The Country Bears
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| The Country Bears | |
|---|---|
 Promotional film poster |
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| Directed by | Peter Hastings |
| Produced by | Jeffrey Chernov Andrew Gunn |
| Written by | Mark Perez |
| Starring | Don Henley Haley Joel Osment Diedrich Bader James Gammon Brad Garrett Queen Latifah Elton John |
| Music by | Christopher Young, Don Henley |
| Cinematography | Mitchell Amundsen |
| Editing by | George Bowers Seth Flaun Dean Holland |
| Distributed by | Walt Disney Pictures |
| Release date(s) | United States: July 21, 2002 (premiere) July 26 (wide) |
| Running time | 88 min. |
| Country | U.S.A. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $35,000,000 (estimate) |
| Official website | |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
The Country Bears is a 2002 live-action film produced by Walt Disney Pictures, based on the Disney attraction Country Bear Jamboree. It was Disney's first movie based on a ride or attraction, followed by Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and The Haunted Mansion. It was released July 26, 2002.
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[edit] Plot Summary
Beary, a young bear raised by a human family in a world where humans and talking bears coexist, attempts to trace his roots. He meets up with the Country Bears, a long-since broken-up band, a parody of bands like the Eagles. Beary helps the Country Bears reunite for one final concert, while searching for who he truly is. Thanks to Beary the Country Bears realize how wrong they were to break up which they did due to various petty arguments that escalated and Beary returns home to his family who he realized truly do care about him even his brother who somewhat bullies him. The Bears, after reading an essay Beary wrote about them decide to do the concert to save Country Bear Hall, the place they used to perform at but refuse to do so without Beary who brought them back together. They go to get him and his family, but while Ted Betterhead, the band leader who was the most reluctant to reunite is apologizing to Beary and explaining everything to him, Thimble (Christopher Walken), the villain who wants to destroy Country Bear Hall, kidnaps the rest of the Bears. Thanks to an idea from Dex, Beary's older brother Ted, Beary and Beary's family are able to track down and rescue the Bears and head to the concert together. Unfortunately the guy they hired to promote it was paid off by Thimble not to and didn't so it looks like they aren't going to be able to save the Hall after all. But then Big Al, the caretaker of the hall reveals that everyone was just out back and when he opens the door a massive amount of people rush in. The money from the concert is revealed to be enough to save the hall and the Bears perform the concert with Beary now as a member of the band.
[edit] Cast
- Haley Joel Osment as Beary Barrington
- Elton John as himself
- Kevin Michael Richardson as Henry Taylor
- James Gammon as Big Al
- Brad Garrett as Fred Bedderhead
- Diedrich Bader as Officer Cheets/Ted Bedderhead
- Daryl Mitchell as Officer Hamm
- Stephen Root as Zeb Zoober
- Eli Marienthal as Dex Barrington
- Toby Huss as Tennessee O'Neal
- Candy Ford as Trixie St. Claire
- Christopher Walken as Reed Thimple
- Alex Rocco as Rip Holand
- Queen Latifah as Cha-Cha
- Brian Setzer as Bartender
[edit] Filming
It was filmed in Franklin, Tennessee as well as various locations in California.[1]
[edit] Reception
The film was a box office bomb; budgeted at US$35 million, it grossed only $16,990,825 in the US and an additional $1,021,272 overseas. The film was released on December 17, 2002. On rotten Tomatoes, the film only received a 26% positive rating. Film critic Roger Ebert said "the formidable technical skills in The Country Bears must not be allowed to distract from the film's terminal inanity." Critic Sean O'Connell said of the film "Bears is bad. Not 'terrible filmmaking' bad, but more like, 'I once had a nightmare like this, and it's now coming true' bad." It had a few positive reviews but most criticized it for lacking entertaining acting or an enjoyable storyline.
"Despite all the celebrities on hand, this spin-off from a theme park attraction still feels tired and hokey." -Rotten Tomatoes
It even nominated for a Razzie award for worst-supporting actor.[2]
[edit] Trivia
- Ironically, Country Bear Jamboree closed at Disneyland shortly before the movie premiered to make way for the Winnie the Pooh dark ride.
- Elton John made a cameo appearance as himself working in a garden at a mansion when he met the Bears and Beary themselves who didn't really believe it was really Elton until one of the other bears from the band told them.
- The film had several mistakes. These are noted on Rotten Tomatoes. [3]
- During the film you can see a poster of a video game called, "Crash Bash", in Beary's room, which is a game in the Crash Bandicoot series.
- Although the Bears are a country band, they are referred to as a "rock n' roll" group, and having a great deal of influence on rock n' roll.
- Due to the movie's popularity, Disney has announced that they are creating a television series based on it. Although no official name has been given, rumors have appeared, naming it "The Country Bears: On Tour". The show is scheduled to appear on the Disney Channel sometime in late June 2008.
