot up the coast there are some salmon. It is now midsummer. The three bears leave the meadow and head for shore. Magnus steals a fish from Chinook. A new danger is the wolf, Tikani, who eyes the cubs but Sky drives him away. Sky still needs to eat large quantities of salmon before summer's end, or else she will not have enough milk stored for the cubs during winter hibernation. When salmon seem to appear in larger numbers, Tinaki tries to grab a cub while Sky gathers fish, but is again repelled. After two weeks the main school of salmon, finally used to fresh water, swim upstream in order to spawn (sometimes a 30-mile trip against current!). In calm, shallow streams the salmon lay their eggs, but Sky still has difficulty in finding enough fish. When the rains come the water rises and the fish can really move. At the Great Falls the salmon finally gather in huge numbers. Then a raven caws, seeming to signal to Sky the whereabouts of the Golden Pond, her destination. At last the bears can finally eat their fill. Even Tinaki the wolf awkwardly learns how to fish and keeps away from the cubs.In the late summer Scout and Amber have new winter coats. With the seasonal changes it is time for the bear family to return to the high country and prepare their dens for the long cold season and hibernation. The closing credits highlight the film crew and the animal stars. This is a Disney nature film, so you know it is a good one for the entire family. And the cinematography is of Disney's distinctive high quality. Enjoy this one!

viewsonfilm.com Bears as long-nailed mammals, have always been portrayed to be deadly and menacing in countless movies (1997's The Edge comes to mind). In 2014's Bears (the cuddly documentary I'm about to review), they instead come across as harmless and adorable. For 78 minutes, you become interested and involved in their sort of humorous way of life. So by that token, this is a film that pretty much anyone can enjoy. Kids will eat it up the most even though the proceedings hint towards a replica of a classroom film strip. As for the way it was shot, I gotta say it's impressive. The director or directors probably gathered a ton of footage, had to endure massive amounts of editing (to come up with a cohesive story line), and then when everything was cut, asked narrator John C. Reilly to step in and do his thing. Oh, and I'm thinking that everyone involved also had to worry about their own safety. Bears are still for lack of a better word, utterly dangerous if you get too close.Featuring a dandy of an opening shot (of a bear mother giving birth to her wide-eyed kin), helmed by not one but two directors (Alastair Fothergill and Keith Scholey), having vague similarities to March of the Penguins, and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, Bears follows female grizzly bear Sky taking her newly born cubs to trek across Alaska's Katmai National Park. It's summer time and Sky's family along with every other group of bears, is searching for food (the parable of these caniforms as consumers is really sledgehammered here). Along the way, Sky has to use her maternal instincts to protect her two young ones from avalanches (in early April), antagonistic food mongers (portrayed by another bear named Chinook and a seething wolf named Tikanni), and the threat of not being ready for winter hibernation. The film is G rated but has a few attack scenes between the large mammals. These shortened scenes aren't too intense and shouldn't dissuade a young child from taken in a viewing.Things I didn't know about the bear species before seeing this documentary: 1. they make friends with birds like the raven when gathering their food supply (who knew?). 2. bears have a sense a smell that is simply off the charts. They put bloodhounds to shame. 3. bears are for some reason, frightened by wolves even though they are twice their size. 4. call me naive but I never knew that bears liked salmon so darn much. The mother bear has to eat enough of this fish to fatten up for her cubs (so they can make it through the hibernation period mentioned earlier). The only other foods bears eat are I guess, grass and mussels. For them, these forms of nourishment are sooooo boring!Interestingly fun factoids aside, Bears is without a doubt, a great looking flick. Channeling a little residue a la Terrence Malick, a lot of its shots are slow motion close-ups of said species, a couple of impressive time-lapse sequences, and views of breathtaking cinematography via the wide open, Alaskan wilderness. The film score is a mixture of country, contemporary, and pop rock music genres (the familiar "Home" by Philip Phillips is featured). And said score evokes in equal measures, feelings of happiness, despair, and goofy playfulness. The only human element pertaining to Bears is the narration by veteran actor John C. Reilly. It's a hoot and a real breath of fresh air. He plays to the audience in a happy-go-lucky sort of way while at times, speaking for the furry guys themselves (it's as if he's doing their voices if they could only speak real English). Overall, his narrative technique is perfect and let's face it, we could all use a break from the more serious Morgan Freeman.In conclusion, this summer of 2014 release with its fair share of educational fodder, does sort of wear out its welcome at the 1 hour mark. However, it's a beautifully shot, delightfully passive documentary done in the classic documentary style (as with most docudramas, the slow motion nature phenomenas are in abundance here). Bears will at certain points, warm the cockles of your heart. Result: A "bearably" good 3 stars.

DareDevilKid Reviewed by: Dare Devil Kid (DDK)Rating: 4/5 starsDisneynature has brought us some amazing documentaries in the past, including "African Cats" and "Chimpanzee". If there's one thing you can count on from these films, it's that they are absolutely stunning to watch, and their latest project, "Bears", is no exception. Following a year in the life of a brown bear (Sky) and her two cubs (Scout and Amber), we watch as they emerge from their den and go on an incredible journey for food that has them facing such dangers as avalanches, wolves, and even other alpha-male bears. It all comes down to a battle for survival as Sky desperately tries to find enough food to provide for her cubs to carry them through the next hibernation.Narrated by Oscar-nominated actor John C. Reilly, "Bears" is a touching documentary that just goes to show how sometimes films with the simplest themes make for the most engaging experiences. It also manages to get quite tense in places; frequent long-shot vistas of fields and waterways harbor a succession of threats, which are freely milked for suspense.There's not a whole lot of plot to be found here aside from following these bears from spot to spot on their quest for food, and yet, the documentary provides plenty of thrills as they come up against a number of obstacles. From the very start, you can't help but root for them on their difficult journey that has them traveling from the high peaks of the Alaskan peninsula to the shallow streams where salmon mass in great numbers. All the while, we're treated to the gorgeous backdrop of the Alaskan wilderness, made all the more amazing by the dazzling cinematography. Disneynature has once again gone above and beyond to bring us this footage, spending two years and braving several precarious moments capturing over 400 hours of it. Whittling that down to just 78 minutes must have been a herculean task, but in the end, it's wonderful to see that it was worth all the hard effort that went into it. An early avalanche sequence and Myriad shots involving a salmon hunt are particularly impressive. "Bears" is a visual experience through and through, one that offers eye-popping delights at every turn.Not without a few contrivances as it caters to younger audiences, "Bears" is nonetheless an earnest, adorable real-life adventure. Despite the bracing beauty of the wilderness, and the respite provided by cubs at play, the film is primarily a sobering treatise on survival, narrated from the perspective of a family of three bears, giving their plight for survival a sense of sincere thematic heft. The only drawback of this visually brilliant, highly engrossing documentary is that it aims to be too kid-friendly at times, and downplays some of the harsher realities of bear life. But that doesn't take away much from what is undoubtedly an entertaining display for nature movie fans, animal lovers, and anybody in general who enjoys a good documentary.With its touching story, beautiful scenery, and stunning camera- work, "Bears" becomes another worthwhile documentary in the Disneynature library. Kids and adults alike will be drawn into the plight of Sky and her cubs as they trek across the Alaskan wilderness in search of nourishment while facing down whatever stands in their way.