René Walling · From fps #2 · May 1, 2005 | With a plot reminiscent of
The Jungle Book (a young boy growing up with animals must eventually choose between the human and animal worlds)
The Boy Who Wanted to Be a Bear is nevertheless quite different, and not just because of its arctic setting.
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The Boy Who Wanted to Be a Bear Collector's Edition
Directed by Jannik Hastrup
Central Park Media, 2005
Originally released theatrically in 2002
75 minutes
Shop for The Boy Who Wanted to Be a Bear Collector's Edition DVDs and more:
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A polar bear, distraught by the loss of her cub, is inconsolable. To relieve her grief, her mate steals a human child to replace the dead cub. The boy grows up learning the ways of the bears, until his human father shows up to take him back.
Unlike Mowgli, who uses his humanity to defeat Shere Khan, Little Bear uses his "bearness" to overcome the challenges facing him. He is also more convincing as a feral child than Disney's rendition of Mowgli was. A perennially hungry raven with landing problems acts as the requisite sidekick and provides some comic relief. Luckily, the irritation factor is mercifully low.
Want to read the rest of this review?
You'll find it and many other articles in the
May 2005 issue of
fps, available as a free download.
