Waste of time

Purely Joyful Movie!

Load of rubbish!!

Your blood may run cold, but you now find yourself pinioned to the story.

That is the question in this cartoon from 1967 "The Bear That Wasn't", which will have its 50th anniversary next year. If you look at the names who worked on this one and know a bit about cartoons, you will certainly recognize the likes of Chuck Jones, Maurice Noble, Frank Tashlin and Paul Frees, especially Jones of course. This is long after the time you could call his prime and this 10-minute movie (fairly long for a carton) is from the time when he won his Oscar. It is about a bear who wakes out of hibernation, but everybody (all humans) just think he is a bearded guy. Well good for them I guess, because they would be really scared otherwise. This joke, however, is not enough to make for 10 minutes, no matter how many times they repeat it. I personally did not find this an entertaining or funny watch and I have seen many better from Jones. Thumbs down from me. The best thing here may be Frees' narration, but overall I don#t recommend checking it out.

Whatever kids are supposed to glean from this unconventional way of saying "be yourself," it's liable to be over their heads in delivering any sort of message. The appeal seems targeted for the '60 rebels who were activists on college campuses.Nice modern animation, some bright colors, an abstract look--and an ultra-silly storyline make this one of Chuck Jones' lesser cartoons of the era.Whatever satire existed in the original work has been made senseless by this cartoon. Viewed as the way nature has been disturbed by the invasion of man's industrial society, some adults may approve of it.Not my idea of a truly entertaining cartoon for all ages.

This is an interesting short from the WB gang, since it's message-driven. (See other comments below for plot descriptions from the fawning fans.) Frees' voice work is nice, and the characteristic Chuck Jones facial expressions on the bear are endearing, as usual... but "interesting" is about as far as I can go in praise of this 'toon.With a sledgehammer's subtlety, the message is made clear about one-quarter of the way into this short. After that it's repeated... and repeated... and repeated. And then, a full minute in the middle is spent rehashing what you just watched while the theme song (from the opening credits) plays... yet again. Some of the animation here is done beautifully, like the birds; while other parts are strange and utterly unnecessary, like the bizarre floor-arrows. There are very few characters, none of which have any real characterization; and what little conflict there is (necessary to ANY story) simply vanishes about halfway. The predictable ending comes with almost zero difficulty, plot-wise, and has me completely puzzled as to why a story so simplistic had to be ten minutes long? I'm a big big fan of classic WB and H&B animation, and I thought at first I was about to be exposed to a hidden gem; but it's pretty understandable why I've never heard of this short. I can only assume that it appeals to young children and the memories of those who saw it when they were very young. It probably deserves a 2-vote when compared to everything else Jones et al did, and a 6-vote when compared to other animation... so, on average, 4 out of 10.

I had never seen this ten minute long Chuck Jones cartoon before. It's one of his very best. The colors are mindbending, as are the animation and drawings. I felt alternately robbed that I had never seen it before, and happy that I finally did get to see it! 9/10