Animation Celebration Saturday - Hey There, It's Yogi Bear!

Columbia, 1964
Voices of Daws Butler, Don Messick, Julie Bennett, and Mel Blanc
Directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbara
Music by Ray Gilbert; Lyrics by Doug Goodwin

The Care Bears aren't the only animated bears I'm a big fan of. Yogi remains one of the most beloved of Hanna and Barbara's "funny animal" characters of the 50's, 60's, and 70's. He and his picnic basket-stealing antics proved to be such a hit in The Huckleberry Hound Show, he and his buddy Boo Boo briefly got their own Saturday morning showcase in 1960. His ongoing popularity finally prompted Hanna-Barbara to get into the feature animation business, making this the the first animated film to be based after a TV show. Does this story of Yogi, Boo-Boo, and Cindy's cross-country road trip deserve a picnic basket with all the trimmings, or should it be sent to the zoo? Let's head to Jellystone National Park, just as spring is beginning, and find out.

The Story: Spring brings tourists to Jellystone Park...and as soon as the tourists arrive, so does Yogi's (Butler) appetite. After his attempts to snitch picnic baskets gets him caught by Ranger Smith (Messick), he tells him he wants to be transferred to the San Diego Zoo. He convinces another bear to take his place so he can continue stealing food. His girl Cindy (Bennett) and best friend Boo Boo (Messick) think he's gone. Cindy claims she's stealing the food so she can go to San Diego and be with Yogi, but her cage falls off the train and she ends up as the main attraction in a shady circus. Yogi and Boo Boo run off to rescue her. Even after they escape the circus, they still have to find their way home.

The Animation: Hanna-Barbara put some real work into this one, and it shows with animation that's above the norm for them in the 50's and 60's. The backgrounds are lush and colorful, and the characters move better and are more refined than they are on TV. The Venice fantasy number in particular looks terrific, with its shadows and romantic moonlight on the water.

The Song and Dance: The story is nothing to write home about, but even when it's ambling along, the characters are always worth watching. Butler, Messick, and Bennett have a great time playing their respective characters in a couple of hilarious set pieces, including the destruction of the circus that bear-napped Cindy and the three of them running around on the steel frame of an unfinished skyscraper in New York.

Favorite Number: "Ven-e, Ven-o, Ven-a" is a lovely ballad performed by Yogi (singing voice by crooner James Darren) that somehow turns into a random fantasy number in Venice towards the end of the movie, complete with Boo Boo as a gondolier. Cindy has a nice solo early-on when she's trying to tell Yogi how much she's in love with him, "Like I Like You." Boo Boo joins the two on the road for "Whistle Your Way Back Home." Cindy gets to enjoy the antics of three bears who travel with her on the train to "St. Louis."

What I Don't Like: Most of the musical numbers aren't terribly memorable, and a lot of them, like the Venice fantasy and the bears' song on the train, seem to be there mainly as filler. The story is a bit disjointed, lurching from one set piece to the next without much flow. And while the animation is better than it is on TV, it's still not quite at the level of Disney's finest.

The Big Finale: A nice introduction to Yogi's picnic-basket-stealing antics and a fun road trip for Hanna-Barbara fans and younger kids.

Home Media: Warners picked up this one when they merged with Hanna-Barbera owner Turner Broadcasting in the late 90's. The current DVD has glowing, jewel-like colors and decent sound. It's not on Blu-Ray, but it can be found on several streaming companies.

DVD
Amazon Prime