For Beary Barrington, The Country Bears' young #1 fan, fitting in with his all-too-human family is proving im-paws-ible. When he runs away to find Country Bear Hall and his heroes, he discovers the venue that made them famous is near foreclosure. Beary hightails it over the river and through the woods to get the Bears in the Band back together for an all-out reunion concert to save Country Bear Hall.
Haley Joel Osment
Beary Barrington (voice)
Diedrich Bader
Officer Cheets / Ted Bedderhead (voice)
Candy Ford
Trixie St. Claire (voice)
James Gammon
Big Al (voice)
Brad Garrett
Fred Bedderhead (voice)
Toby Huss
Tennessee O'Neal (voice)
Kevin Michael Richardson
Henry Dixon Taylor (voice)
Stephen Root
Zeb Zoober (voice)
Christopher Walken
Reed Thimple
Stephen Tobolowsky
Norbert Barrington
Daryl Mitchell
Officer Hamm
M.C. Gainey
Roadie
Alex Rocco
Rip Holland
Meagen Fay
Mrs. Barrington
Jennifer Paige
Waitress
Eli Marienthal
Dexter "Dex" Barrington
Queen Latifah
Cha-Cha
Chip Chinery
Tom Tamina
Carolyn Almos
Tina Tamina
Marcus Knight
Chef
Michael Lawrence Morgan
Benny Bogswaggle
Alpheus Merchant
Elderly Black Man
Daniel Escobar
Store Manager
Christopher Darga
Mr. Slamboni
Jess Harnell
Long-Haired Dude
Ann Hastings
Elderly Woman
Paul Rugg
TV Reporter
Betty Weiss
Cashier
Josh Quirk
Fry Cook
Sean O'Connell
Grip
Larry Burke
Video Roadie
Wyclef Jean
Self
Elton John
Elton John
Willie Nelson
Willie Nelson
Don Henley
Don Henley / Tennessee O'Neal (singing voice)
Krystal Harris
Self
Bonnie Raitt
Self / Trixie St. Claire (singing voice)
Brian Setzer
Self
Don Was
Self
Xzibit
Self
Director
Peter Hastings
Writer
Mark Perez
October 14, 2020
1
Wow, that was an excruciating watch.
From literally the first few seconds you know where <em>'The Country Bears'</em> is going, both with the plot but also with the concept of the bears themselves. That's if you didn't already guess from the poster.
As always I try to find the positive parts: ... ... Yeah. If I was forced to pick something, it would be one or two of the songs which are not horrid; there's also a notable cameo from an English musician, I guess that's one? As you can tell, it's not good at all.
On the contrary, where to start with the negatives?! The bears. Having people in costumes is always a bad idea, it cheapens everything else around it. They have little or no emotion, so it's impossible to feel attached to the characters. The dub-like audio for them, and other parts of film, is very poor.
No-one stands out in the cast, with the exception of Christopher Walken (Reed) - but that's only because of Walken's fame, not his role in this. The premise is so predictable and lazy, they don't even attempt to throw you off the scent - instead trying to force a heartwarming story, which doesn't land whatsoever.
I, no matter what, always feel 1* is harsh, but this deserves it. Of the 1,106 films I've currently seen, this is just the fifth time a film has scored this low with me. Truly dreadful.