“The Bear” is a loving film about nature and the animals that dwell within it. Director Jean-Jacques Annaud capped his naturalistic jaunt through the 1980s by going from the Cavemen of “Quest for Fire” to a single orphan bear’s quest to survive in this film. Less than three minutes of dialogue appear in the 96 minutes of this film. But, you feel the narrative arc and push to survive, as the little bear makes friends with a Grizzly guardian.
The film deals with the primal terror of wild beasts wanting to pick each other and man apart. But, we also get the sense that man is an intruder into the natural and the great beasts are scared of us as well. If your child is a fan of the Disney Nature documentaries, then I’d recommend picking this one up. It’s not too frightening, but there are a few confrontations that might raise an eyebrow. But, you probably let them watch the far worse “Milo & Otis” already.
The Blu-Ray comes with a making-of featurette as the special feature. The A/V Quality is pretty strong for a film that I only owned on VHS. The DTS-HD 5.1 master audio track makes the natural action come to life. Plus, the 1080p transfer is super crisp. I’d recommend a purchase to all.
Release Date: 9/29/15