Tag Archives: Yogi Bear

Hey There, It’s Yogi Bear! Review

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It’s time to look at a retro Yogi Bear film. While I’m fairly familiar with the franchise, I haven’t really watched many of the films at all. I know it by reputation more than anything else. The film makes for a fun watch although the runtime can end up feeling a bit long because there isn’t a whole lot they can do with the concept outside of the initial gags. So you may end up wishing for more of a gimmick by the end.

The story starts with Yogi Bear trying to outsmart the Ranger as always. Unfortunately for him, he hasn’t been very successful this time. The Ranger always catches him in the act and prevents Yogi from really having any food. Yogi is always a step behind and can’t really seem to close the gap. What can he possibly do to change this? It won’t be easy but Yogi will have to leave the state. He volunteers to be taken away and maybe he will have better luck this time. Will the Ranger even end up missing Yogi?

Now the real twist is that Yogi doesn’t actually leave. He tricks another bear and then dons a new persona to keep on messing with people while the Ranger is none the wiser. The Ranger got a little too comfortable with Yogi out of the picture and so he actually starts to lose the war. He can’t stop this mysterious bear from stealing everyone’s food. He may even get fired at this rate because then a lot of other crazy things begin to happen like two other bears going missing. It’s all Yogi’s fault but what can the Ranger do?

What I liked about him is that the Ranger has a certain amount of smugness to him. Maybe you can also just call it adaptability but he always shuts down Yogi’s plan by using it against him. For example Yogi trained some ants to march and take orders like soldiers. So the Ranger made himself a drill sergeant and ordered the ants to betray Yogi. It was a really smart move and you just have to respect plays like that. It’s not as easy as it looks to always be thinking fast. He also gets the last laugh in this film which I wasn’t totally expecting.

There is a really tense face off at the end where the Ranger and Yogi both have to use each other’s fears against the other one. Both sides were not willing to even lose an inch and so it got really close but in the end the Ranger pulled through. He’s easily my favorite character in the series now.

As for Yogi, he’s a fun antagonist. Basically he just wants to eat all of the food that he can and so he’s always trying to rob people just trying to have a nice picnic. Yogi continuously tricks them and the average human isn’t quite as smart as Yogi. If the Ranger wasn’t around, Yogi would be having his way with everybody here. Yogi is hard to overcome but even he eventually starts to feel overwhelmed which is why he considered leaving midway. Breaking his spirit was not an easy act.

Then you’ve got Boo Boo who is basically Yogi’s sidekick. He doesn’t appear as often as I expected him to in this film but he tries to hold it together without Yogi. Ultimately he just needs that guy’s leadership and it’s clear that he is not the same without it. Yogi is the brains of this operation and Boo Boo is a lot more passive in nature. Cindy Bear is the only other main character and she loves Yogi a lot but the guy is always resisting her.

What I like about Cindy is that she makes her intentions plain. She wants Yogi and will do whatever she can in order to make him hers. Cindy will sing songs about this and everything but I guess Yogi doesn’t like her in that way because he’s always trying to run away from her. Of course one of the morals in this film is that he does end up liking her and so he regrets running away. It took him a little too long to learn that lesson though. Yogi better not lose focus again.

We also do have some villains here. There are two bumbling owners of a circus and their crazy dog who go around kidnapping whoever they need in order to make a good show. This is what allows them to kidnap Cindy and then they even manage to get Yogi. They technically end up being rather effective considering that they appear to be comic relief characters for the most part. I guess you can say that there are levels to this.

It was nice to add a little danger to the film. So the movie works as a solid all around title. It’s not the kind of movie you would be taking too seriously or anything like that but it’s fun for what it is. There are a number of songs within the film but they don’t work quite as well. They’re doing their best to sound like retro Hollywood songs and in a way it could work as a parody but they go on a bit too long for that. I’d say we could have done without the songs. The animation is pretty decent though. Nothing amazing but it’s all smooth and very expressive. Probably better than I would have expected going into the movie.

Overall, In general this film could have stood to be a little shorter. It’s got a fun vibe and the experience is good but you could have probably lost about 20 minutes without really losing any part of the movie. Longtime Yogi Bear fans will probably get the biggest kick out of the title though. The banter between the Ranger and Yogi Bear is definitely the best part of the film. How much you enjoy the movie as a whole will likely come down to that. It was nice to finally watch a full length Yogi Bear animated film though. I wonder if it got any good games for the Gamecube. Either way I think the world is ready for a new film in the franchise. Not a live action one, but a true hand drawn animated experience!

