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  Directed by
  Starring
  Specs
  • Widescreen 1.85:1
  • 16:9 Enhanced
  • Dual Layer (RSDL 57:52)
  Languages
  • English: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
  Subtitles
    English, Hebrew, English - Hearing Impaired, Croatian, Slovenian
  Extras
  • Audio commentary - Jawin' With The Bears with Director Peter Hastings and Special Guests Ted and Zeb
  • 2 Featurette - The Country Bears: Out of the Woods, The Country Bears Concert for America
  • Animated menus
  • Karaoke - Sing With The Movie
  • Interactive game - Video Mix Master Jamboree

Country Bears

Buena Vista/Buena Vista . R4 . COLOR . 85 mins . G . PAL

  Feature
Contract

Yes, believe it or not, and embarrassing for this reviewer to admit, The Country Bears proved to be more than just another cruddy kiddie film. 2003 is the year for Disneyland and Walt Disney World attractions to be released as films in Australia. Starting the ball rolling was The Country Bears in, followed by the swash-bucklin’ adventures on the high seas in Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl in September and soon to be accompanied by the family horror-humour film, The Haunted Mansion, scheduled for January 2004, starring Eddie Murphy. What’s next – Space Mountain or Big Thunder Mountain Railroad? OK, well that’s enough of a free plug for Disney...

Based on the Country Bear Jamboree from Walt Disney World (as Disneyland’s attraction has been overrun by some Pooh by the name of Winnie), The Country Bears provides enough entertainment for the little ones, and even offers enough interest for the oldies too with some
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What's scarier - the bear or the jumper?
adult parody and sarcasm. However Jim Henson’s team has been at work here with the Muppets for the 21st century – Beary, Trixie, Ted, Zeb, Big Al, Henry, Tennessee and Fred. “Righteo, whatever”, I hear you say, but you’ve just been introduced to the Country Bears and their biggest fan, Beary. Something about these bears is just scary – the eyes hold too much feeling for such a fluffy exterior and have a slightly evil appearance. Either that or it’s a trademark feature of Jim Henson’s team – you can’t seriously tell me that Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy aren’t evil.

We first meet Beary Barrington (vocalised by Haley Joel Osment) in the family home in the city where he has been raised by humans and treated as a fellow human being. However, his brother Dex refreshes his memory of his national park origins and Beary runs away, leaving his foster parents, to find where he really belongs. On the way he stops off at Country Bear Hall, a once-popular spot where the Country Bears performed to their enormous following. These days have gone, however, leaving the hall dark and empty and the bank manager Reed Thimple (Christopher Walken) has a vision of destroying the hall once and for all. In an effort to save the hall, Beary comes up with the idea of a Country Bear reunion, so hits the road with Henry, Roadie and Mr. Chicken to reunite the group for a show that’ll knock ‘em flat. But the police are on Beary’s trail as his foster parents are worried for his wellbeing, proving the incompetence of the police force, and the male sex too. But who cares? These two cops are funny. On the road we meet a cool cast of characters including cameos from Queen Latifah, Elton John, Brian Setzer and Jennifer Paige to name a few.

So, as with most Disney films, The Country Bears teaches us about the importance of family, however abstract the “family” actually is, as well as more general ideals such as appearance and especially those different to your own. The puppeteering is masterful, and the film coherently falls into place to give the kids a wholesome piece of entertainment to sing along to, as well as teaching them important lessons for life and also about new genres of music, in this case country and folk.

  Video
Contract

This transfer is presented in an anamorphically enhanced widescreen aspect of 1.85:1, the original aspect of The Country Bears. Interestingly though, the region 1 version misses out on this “wider” treatment and suffers that lovely pan and scan fate.

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You wanna watch out for those car washes - foamy death traps for sure.

Anyhoo, if you’re looking for faults with this transfer it may be an idea to try another disc – this transfer is just so close to perfect, it’s not funny. Stuff Superbit – it just goes to show that a transfer can look brilliant without a massive price tag, and we even get extra features too! Colours are simply gorgeous, capturing a life-like representation of such an honest and natural palette. Blacks provide deep and solid backdrops for these lively colours, showing no sign of any DVD nasties such as compression-related effects. Even aliasing is kept to a minimum, with film artefacts and film grain not being a problem at all. The biggest downfall is with the slightly clumsy layer change, resulting in a slight gap in the audio as it skips past.

