Yogi Bear, from the Hanna-Barbera cartoon which dates back to 1958, makes the leap to the big screen and in 3D. A live action film featuring computer-animated wildlife, Yogi is voiced by life-long fan Dan Ackroyd, his sidekick Boo Boo is Justin Timberlake.
When a corrupt mayor announces he'll turn failing Jellystone Park into a logging facility, Yogi and Boo Boo team with Ranger Smith (Tom Cavanagh, TV's Scrubs) and a wildlife documentarian (Anna Faris, The House Bunny) to save their home.
Yogi Bear was shot in New Zealand - Woodhill Forest in Auckland and the Aratiatia rapids in Taupo standing in for Jellystone.
Yogi Bear is another classic cartoon turned live-action film, suitably cheerful and colourful, if a little light on imagination.
The quality of the 3D is excellent, having been conceived and filmed in the format. I can’t help but feel that the bears would have looked better as two-dimensional Roger Rabbit type figures, identical to the original drawings, but the new CG versions are cuddly-looking and would make good toys.
The picturesque backdrop of Jellystone Park is in reality comprised from various New Zealand forests, lakes and rivers, with some redwood trunks and computerised mountains inserted. Some central Auckland locations are fun for locals to spot.
Yogi Bear will babysit younger kids for long enough. The storyline is woefully unimaginative, all about baddie corporate types who want to sell Jellystone thus leaving Yogi and BooBoo to save the day. I found the movie quite flat and uninteresting but then, I’m a grown-up.
By Andrew Hedley, Flicks.co.nz
2 adults 1 child over $50 to see some nz scenery and a stuffed toy
A great family movie for children without the fast moving cartoon violence that most kids movies contain. It was a pleasant surprise given the reviews, a few weak one liners but a feel good movie we all enjoyed and Woodhill scenery a bonus.
Another Hollywood pile of SH#*e that trotally underestimates kids intellingence ... so not worth it !
Harmless, endearing, awesome NZ scenery. Our three kids loved it, plus enough humour for parents and grandparents to enjoy it also!
Not a great movie. My 8 year old son seemed to enjoy it but it was very bland. Nothing like the old cartoons.
Yogi is still smarter than the average bear, but Yogi Bear is much less smart than most of the year's kid-friendly cartoons.
There's exactly one thing about the misbegotten big-screen Yogi Bear that might make you think back with any fondness to the Hanna-Barbera cartoons on which it's based. That would be Justin Timberlake's charming performance as the voice of Boo-Boo Bear.
If you have fond memories of Yogi Bear from your childhood, you'd be hard pushed to remember why after watching this big screen revival of the 1960s' Hanna-Barbera series.
It's nature vs corporate greed in this latest film for Yogi Bear, partially shot here in good ole NZ.
A bland and innocuous small-fry outing that retains a measure of the original Hanna-Barbera cartoon's charm, though scarcely enough to justify the time, expense and visual-effects trickery it must have taken to inflate an endearing 2D cartoon into a dopey 3D extravaganza.
We've been told the NZ release date for this flick is Thursday, 13th Jan 2011.
Release date: January 13th 2011.
We haven't received times for this movie in this location yet. However these are updated as cinemas announce them, so check back soon. Hopefully the lovely cinemas in your location will choose to play it shortly. ~Ed.