Overall 6/10

Yogi Bear Stats and Records

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Stats Time!

% Complete 57%
Continues Used: 0

Picnic Baskets Badges
Jellystone Trail 5/8 3/3
Wolf Forest 3/8 2/3
North Caves 1/8 3/3
Jellystone Ridge 6/8 2/3
Tower Falls 2/8 2/3
Crystal Creek 4/8 2/3
Hawk’s Nest Pass 7/8 3/3
Gold Rush Trail 4/8 2/3
Hanna Cavern 4/8 3/3
Cougar Ridge 1/8 3/3
Barbera Springs 4/8 3/3
Gilder Gauntlet 4/8 3/3
Ranger’s Retreat 4/8 3/3
Dry River Cave 5/8 1/3
boulder Pass 7/8 3/3
Eagle Mountain 3/8 1/3
Huckleberry Canyon 5/8 3/3
Jellystone Lake 2/8 0/3

Yogi Bear Review

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I admit that I have never seen the Yogi Bear film. It’s one of the few influential bear films that I have yet to see, but I figured that getting the game was the next best bet. It’s a fun enough game and it was clear that the developers were trying to make this game like a Mario title. They gave it a real effort, but you can’t just make an AAA Mario game with a limited budget and artificial length. It’s fun for 2-3 hours, but then you’ll just go back to playing Mario.

The plot has Yogi show up at the Ranger’s house to steal his lunch. Yogi also scatters the ranger’s photos to the wind as well so now the national park is going to be shut down. Apparently there are no backups and there is no other way to get people to come to the park. Yogi agrees to go and find the animals so he can take new pictures of them and hopefully steal some food along the way. Go fast Yogi!

The gameplay is your standard 2D platformer. You jump through the levels and avoid enemies. You die in a single hit to anything so you have to tread carefully. Luckily, there are frequent checkpoints throughout the level so you’ll never beset back more than a minute. You can do body slams to stun the enemies and get past them safely. You can’t actually defeat any enemies so you need to move quickly so they don’t get back up and take you down for good. There are pies everywhere and grabbing 50 of them will give you an extra life. There are also 3 medals in every level and I’d recommend grabbing any that you see.

At first I was ignoring them completely, but that ended up catching up to me. There is a park ranger who shows up every once in a while and the only way to get past him is to bribe the guy with medals. Getting 2 out of every 3 is a good way to make sure that you can always bribe the guy. They’re not even that hard to get as there will be obvious caves everywhere and if you see an arrow pointing right…go left. That’s all you really need to know to grab those medals.

The game keeps track of your game overs so I recommend playing carefully. I was actually able to beat the game without ever losing all of my lives. I’m trying to act surprised, but maybe this is expected right? Heh heh. The graphics aren’t all that bad. You can see what is happening at all times. It may not be high end graphics, but they serve their purpose. I do have to give the gaame a lot of props for actually having full cutscenes with voice acting within. A lot of Wii games actually don’t have this so it’s definitely pretty impressive. The soundtrack is less impressive and you won’t remember any of the tunes by the end. You’ll definitely remember the sound effects though because Yogi Bear constantly mentions how he’s smarter than the average Bee, Human, etc. He talks a lot during the levels and even talks when you try the bodyslam. As a result, you can expect constant chatter throughout, which is not bad per say, but it can get repetitive.

My main negative with this game is the artificial length. The game coud easily be completed in a single sitting if not for the ranger constantly asking for medals. Once I knew that I needed medals I was able to get enough where I didn’t have to go back anymore, but it was still a little annoying. Lets face it, even if the levels aren’t that bad, it’s not as if I want to go back and play them again. That’s reserved for a big title like Sonic or Mario. It also just shows that the developers couldn’t think of a better way to make the game longer.

There is some obvious replay value…getting all of the medals and baskets. It’s not something that would entice me to play the game again though. As far as I’m concerned, this is one of those games that you play to completion once and then it goes into the drawyer…never to be seen again. It’s fun enough and the price is pretty low so you’re getting a good value.

Overall, It’s good to see that Yogi Bear has gotten his own video game. He’s certainly the kind of character that you can get behind. He’s so mean and over confident the whole time in an “oblivious” way that it works well. The gameplay is good enough to keep you playing and at the very least there is nothing that will hamper your progress aside from the ranger. The ranger definitely brings it down by a star. It’s a good game, but one that you won’t be playing after you’ve beaten it. I recommend giving it a shot if you want a fun little platformer, but the burning question will always be “Why not just buy a more established one?” Still, it is Yogi Bear so that gives it some novelty.

Overall 6/10