Bears was my first Disneynature film. What was I waiting for? I had heard of Earth, Oceans, African Cats and Chimpanzee but never saw them. After watching Bears I’m ready to go back and watch all of the other Disneynature films.
I can really appreciate Disneynature picking up where Walt left off. From 1948 to 1960, Disney had a successful string of wildlife documentary films in the True Life Adventures series including Seal Island, Beaver Valley, The Living Desert and Jungle Cat. I can always stand behind The Walt Disney Company making choices that Walt Disney would approve of and he had a wonderful admiration of nature.
Watching Bears, in it’s scenic Alaskan landscape, was a beautiful and relaxing experience. There’s suspense but something is so calming about the environment they live in. Pure, fresh nature. I love to learn and Bears puts a lot of information into an entertaining format. John C. Reilly, voice of Wreck-It Ralph, narrates the story of this bear family and brings relatable, human humor.
I couldn’t help wondering throughout this movie how it was made. Were the camera operators really zooming in? Surely they couldn’t be too close to these wild animals and dangerous habitats. As soon as the credits start to role, secrets are revealed and you see footage of filmmakers in the process. It must have been such an incredible experience to make this movie. I also couldn’t help but ponder the amount of research that went into Bears. You learn so much about the yearly life cycle of this creature but also about their surrounding community of animals and how their lives are affected by each other.
Filmmakers on the set of Disneynature’s Bears
See Bears in it’s opening week and a portion of the funds will go to the National Park Foundation. Read about Disneynature’s past efforts:
“Disney’s commitment to conservation is a key pillar of the label and Disneynature films empower the audience to help make a difference. Through donations tied to opening-week attendance for all four films, Disneynature, through the Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund, has planted three million trees in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest, established 40,000 acres of marine protected area in The Bahamas, protected 65,000 acres of savanna in Kenya, protected nearly 130,000 acres of wild chimpanzee habitat, educated 60,000 school children about chimpanzee conservation and cared for chimpanzees.”
Bears is in theaters Friday, April 18th!
All Photos via Disney.
I like the Disney nature films. Every time I see this one advertised I think “da Bears.”
Is it sad and tragic? Or mostly uplifting? I can’t watch animals get hurt…
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The only animals that get hurt in this movie are the salmon. Bears can be suspenseful at times, there is a bear fight, but everything turns out alright in the end. 🙂 Overall all it’s very educational