  Audio
Contract

The single Dolby Digital 5.1 English soundtrack rips up the soundstage with a clear and fairly powerful punch. Dialogue crisply comes from the centre channel, and is (mainly) in synch, however the puppeteer acting of the speech sometimes looks like “flap flap, flap flap flap flap”, with random and uncontrolled mouth movement, resulting in some slight lip-synch issues. The 5.1 soundstage is fairly full, providing loads of discrete effects to keep your ears busy as well as a richly mastered musical score. Even the woofy rears its head every now and then, but isn’t driven as much as it could have been.

The Country Bears features a score by Christopher Young which isn’t anything memorable, but does provide enough of an emotional support to tweak at the appropriate heartstrings. John Hiatt, Brian Setzer and Peter Hastings are the men behind the songs which are more memorable, including one that just won’t leave your head, Kick it Into Gear, performed by the poorly acting Jennifer Paige. But then the finale smacks it into place with Straight to the Heart of Love, capturing the mood and message of the film and summing it all up with fun and emotion all in one.

  Extras
Contract

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There's a bear in there...
From the 16:9 menus, you know you’re in for a treat – it’s Disney. It’s fun. It’s got some nice extras too, just to top it all off. Now, don’t take these features seriously – they feel like a Christopher Guest (Waiting for Guffman, A Mighty Wind) piece with a nice mockumentary style, however at times it can become a little hard to swallow.

OK, let’s start at the audio commentary, which features the vocal talents of director Peter Hastings as well as Ted and Zeb. At times this is fairly frustrating to listen to, as the two carry on a little bit, overshadowing the odd comment from Hastings. Following along with the “Country Bears are real” type thing are two featurettes, The Country Bears: Out of the Woods and The Country Bears Concert for America. The first runs for 15 minutes and features interviews from some of the characters as well musical personalities including Queen Latifah, Willie Nelson and Brian Setzer. The second runs for approximately 22 minutes and is based on the reunion concert. For a bit of fun these are great, but if you’re after technical information you’ll need to look elsewhere.

Next we have the Video Mix Master Jamboree interactive game, which allows you to mix your own Country Bears video from four streams and then the ability to view your finished masterpiece. Krystal Marie Harris provides us with a music video for The Kid in You. This is your stock-standard music video for promotional purposes. For fans of the artist it’s a good addition – if you’ve actually heard of the artist that is.

Finally there is the option to Sing With the Movie which runs through the film displaying lyrcis on the screen during the songs via the third English subtitle track. The kids will love it, but give us real karaoke with that cool bouncing ball!

  Overall  
Contract

The Country Bears certainly caught this reviewer off guard with an energetic and wholesomely positive entertainment experience. Personally, it’s because The Country Bears is an original film in the kids’ genre providing something new and different to watch, not just the same old stuff redrawn for a new generation. Buena Vista’s video transfer is a stone’s throw from perfect, and the 5.1 audio mix provides a broad and active soundstage to aurally entertain you for nearly 90 minutes. Then to top it off is a bunch of innovative and odd extra features that will keep you going for that smidge longer. So next time the kids are stuck for a decent film during the school holidays, give The Country Bears a shot – it’s short, it’s Disney, and it’s a lot of fun.


  • LINK: http://www.dvd.net.au/review.cgi?review_id=2633
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      And I quote...
    "Well colour me “surprised”..."
    - Martin Friedel
      Review Equipment
    • DVD Player:
          Philips DVD 736K
    • TV:
          TEAC EU68-ST
    • Receiver:
          Sony HT-SL5
    • Speakers:
          Sony SS-MSP2
    • Centre Speaker:
          Sony SS-CNP2
    • Surrounds:
          Sony SS-MSP2
    • Subwoofer:
          Sony SA-WMSP3
    • Audio Cables:
          Standard Optical
    • Video Cables:
          standard s-video
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