‘We Bare Bears The Movie’ DVD Review

We Bare Bears is a cartoon that aired on the Cartoon Network for four seasons. Admittedly, I have never seen the show, but I have heard about it. It centers around three bears (grizzly, polar, and panda) that are “bros for life” and vow to stick together no matter what. The show follows them as they try to integrate onto human life by doing traditionally human things like buying food, seeing movies, and making friends with humans. The show now has a follow-up movie meant to be a cap to the series (which has ended its run) and finish their storyline.

That said, if you have not seen the series, you will have absolutely no trouble following the movie. It starts with the grizzly bear having a nightmare about when the bears first met and had to form a “bear stack” (the three bears all stack up in order to move around more quickly) to escape an oncoming train. He awakens before the train gets too close. 

We now find the three bears live in San Francisco, and they very much want to be accepted as part of the community. In their efforts to make a good impression, they accidentally cause a trail of disasters that turns the community as a whole against them. This incident brings them to the attention of National Wildlife Control Agent Trout, who proposes to remove the bears and return them to their natural habitats (China, the Arctic, and a North American grizzly habitat). As a result, the bears flee the city and make a run for Canada with Agent Trout on their trail. Along the way, they meet several animal friends (some with very wild personalities) and have to learn to rely on each other and be better friends to keep each other safe.

At its core, We Bare Bears is a surprisingly heartwarming story about acceptance and diversity. The creator, Daniel Chong, is of Asian descent and intended for the show to be a metaphor for the Asian community and their acceptance into the community. It succeeds admirably, as it clearly gets the message through in a way that children and adults both understand. 

The comedy is great, too. Good writing paired with top-notch talent, like Bobby Moynihan (Saturday Night Live), Demetri Martin (Important Things with Demetri Martin), Patton Oswalt (King of Queens), Ellie Kemper (The Office), and Jason Lee (My Name is Earl), makes for a very successful film.

Overall, this is a funny and heart-warming movie that parents and kids could watch together and enjoy and get a good message from. 

The We Bare Bears The Movie DVD is packed with bonus features including commentary, early sketches, movie pitches, animatics and pencil tests, and deleted scenes.

The We Bare Bears The Movie is available on DVD on Tuesday, September 8th!