Yogi Bear (2010)

Life's a pic-a-nic.

Eric Brevig is a director who had previously focused on a career as a visual effect artist and coordinator in a lot of big budget and low budget productions. While shifting his career into the director's seat, he directed several episodes of the TV hit of the day Xena: Warrior Princess and he made his feature film debut with Journey To The Centre of The Earth half a decade ago. His second feature film is a very cute one for most of young adults and adults of these days for he brings back memories from our childhood by bringing Yogi Bear and his companions on the silver screen. It is both exciting and worrying at the same time for we know how Hollywood easily overpromotes the characters, cartoons and comics from most people's childhood only to turn them into some underwritten and unrelatable characters with some pumped up visuals and weak storylines. However, having our childhood friends back and getting the chance to introduce them to our children is fascinating. Yogi Bear's voice was well known and voice actors were even learning how to make Yogi Bear dubbing from Daws Butler and many others. This time we see a non-Yogi trained actor voicing the character: Dan Aykroyd. His side-kick Boo-Boo is voiced by Justin Timberlake and one thing should be stated about him: he is definitely improving as an actor. Maybe he has given up on music career and decided to work as an actor full time. Tom Cavanagh portrays Ranger Smith, a documentarist who is the only hope for Yogi Bear and all his friends to save their home. The story is simple: Yogi Bear, Boo-Boo and the others live in a big, urban wildlife park called Jellystone Park. It has reached its 100th anniversary only to be declared unnecessary by the Mayor Brown (Andrew Daly). He is planning to close the park and send animals to all different parts of the country due to the insufficient visitor rate. Ranger Smith and Yogi team decide to work hand in hand to stop the dissolution of the park. This film is a fine introduction to other Yogi Bear stories and as a whole family, it can be enjoyed.

Cast: Anna Faris, Dan Aykroyd, Justin Timberlake, Tom Cavanagh, Andrew Daly, T.J. Miller