Movie Review

The Country Bears (2002)

EW's GRADE
C

Details Release Date: Jul 26, 2002; Rated: G; Length: 88 Minutes; Genres: Comedy, Kids & Family; With: Haley Joel Osment

 REUNITED AND IT FEELS SO GOOD Let\'s get the \'\'Bears\'\' back together! The Country Bears
REUNITED AND IT FEELS SO GOOD Let's get the ''Bears'' back together!

This is a movie based on a Disney theme park attraction. This is a movie in which people in animatronic bear suits pretend to be real talking bears who were once members of a famous country music band and are now just aging, working-stiff bears. Then a preteen bear (voiced by Haley Joel Osment) who's sad because he doesn't resemble the rest of his adopted non-bear family reunites the band through a combination of flattery and nagging. It's sort of an ursine ''The Last Waltz,'' with more costumes and no direction from Martin Scorsese.

The whole talking-animal thing is grisly in The Country Bears, but there are some diversions. Christopher Walken delivers a singular, non-Method performance as a mean (non-bear) bank manager who performs an armpit-fart version of Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture. And non-bear musicians including Elton John and Queen Latifah make cameo appearances.

Originally posted Jul 24, 2002 Published in issue #665 Aug 02, 2002 Order article reprints

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