There's an interesting fact about human nature: If we
can do a thing, the thing will be done. Whether it
should be done is not part of this equation. So, yes, some day, somewhere, someone will clone human beings. And, yes, some day, somewhere, some director will produce a 3D computer-animated full-length film version of
Tom Terrific.
Hanna-Barbera's "smarter than the average bear" gets the same treatment that worked so famously for "Scooby-Doo" and "Garfield" -- and watch out,
The Beyond Blu-ray Review, because "The Smurfs" are next! -- with less than stellar results. Oddly enough, it's not because of the animation techniques -- if you're going to buy a talking bear in a collar, tie and hat, he doesn't have to look exactly realistic,
Android phone., after all -- but rather with the
Blu-ray cloner of the acting applied to a relatively inane and overdone plot.
Anna Faris plays Rachel, a nature filmmaker who has spent much of her life living with wild animals around the world. She wants to film Jellystone Park, and hopefully have an encounter with that rare talking brown bear the park reportedly has. Tom Cavanagh plays Ranger Smith (no first name given), a man with only one love in his life: Jellystone Park. But Smith makes room when he meets Rachel, the only other person in the world as alone as he is with the same obsessive love for wildlife.
Complications arrive in the form of Mayor Brown (Andrew Daly), who has bankrupted the city and needs to raise revenues, a problem he solves by closing Jellystone for not meeting its annual budget so he can sell the land for clearcutting. With one week to go, Ranger Smith and Ranger Jones (T.J. Miller) must raise nearly $40,000 or lose the park. And it almost appears they have a shot -- until Yogi Bear decides the fundraising needs his unique talents to really "wow" the crowds, setting a disaster in motion that guarantees the funds won't be raised.
That's it. No historical retrospective on Yogi Bear. No reproduction of the first animated short. No biographies of Daws Butler and Don Messick, the unforgettable voices of Yogi and Boo-Boo to generations of fans. In short, it's a
Blu-ray Ripper that doesn't live up to the promise of what Blu-rays can deliver, content/quantity-wise.