Yogi Bear

Based on the classic Hanna-Barbera character, Yogi Bear follows the title protagonist (Dan Aykroyd) and his sidekick, Boo Boo (Justin Timberlake), spend their days stealing picnic baskets from unsuspecting campers and making Jellystone Park’s head ranger’s (Tom Cavanagh’s Ranger Smith) life miserable – with the narrative eventually detailing the heroes’ efforts at preventing an evil politician (Andrew Daly’s Mayor Brown) from shutting down the iconic park and opening the land to logging. It’s clear immediately that filmmaker Eric Brevig has no loftier goal than to entertain very small (and undiscriminating) children, as Yogi Bear contains a pervasively, aggressively over-the-top vibe that persists for the duration of its often interminable 80 minutes – with the movie’s noisy sensibilities compounded by Aykroyd’s frustratingly ineffective vocal turn as the irritating central character. There’s little doubt, as well, that the picture suffers considerably from an almost total lack of momentum, with the disjointed nature of Jeffrey Ventimilia, Joshua Sternin, and Brad Copeland’s screenplay certainly playing an instrumental role in cultivating a vibe of abject pointlessness (ie it feels like two short films have been artlessly crammed together). By the time the predictably loud and larger-than-life finale rolls around, Yogi Bear has certainly confirmed its place as a patience-testing, headache-inducing disaster with little to offer older viewers. (This is despite the personable work from human actors like Cavanagh, Anna Faris, and T.J. Miller.)

* out of ****