Boonie Bears: Back to Earth (2023) Film Review
Boonie Bears: Back to Earth belongs to the species of films that are only possible in our current age: spotlessly animated films that run on a powerful engine that proves the value of technology in modern storytelling. It’s not a film that’s made without effort, but the medium doesn’t represent an impossible task anymore. There’s a unique reason why we need to celebrate films like these: It represents a new opportunity for potential filmmakers to tell their stories.
The story is pretty simple: Bramble is a wild bear whose only goal is to eat ice cream. He will do anything to get it. Yes, even when objects start falling from the sky and a robotic biped threatens him, his focus is set on ice cream. After clashing for a while, the two creatures (the one in the suit revealed to be a cute feline) get together to fight against an evil villain with dialogue lines like “I could have knocked but a CEO always makes a grand entrance” after breaking down a wall. Yes, a dude with a cool hairdo and modern suit.
The evil guy’s agenda not quite clear, but it’s not even that important. What’s really engaging about the film is Bramble and Avi’s friendship growing out of basically nothing, and a great message about finding your place in the battle between good and evil, regardless of where in the universe this takes place.
You won’t be able to get much out of how the story is developed in Boonie Bears: Back to Earth. It’s a film that’s entirely running on gags that have been done in the past countless times. Yes, even the villains being stripped off their clothes and revealing small pink underwear. But hey, a cross-dressing bear that’s exposed when pulling a “Marilyn on the subway grate move”? It almost brings us back to the times when Bugs Bunny was allowed to do basically everything.
Considering the film’s target, the basic storyline won’t even make children flinch, because of everything else that’s taking place in the film. They will enjoy every second of it. The pace, the fantastic special effects, the score. There’s even a musical sequence to comply with the rules of big Hollywood productions. Boonie Bears: Back to Earth is a show for the kids and it doesn’t aim to be anything else other than that. More than one, will ask for an Avi action figure. Yes, that cat’s awesome. Sara Secora and Joseph S. Lambert provide their voices to the film’s main characters and their work is quite good.
The feature film is based on a Chinese animated cartoon series that’s become the most popular children’s show in the country. This makes the film a a little bit risky when it shows some stereotyping in regards to Asian people. I don’t know how this will be taken, but it’s pretty curious how it never feels excessive, and only works as a joke based on the physical endurance of bad guys.
Hey Bramble, I feel you when you say “gotta work all day and there’s never any snack time”.
