Fridae

I wasn’t around for the original run and the reruns of The Yogi Bear Show and my memories of the nature-loving bear and his cub nephew seem to come from the spin-off series Yogi’s Treasure Hunt, produced in the decline of Hanna-Barbera Productions. The cartoon studio was eventually absorbed into Warner Bros. Animation and had a brief resurgence with the live action adaptations of The Flintstones and Scooby-Doo. I’m guessing these weren’t as popular as expected because that’s all we’ve heard of the classic Hanna-Barbera creations till now.

This live action adaptation of The Yogi Bear Show pretty much reintroduces the ursine duo of Yogi Bear (Dan Ackroyd) and Boo Boo (a completely unrecognisable Justin Timberlake) to children who have never seen the characters before and somewhat older audiences who vaguely remember seeing them in their half-forgotten childhood.

The titular character is still smarter than the average bear, still fast with his quips, and still willing to perform outrageous stunts and pranks for a picnic basket while evading Ranger Smith. But since we’re watching a live action film for children in the 2000s, the comic mayhem and cartoon violence of the original has been toned down – probably because we don’t want to scare the kiddies with live action Ranger Smith getting flattened by his park vehicle.

The plot itself is a nostalgic throwback to 1980s children’s comedy films, replete with 1980s children comedy conventions and tropes. Yogi Bear and Ranger Smith must team up to save Jellystone Park from being rezoned into a logging camp by the city’s corrupt and comically ineffective mayor.

And along the way, Yogi Bear and Ranger Smith will learn to appreciate the value of being different than the average, and that we should all let everyone behave as their natural selves, no matter how unorthodox or eccentric they come across to everyone else. That’s a worthy lesson from an entertaining film you can take your nephews and nieces to.